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Not to be confused with Xbox (console).

The Xbox is a series of video game consoles produced by Microsoft, spanning the sixth and seventh generations of consoles. Microsoft introduced the first Xbox, in 2001. The Xbox 360 is the newest console in the line.

Xbox Live provides a variety of online features for the consoles, ranging from multiplayer competitive play to buying games, movies, and more.

Development

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In 1998 four engineers from Microsoft's DirectX team, Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Ted Hase and DirectX team leader Otto Berkes, disassembled some Dell laptop computers to construct a prototype Microsoft Windows-based video game console. The team hoped to create a console to compete with the Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2, which was luring game developers away from the Windows platform. The team approached Ed Fries, the leader of Microsoft's game publishing business at the time, and pitched their "DirectX Box" console based on the DirectX graphics technology developed by Berkes' team. Fries decided to support the team's idea of creating a Windows DirectX based console.[1][2]

During development, the original DirectX box name was shortened to Xbox. Microsoft's marketing department did not like the Xbox name, and suggested many alternatives. During focus testing, the Xbox name was left on the list of possible names to demonstrate how unpopular the Xbox name would be with consumers. However, consumer testing revealed that Xbox was preferred by far over the other suggested names and "Xbox" became the official name of the product.[3]

The Xbox was Microsoft's first video game console after collaborating with Sega to port Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which was first mentioned publicly in late 1999 during interviews with Microsoft's then-CEO Bill Gates. Gates stated that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times.[4] When Bill Gates unveiled the Xbox at the Game Developers Conference in 2000, audiences were impressed by the console's technology. At the time of Gates' announcement, Sega's Dreamcast sales were diminishing and Sony's PlayStation 2 was just going on sale in Japan.[5]

Due to the immense popularity of gaming consoles in Japan, Microsoft delayed the release of the XBOX in Europe to focus on the Japanese video game market . Although delayed, the European release proved to be more successful than the launch of the XBOX in Japan.

Some of Microsoft's plans proved effective. In preparation for its launch, Microsoft acquired Bungie and used Halo: Combat Evolved as its launch title. At the time, GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 had been one of the few hit FPS games to appear on a console, some of other ones being Perfect Dark and Medal of Honor. Halo: Combat Evolved proved a good application to drive the Xbox's sales.[5] In 2002, Microsoft made the second place slot in consoles sold in North America.

Popular launch games for the console included Dead or Alive 3, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Halo: Combat Evolved, Fuzion Frenzy, Project Gotham Racing and Jet Set Radio Future.

Microsoft officially unveiled Xbox's successor, the Xbox 360, on May 12, 2005 on MTV. It released the console in North America on November 22, 2005. Nvidia ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August 2005, which marked the end of brand-new Xbox production. The Xbox was discontinued in Japan in 2005 immediately after 360's launch, due to poor sales in the country. Sales were much better throughout Europe and North America where the console was discontinued in late 2006 and early 2007, respectively.

The Xbox 360 supports a limited number of the Xbox's game library if the player has an official Xbox 360 Hard Drive. Xbox games were added up until November 2007. Xbox game saves cannot be transferred to Xbox 360 and the ability to play Xbox games through Xbox LIVE has been discontinued. It is still possible to play Xbox games on the Xbox 360 with a System Link between the two consoles.[6]

Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox,[7] the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003.[8] In February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsoft's Vice President J Allard.[8] That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, Washington to recruit support for the system.[8] Also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12, 2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, a deal which was publicly announced two days later.[9] Before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apple's Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the system's PowerPC 970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBM's Xenon processor. The cores of the Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3's Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were "hiding" their work from Sony and Toshiba, IBM's partners in developing the Cell Processor.[10] Jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360.[11]

Consoles

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Xbox

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The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast (which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale), and Nintendo's GameCube. The integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online.[12] The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996.

The Xbox was discontinued in late 2005 in Japan, late 2006 in Europe and early 2007 in North America. The last Xbox game was Madden NFL 09, released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2, 2009, stating that any in-warranty repair now needed will not be undertaken and faulty consoles will be replaced with an Xbox 360 instead. Xbox Live support was discontinued on April 15, 2010.[12]

Xbox 360

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The Xbox 360 is the second video game console developed by and produced for Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of April 19, 2012, 67.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide.[13]

The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan.[14][15][16]

Several major features of the Xbox 360 are its integrated Xbox Live service that allows players to compete online, download arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, music and movies and its Windows Media Center multimedia capabilities. The Xbox Live also offers region specific access to third-party media streaming application such as Netflix and ESPN in the US or Sky Go in the UK.

At their E3 presentation on June 14, 2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day.[17] The redesigned console is slimmer than the previous Xbox 360 model and features integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, TOSLINK S/PDIF optical audio output, five USB 2.0 ports (compared to the three from older versions) and a special AUX port.[18] Older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued.[19] The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, while a later, less expensive SKU features 4 GB internal storage.

With the announcement of the Xbox 360 S, Microsoft have said that they believe that the console is only mid-way through its life-cycle and will continue through 2015.[20][21][22] However, unnamed sources have claimed that Microsoft's next video game console is being slated for release as early as the 2013 holiday season.[23] Development of the system has also been implied by updates Microsoft employees have made to their resumes, which state that they were working on the next Xbox console.[24]

Technical problems

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Main article: Xbox 360 technical problems
Three red lights on the Xbox 360's ring indicator representing a "General Error" requiring service of the Console or Power Adapter, nicknamed the "Red Ring of Death", "Red Ring of Fire" or "Red Lights of Death."

The Xbox 360 has been subject to a number of technical problems. Since the console's release in 2005, users have reported concerns over its reliability and failure rate.[25][26][27]

To aid customers with defective consoles, Microsoft extended the Xbox 360's manufacturer's warranty to three years for hardware failure problems that generate a "General Hardware Failure" error report. A "General Hardware Failure" is recognized on all models released before the Xbox 360 S by three quadrants of the ring around the power button flashing red. This error is often known as the "Red Ring of Death".[28] In April 2009 the warranty was extended to also cover failures related to the E74 error code.[29] The warranty extension is not granted for any other types of failures that do not generate these specific error codes.

Since these problems surfaced, Microsoft has attempted to modify the console to improve its reliability. Modifications include a reduction in the number, size, and placement of components, the addition of dabs of epoxy on the corners and edges of the CPU and GPU as glue to prevent movement relative to the board during heat expansion,[30] and a second GPU heatsink to dissipate more heat.[31] With the release of the redesigned Xbox 360 S, the warranty for the newer models do not include the three-year extended coverage for "General Hardware Failures".[32] The newer Xbox 360 S model indicates system overheating when the console's power button begins to flash red, unlike previous models where the first and third quadrant of the ring would light up red around the power button if overheating occurred. The system will then warn the user of imminent system shutdown until the system has cooled,[33] whereas a flashing power button that alternates between green and red is an indication of a "General Hardware Failure" unlike older models where three of the quadrants would light up red.[34]

Games

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Main articles: List of Xbox launch games and List of Xbox games
See also: List of Xbox games compatible with Xbox 360

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. Its most successful launch game was Halo: Combat Evolved.[35] Its sequel, Halo 2, is the best-selling Xbox game worldwide.[36] Although there were several more popular second-party launch titles, including NFL Fever 2002,[37] Project Gotham Racing,[38] and Dead or Alive 3,[39] the early public reputation of the Xbox was damaged by the failure of Azurik: Rise of Perathia and other games designed and marketed by Microsoft.[40]

Although the console gained strong third party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not fully use its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox's main selling points. Sony countered the Xbox for a short time by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. The Xbox Live online service was launched in late 2002 alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically praised titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden and LucasArts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Take-Two Interactive's exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels to be published for the Xbox. Many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months.

In 2004 Halo 2 became the highest-grossing release in entertainment history, making over $125 million in its first day[41] and becoming Xbox Live's first killer app. That year Microsoft made a deal to put Electronic Arts's popular titles on Xbox Live.

The last game released on the Xbox was Madden NFL 09, on August 12, 2008.

The Xbox 360 launched with 14 games in North America and 13 in Europe. The console's best-selling game for 2005, Call of Duty 2, sold over a million copies.[42] Five other games sold over a million copies in the console's first year on the market: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter,[43] The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,[44] Dead or Alive 4,[45] Saints Row,[46] and Gears of War.[47] Gears of War would become the best-selling game on the console with 3 million copies in 2006,[48] before being surpassed in 2007 by Halo 3 with over 8 million copies.[49]

Six games were initially available in Japan, while eagerly anticipated titles such as Dead or Alive 4 and Enchanted Arms were released in the weeks following the console's launch.[50] Games targeted specifically for the region, such as Chromehounds, Ninety-Nine Nights, and Phantasy Star Universe, were also released in the console's first year.[51] Microsoft also had the support of Japanese developer Mistwalker, founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Mistwalker's first game, Blue Dragon, was released in 2006 and had a limited-edition bundle which sold out quickly with over 10,000 pre-orders.[52] Blue Dragon is one of three Xbox 360 games to surpass 200,000 units in Japan, along with Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Mistwalker's second game, Lost Odyssey also sold over 100,000 copies.[53]

The 2007 Game Critics Awards honored the Xbox 360 platform with 38 Nominations and 11 Wins.[54] By March 2008, the Xbox 360 had reached a software attach rate of 7.5 games per console—a record for any console in history, in EU the rate was 7.0 while its competitors were 3.8 (PS3) and 3.5 (Wii).[55]

Online services

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Xbox Live

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On November 15, 2002, Microsoft launched its Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with other subscribers around the world and download new content directly to the system's hard drive. The online service works only with a broadband Internet connection. Approximately 250,000 subscribers signed up within two months of Xbox Live's launch.[56] In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers; in July 2005, membership reached two million, and by July 2007 there were more than 3 million subscribers. By May 2009, the number had ballooned to 20 million current subscribers.[57] On February 5, 2010, Marc Whitten posted on gamerscoreblog that Xbox Live support for the original Xbox games would be discontinued as of April 14, 2010.[12] Services were discontinued on schedule, but a group of 20 gamers continued to play for almost a month afterwards by simply leaving their consoles on connected to Halo 2.[58] APACHE N4SIR was the final user to play on the original Xbox's Live Service and was finally disconnected on May 11, 2010 at 01:58 EDT (UTC-4).[59][60]

Main article: Xbox Live

When the Xbox 360 was released, Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live was shut down for 24 hours and underwent a major upgrade, adding a basic non-subscription service called Xbox Live Silver (later renamed Xbox Live Free) to its already established premium subscription-based service (which was renamed Gold). Xbox Live Free is included with all SKUs of the console. It allows users to create a user profile, join on message boards, and access Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace and talk to other members.[61][62] A Live Free account does not generally support multiplayer gaming; however, some games that have rather limited online functions already, (such as Viva Piñata) or games that feature their own subscription service (e.g. EA Sports games) can be played with a Free account. Xbox Live also supports voice the latter a feature possible with the Xbox Live Vision.[63]

Xbox Live Gold includes the same features as Free and includes integrated online game playing capabilities outside of third-party subscriptions. Microsoft has allowed previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, friends list, and games history when they make the transition to Xbox Live Gold. To transfer an Xbox Live account to the new system, users need to link a Windows Live ID to their gamertag on Xbox.com.[64] When users add an Xbox Live enabled profile to their console, they are required to provide the console with their passport account information and the last four digits of their credit card number, which is used for verification purposes and billing. An Xbox Live Gold account has an annual cost of US$49.99, C$59.99, NZ$90.00, GB£39.99, or €59.99. As of January 5, 2011, Xbox Live has over 30 million subscribers.[65]

Xbox Live Marketplace

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Main article: Xbox Live Marketplace

thumb|Games hub. The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for the console that allows Xbox Live users to download purchased or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes as well as add-on game content (items, costumes, levels etc.). These features are available to both Free and Gold members on Xbox Live. A hard drive or memory unit is required to store products purchased from Xbox Live Marketplace.[66] In order to download priced content, users are required to purchase Microsoft Points for use as scrip;[67] though some products (such as trailers and demos) are free to download. Microsoft Points can be obtained through prepaid cards in 1,600 and 4,000 point denominations. Microsoft Points can also be purchased through Xbox Live with a credit card in 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 point denominations. Users are able to view items available to download on the service through a PC via the Xbox Live Marketplace website.[68] An estimated seventy percent of Xbox Live users have downloaded items from the Marketplace.[69]

On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced the Xbox Video Marketplace, an exclusive video store accessible through the console. Launched in the United States on November 22, 2006, the first anniversary of the Xbox 360's launch, the service allows users in the United States to download high-definition and standard-definition television shows and movies onto an Xbox 360 console for viewing. With the exception of short clips, content is not currently available for streaming, and must be downloaded. Movies are also available for rental. They expire in 14 days after download or at the end of the first 24 hours after the movie has begun playing, whichever comes first. Television episodes can be purchased to own, and are transferable to an unlimited number of consoles. Downloaded files use 5.1 surround audio and are encoded using VC-1 for video at 720p, with a bitrate of 6.8 Mbit/s.[70] Television content is offered from MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Turner Broadcasting, and CBS; and movie content is Warner Bros., Paramount, and Disney, along with other publishers.[71]

After the Spring 2007 update, the following video codecs are supported:

  • H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbit/s, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
  • MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbit/s, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.

As a late addition to the December Xbox 360 update, 25 movies were added to the European Xbox 360 video market place on the December 11, 2007 and cost 250 Microsoft points for the SD version on the movie and 380 Microsoft points for the HD version of the movie.[72] Xbox Live members in Canada featured the ability to go on the Xbox Live Marketplace as of December 10, 2007 with around 30 movies to be downloaded for the same amount of Microsoft Points.

On May 26, 2009, Microsoft announced the future release of the Zune HD (in the fall of 2009), the next addition to the Zune product range. This is of an impact on the Xbox Live Video Store as it was also announced that the Zune Video Marketplace and the Xbox Live Video Store will be merged to form the Zune Marketplace, which will be arriving on Xbox Live in 7 countries initially, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland and Spain.[73] Further details will be released at the Microsoft press conference at E3 2009.

Xbox Live Arcade

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Main article: Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute downloadable video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners. In addition to classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man, the service offers some new original games like Assault Heroes. The Xbox Live Arcade also features games from other consoles, such as the PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and PC games such as Zuma. The service was first launched on November 3, 2004,[74] using a DVD to load, and offered games for about US$5 to $15. Items are purchased using Microsoft Points, a proprietary currency used to reduce credit card transaction charges. On November 22, 2005, Xbox Live Arcade was re-launched with the release of the Xbox 360, in which it was now integrated with the Xbox 360's dashboard. The games are generally aimed toward more casual gamers; examples of the more popular titles are Geometry Wars, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting, and Uno.[75] On March 24, 2010, Microsoft introduced the Game Room to Xbox Live. Game Room is a gaming service for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows that lets players compete in classic arcade and console games in a virtual arcade.[76]

Accessories

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Original "Fatty" Xbox controller
Xbox controller S

The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a pressure sensitive directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons).[77] The standard Xbox controller (also nicknamed the "Fatty"[78] or the "Duke"[79]) was originally the controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan. The controller has been criticized for being bulky compared to other video game controllers; it was awarded "Blunder of the Year" by Game Informer in 2001,[80] a Guinness World Record for the biggest controller in Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, and was ranked the second worst video game controller ever by IGN editor Craig Harris.[81]

The "Controller S" (codenamed "Akebono"), a smaller, lighter Xbox controller, was originally the standard Xbox controller only in Japan,[82] designed for users with smaller hands.[83][84] The "Controller S" was later released in other territories by popular demand and by 2002 replaced the standard controller in the Xbox's retail package, with the larger original controller remaining available as an accessory.

An 8 MB removable solid state memory card can be plugged into the controllers, onto which game saves can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game. Most Xbox game saves can be copied to the memory unit and moved to another console but some Xbox saves are digitally signed; each console has a unique signing key, and some games (e.g. Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) will not load saved games signed by a different Xbox, limiting the utility of the memory card. Some game saves can be tagged as uncopyable or simply padded to over 8 MB (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic). The signing mechanism has been reverse-engineered by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though the signing key of the recipient Xbox (the "HDkey") and the ramped-up title key of the game (the "authkey") must be known. It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, to simplify its use on more than one Xbox.

The Xbox includes a standard AV cable which provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. European Xboxes also included an RCA jack to SCART converter block as well as the standard AV cable.

Controllers

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Kinect

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Main article: Kinect
The Kinect sensor device

Kinect is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" for the Xbox 360. It was first announced on June 1, 2009 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, under the codename, Project Natal. The add-on peripheral enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without a game controller by using gestures, spoken commands and presented objects and images. The Kinect accessory is compatible with all Xbox 360 models,[85] connecting to new models via a custom connector, and to older ones via a USB and mains power adapter.[86] During their CES 2010 keynote speech, Robbie Bach and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer went on to say that Kinect will be released during the holiday period (November–January) and it will work with every 360 console. Its name and release date of November 4, 2010 were officially announced on June 13, 2010, prior to Microsoft's press conference at E3 2010.[87]

Software

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Dashboard

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See also: Xbox 360 system software

The Xbox 360's original graphical user interface was the Xbox 360 Dashboard; a tabbed interface that featured five "Blades" (formerly four blades), and was designed by AKQA and Audiobrain. It could be launched automatically when the console booted without a disc in it, or when the disc tray was ejected, but the user had the option to select what the console does if a game is in the tray on start up, or if inserted when already on. A simplified version of it was also accessible at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. This simplified version showed the user's gamercard, Xbox Live messages and friends list. It also allowed for personal and music settings, in addition to voice or video chats, or returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the game.

On November 19, 2008, the Xbox 360's dashboard was changed from the "Blade" interface, to a dashboard reminiscent of that present on the Zune and Windows Media Center, known as the "New Xbox Experience" or NXE.

Since the console's release, Microsoft has released several updates for the Dashboard software. These updates have included adding new features to the console, enhancing Xbox Live functionality and multimedia playback capabilities, adding compatibility for new accessories, and fixing bugs in the software. Such updates are mandatory for users wishing to use Xbox Live, as access to Xbox Live is disabled until the update is performed.

New Xbox Experience

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Further information: Xbox Live, section "New Xbox Experience"

At E3 2008, at Microsoft's Show, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg and Marc Whitten announced the new Xbox 360 interface called the "New Xbox Experience" (NXE). The update was intended to ease console menu navigation. Its GUI uses the Twist UI, previously used in Windows Media Center and the Zune. Its new Xbox Guide retains all Dashboard functionality (including the Marketplace browser and disk ejection) and the original "Blade" interface.

The NXE also provides many new features. Users can now install games from disc to the hard drive to play them with reduced load time and less disc drive noise, but each game's disc must remain in the system in order to run. A new, built-in Community system allows the creation of digitized Avatars that can be used for multiple activities, such as sharing photos or playing Arcade games like 1 vs. 100. The update was released on November 19, 2008.[88]

While previous system updates have been stored on internal memory, the NXE was the first to require a storage device—at least a 128 MB memory card or a hard drive.

Microsoft released a further update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard starting on December 6, 2011.[89] It included a completely new user interface which utilizes Microsoft's Metro design language, and added new features such as cloud storage for game saves and profiles, live television, Bing voice search,[90] access to YouTube videos, Skype integration, and better support for Kinect voice commands.[91]

Multimedia

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The Xbox 360 supports videos in Windows Media Video (WMV) format (including high-definition and PlaysForSure videos), as well as H.264 and MPEG-4 media. The December 2007 dashboard update added support for the playback of MPEG-4 ASP format videos.[92] The console can also display pictures and perform slideshows of photo collections with various transition effects, and supports audio playback, with music player controls accessible through the Xbox 360 Guide button. Users may play back their own music while playing games or using the dashboard, and can play music with an interactive visual synthesizer.

Music, photos and videos can be played from standard USB mass storage devices, Xbox 360 proprietary storage devices (such as memory cards or Xbox 360 hard drives), and servers or computers with Windows Media Center or Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher within the local-area network in streaming mode.[93][94] As the Xbox 360 uses a modified version of the UPnP AV protocol,[95] some alternative UPnP servers such as uShare (part of the GeeXboX project) and MythTV can also stream media to the Xbox 360, allowing for similar functionality from non-Windows servers. This is possible with video files up to HD-resolution and with several codecs (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV) and container formats (WMV, MOV, TS).[96]

As of 27 October 2009,[97] UK and Ireland users are also able to access live and on-demand streams of Sky television programming.[98]

Canadian users can access a streaming HDTV service from Telus.[99]

At the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Consumer Electronics Shows, Microsoft had announced that IPTV services would soon be made available to use through the Xbox 360. In 2007, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stated that IPTV on Xbox 360 was expected to be available to consumers by the holiday season, using the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform.[100] In 2008, Gates and president of Entertainment & Devices Robbie Bach announced a partnership with BT in the United Kingdom, in which the BT Vision advanced TV service, using the newer Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform, would be accessible via Xbox 360, planned for the middle of the year.[101] BT Vision's DVR-based features would not be available on Xbox 360 due to limited hard drive capacity.[102] In 2010, while announcing version 2.0 of Microsoft Mediaroom, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned that AT&T's U-verse IPTV service would enable Xbox 360s to be used as set-top boxes later in the year.[103] As of January 2010, IPTV on Xbox 360 has yet to be deployed beyond limited trials.

XNA community

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Main article: Microsoft XNA

XNA Community is a feature whereby Xbox 360 owners can receive community-created games, made with Microsoft XNA Game Studio, from the XNA Creators Club . The games are written, published, and distributed through a community managed portal. XNA Community provides a channel for digital videogame delivery over Xbox Live that can be free of royalties, publishers and licenses.[104][105] XNA game sales, however, did not meet original expectations.[106]

Media

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Reception

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Region Units sold
(as of May 10, 2006) 		First available
North America 16 million November 15, 2001
Europe 6 million March 14, 2002
Japan 2 million February 22, 2002
Worldwide 24 million

On November 15, 2001, Xbox launched in North America and quickly sold out.

The Xbox has sold 24 million units worldwide as of May 10, 2006, according to Microsoft.[107] This is divided out to 16 million units sold in North America, six million units in Europe, and two million units sold in Japan.

Overall, the Xbox was a success especially in North America. Sales were also positive in Europe, but Japan saw poor sales, with only 2 million units sold there.

The Xbox 360 began production only 69 days before launch.[108][109] As a result, Microsoft was not able to supply enough systems to meet initial consumer demand in Europe or North America[110] and many potential customers were unable to purchase a console at launch. Forty thousand units appeared on eBay during the initial week of release, 10% of the total supply.[111] By year's end, Microsoft had shipped 1.5 million units, including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan.[112]

At E3 in May 2006, Bill Gates announced that Microsoft would have a head start of 10 million units by the time Sony and Nintendo entered the market.[113] Microsoft later specified that goal and estimated shipments of 10 million units by the end of 2006.[114]

Cumulative sales from the system's launch until June 30, 2007 were predicted to reach 12 million units, down from 13 to 15 million units estimated earlier. Being released one year ahead of its competitors, the Xbox 360 was the market leader throughout the first half of 2007; however, on September 12, 2007, it was reported by the Financial Times that the Xbox 360 had been surpassed by the Wii in terms of worldwide home console sales.[115]

On October 4, 2007, after the launch of Halo 3, Microsoft stated that Xbox 360 sales had more than doubled compared to the previous average.[116] According to the NPD Group, the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii for the month of September in the United States, helped in part by the spike in sales seen after the launch of Halo 3, which sold 3.3 million copies in the US in a 12-day period.[117] The Xbox had sales of 528,000 units for September, while the Wii had sales of 501,000 units.[118]

Despite the relatively strong sales figures, Microsoft's gaming division was losing money. Through 2005, the Xbox gaming division had lost over $4 billion,[119] however, Microsoft expected the console to start making money in 2008[120] due to a loss leader market strategy of selling consoles below cost in order to obtain market saturation and gain profits on software and peripherals with a much higher profit margin.[121][122] Additionally, Microsoft took a charge of $1 billion dollars on its June 2007 income statement to account for the cost of replacing bricked Xbox 360s.[123]

In Europe, the Xbox 360 sold 2 million units in 2006 and 1.9 million in 2007 according to estimates by Electronic Arts.[124][125] In 2007, the Xbox 360 sold 4.62 million units in the US according to the NPD Group,[126][127][128] and 257,841 in Japan according to Enterbrain.[129][130][131] In 2008, the Xbox 360 sold 317,859 units in Japan, according to Enterbrain.[131][132]

On February 13, 2008, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 suffered shortages in the US in January 2008, possibly continued into February.[133][134][135] Prior to the release of the NPD Group's video game statistics for January 2008, the Xbox 360 was in second place behind the Wii in US sales for most months since the Wii and PS3's release.[134] On May 14, 2008, Microsoft announced that 10 million Xbox 360s had been sold and that it was the "first current generation gaming console" to surpass the 10 million figure in the US.[136] In the US, the Xbox 360 was the leader in current-generation home console sales until June 2008, when it was surpassed by the Wii.[137][138][139]

In the first seven months of 2008, the Xbox 360 has sold 154,000 units in Canada, being outsold by the PlayStation 3 and Wii;[140] the Xbox 360 has sold a total of 870,000 units in Canada as of August 1, 2008.[140] In Europe, the Xbox 360 has sold seven million units as of November 20, 2008, according to Microsoft.[141] In Japan, the Xbox 360 has sold 866,167 units as of December 28, 2008, according to Enterbrain.[132][142] In the United Kingdom, the Xbox 360 has sold 3.9 million units as of June 27, 2009, according to GfK Chart-Track.[143]

On May 13, 2008, Microsoft stated that there will not be a release of a newer version of the Xbox 360 in 2009. Microsoft representative says, "While we [Microsoft] don't normally comment on rumors like this [release of newer and smaller Xbox 360], we can tell you that we have no plans to release a new console in 2009".[144]

On May 28, 2009, Microsoft announced that sales have surpassed the 30-million unit-mark, stating that 2008 was Microsoft's "biggest year in history" also due to the increase of Xbox Live users.[145]

On January 6, 2011, Microsoft stated that the Xbox 360 sold over 50 million units worldwide during their CES 2011 conference. In addition, they stated that the Kinect sold about 8 million units, 3 million more than initially predicted, during the product's first 60 days on the market. It was also announced that Xbox live had more than 30 million users, making 2010 the best year to date for the online service.[13]

Edge magazine reported in August 2011 that initially lacklustre and subsequently falling sales in Japan, where Microsoft had been unable to make serious inroads into the dominance of domestic rivals Sony and Nintendo, had led to retailers scaling back and in some cases discontinuing sales of the Xbox 360 completely.[146]

In 2009, IGN named the Xbox 360 the sixth greatest video game console of all time, out of a field of 25.[147]

Marketing

[edit]

UK advertising controversy

[edit]

In 2002 the Independent Television Commission (ITC) banned a television advertisement for the Xbox in the United Kingdom after complaints that it was highly distasteful, violent, scary and upsetting. It depicted a mother giving birth to a small boy who was fired like a projectile through a hospital window and who aged rapidly as he flew through the air yelling. As he soared across a large area, he passed quickly through stages of his life as though time was passing him by. After aging into an old man, he crash-landed into his own grave. Dust and smoke poured from the grave. The advertisement ended with the slogan Life is short. Play more.[148]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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