Microsoft’s first try in the gaming console world.
Was the Xbox a hit or a flop in the sixth generation of consoles?
The Xbox is a sixth generation console that was released in November of 2001 by Microsoft. It was Microsoft’s first independent foray into the console market.
Sadly, the Xbox was discontinued as of November 13th, 2006, but there is no doubt that the Xbox has left a mark in the video game world. It gave us such wonderful titles as Halo: Combat Evolved, and its insanely popular sequel, Halo 2. Halo 2 sold 2.83 million units within the first twenty four hours of it being released, grossing about 125 million. That’s more then almost every movie makes in its first three days of being in theatres.
Although discontinued, the Xbox will stay in our minds – and hearts – for a long time to come.
How It Came About.
The Xbox was first developed within Microsoft by a small team, but was repeatedly delayed until 1999. Bill Gates, the CEO of Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, said in an interview that “[a] gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment”. On March 10th, 2000, Microsoft officially confirmed the ‘Xbox Project’ with a press release.
According to a book by Dean Takahashi, ‘Opening the Xbox’, the Xbox itself was originally going to be named the DirectX-box, to essentially brag about its extensive use of DirectX.
Marketing decided to use simply Xbox instead, though you can still tell the reference to DirectX – just look at the big X on the top of the console!
What Gaming Was All About…
In late 2002, Xbox Live was launched, along with tons of breakthrough games that clearly set the Xbox apart from its main competitor, Sony’s PlayStation 2, including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Many of the Grand Theft Auto titles were published to both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, and with this surge of interest, most other publishers released both the PS2 and the Xbox versions of a game at the same time, instead of having to wait a month or more for the Xbox version.
Xbox Live was a huge hit. It did something that was radically different, that set it apart from every other console at the time.
It allowed you to actually play with (Or against, depending on if you liked them or not) other Xbox Live subscribers all around the world. All you needed was an Xbox, and a broadband internet connection, and you were good to go. Within the first two months of its launch, about 250,000 people subscribed. In July of 2004, less than two years after it first started, over one million had joined – only a short year later, the numbers had reached two million!
Control THIS!
The controller for the Xbox was different from any controller that was out on the market at the time, and arguably the worst controller out there. The standard controller was quickly discontinued because of how hard it was to actually use – it was heavy, bulky, and all around awkward.
It was quickly replaced with ‘Controller S’, a lighter, smaller version of the standard controller. It still has four multi-colored buttons, one white and one black button, two joysticks and a D pad, but it is noticeably easier to use and control. This too has received some substantial criticism, but the controller was there to stay.
There are also other, third-party controllers readily available. Logitech makes a comfortable, easy to use Xbox controller that has been approved by Microsoft, but there are many controllers you can buy that aren’t approved by Microsoft at all. You really just have to choose what you like using best, because no one controller is right or wrong.
The Xbox Lives On…
Although the Xbox is no longer in production, its successor, the Xbox 360, is one of the hottest consoles around. It also supports some – but not all – Xbox games, so you have the chance to remember and play your favorites on the new system, and playing them on the 360 means that you have better anti-aliasing for the games, and a higher resolution.
The Xbox will not soon be forgotten.
