Microsoft Xbox
Manufacturer	Microsoft
Type	Video game console
Generation	Sixth generation era
First available	November 15, 2001 (US) February 22, 2002 (JP) March 14, 2002 (EU)
Media	DVD, CD
Controller input	{{{controllers}}}
Online service	Xbox Live
Units sold	22 million (2005)
Top-selling game	Halo 2

The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America and Puerto Rico , then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1800x697, 294 KB) Summary Microsoft® Xbox official logo, taken from Microsoft web site. ... This work is copyrighted. ... A console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes video game consoles. ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, SEHK: 4338) is an international computer technology corporation with 2005 global annual sales of close to $40 billion USD and about 64,000 employees in 85 countries and regions which develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. ... A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... Although the history of computer and video games spans almost five decades, computer and video games themselves did not become part of the popular culture until the late 1970s. ... The sixth-generation era (sometimes inaccurately referred to as the 128-bit era; see section below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to present) (Latin: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government • President • Vice President Federal republic George W... February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... Motto: Peace and Progress (Motto of the Emperor) Anthem: Kimi Ga Yo Capital Tokyo Largest city Tokyo* Official language(s) Japanese Government Emperor Prime Minister Constitutional monarchy Akihito Junichiro Koizumi Formation Emperor Jimmu Meiji Restoration Current constitution Treaty of San Francisco 660 BC January 3, 1868 May 3, 1947 April... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... The official DVD logo. ... CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit ÄŒeské Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, SEHK: 4338) is an international computer technology corporation with 2005 global annual sales of close to $40 billion USD and about 64,000 employees in 85 countries and regions which develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. ... The sixth-generation era (sometimes inaccurately referred to as the 128-bit era; see section below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. ... A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to some dispute as to Europes actual borders. ... MSX official logo Sony MSX 1, Model HitBit-10-P MSX is the name of a standard for home computers in the 1980s. ... Sega (セガ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... Windows CE for Handheld PC 3. ... The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト; code-named Blackbelt, Dural and Katana during development) was Segas last video game console. ... Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding is an Xbox exclusive snowboarding video game. ... Dead or Alive (DOA) is a video game series produced by Tecmo that is comprised primarily of fighting games. ... Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. ... Oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in videogame form, created by game developers Oddworld Inhabitants (OWI) under the direction of Lorne Lanning. ...

History

Development

The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. The rumors of a video game console being developed by Microsoft first emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. On March 10, 2000 the "X-box Project" was officially confirmed by Microsoft with a Press Release [1] A May 2005 picture of Seamus Blackley, at his desk at CAA. Seamus Blackley is an agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. ... Particles erupt from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is the co-founder, chairman, and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worlds largest software company (as of March 2006). ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ... This article is about the year 2000. ... A news release or press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. ...

Some see the Xbox as a way to capitalize on the growing video game market, noting that the PC market growth was stagnating after the dot-com bust. According to the book Smartbomb, by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, the remarkable success of the upstart Sony PlayStation worried Microsoft in late 1990s. The growing video game market seemed to threaten the PC market which Microsoft had dominated and relied upon for most of its revenues. As well, a venture into the gaming console market would also diversify Microsoft's product line, which up to that time had been heavily concentrated into software. Dot-com (also dotcom or redundantly dot. ... Smartbombs cover SMARTBOMB: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution is a book written by the journalist Heather Chaplin and her husband Aaron Ruby. ... Sony is a Japanese leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional market. ... The PlayStation is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Diagram of a typical modern PC. A personal computer or PC is usually a microcomputer whose price, size, and capabilities make it suitable for personal usage. ...

Xbox presented a standardized alternative to the near-endless variety of end-user configurations on the PC. The Xbox even brought high-end gaming technology to the mainstream, sporting a top of the line GeForce 3 equivalent graphics processor, a built-in Ethernet adapter, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in hardware. The GeForce 3 (codenamed NV20) was NVIDIAs third-generation GeForce chip. ... Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies by Dolby Laboratories. ...

Software

The Xbox was featured on the cover of the November 2001 issue of Wired magazine.

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch games was Halo: Combat Evolved, which was critically well-received [2] and one of the best-selling games of the year. Halo still remains the console's standout title. Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing[3] and Dead or Alive 3 [4]). However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy [5] and Azurik: Rise of Perathia [6]) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox. Download high resolution version (850x1058, 548 KB)Seamus Blackley and the Xbox on Wired magazine (Nov-2001). ... Download high resolution version (850x1058, 548 KB)Seamus Blackley and the Xbox on Wired magazine (Nov-2001). ... Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. ... Project Gotham Racing (PGR) is a racing game franchise developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft for the Xbox and Xbox 360 gaming consoles. ... Dead or Alive 3 is a fighting game in the Dead or Alive series. ... Fuzion Frenzy game cover Fuzion Frenzy was a launch title for the Microsoft Xbox. ...

Although it enjoyed strong third-party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not take full advantage of its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish themselves from the PS2 version, and this negated one of the Xbox's main selling points. Lastly, Sony countered the Xbox by securing Playstation exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Post-GTA2 design of the Grand Theft Auto logo Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a computer and video game series created and developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. ... Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (commonly abbreviated MGS2) is a stealth-based game that was developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. ...

In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. The Xbox Live online service was launched alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically-acclaimed titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Take-Two Interactive's exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and its sequels to be published on the Xbox. In addition, many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months. For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... Grand Prix motorcycle racing refers to the premier categories of motorcycle road racing. ... MechAssault was the first Mech video game for the Microsoft video game console, Xbox. ... Tom Clancys Ghost Recon (also known as simply Ghost Recon) is a video game in the tactical shooter genre, inspired by the work of Tom Clancy. ... Tom Clancys Splinter Cell is a critically-acclaimed stealth-based video game, developed by Ubisoft Montreal. ... Ninja Gaiden (忍者外伝) is a series of video games by Tecmo, featuring the dragon ninja Ryu Hayabusa. ... Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) is an RPG video game originally for the Microsoft Xbox and later for PCs running Microsoft Windows. ... Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. ... Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. ... Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III) is a computer and video game developed by DMA Design, published by Rockstar Games in October 2001 (see 2001 in video gaming) for the PlayStation 2 video game console, May 2002 for Windows-based PCs, and in November 2003 for the Xbox video game... Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (released in October 2002) is the fourth video game in the hit Grand Theft Auto series. ... Post-GTA2 design of the Grand Theft Auto logo Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a computer and video game series created and developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. ...

In 2004, Halo 2 set records as highest grossing release in entertainment history [7] as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal which would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live. In 2005, the long-awaited Xbox-exclusive Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Far Cry Instincts were released. Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... A killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is a computer program that is so useful that people will buy a particular computer hardware, gaming console, and/or an operating system simply to run that program. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... Doom 3 is a sci-fi horror first-person shooter computer game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ... Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life, developed by Valve Corporation. ... Far Cry Instincts is a video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the Xbox console. ...

Xbox Live

On November 15 2002 Microsoft released the Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with (or against) other subscribers all around the world and download new content for their games to the hard drive. This online service works exclusively with broadband. 250,000 subscribers had signed on in 2 months since Live was launched [8]. In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live reached 1 million subscribers, and announced in July 2005 that Live had reached 2 million. An XBox Live Subscription currently costs $50 a year [which is roughly $4 a month]. For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... Broadband in general refers to data transmission where multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneously to increase the effective rate of transmission. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: July 2004 in sports Deaths in July • 31 David B. Haight • 29 Francis Crick • 29 Nafisa Joseph • 23 Joe Cahill • 23 Mehmood • 23 Illinois Jacquet • 23 Carlos Paredes • 22 Sacha Distel • 21 Jerry Goldsmith • 21... Ongoing events • 2005 Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes • 2005 Maharashtra floods • 2005 Gujarat Flood • Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan • Fuel prices • Gomery Comm. ...

Market share

Some critics were initially concerned that the Xbox would allow Microsoft to extend its dominance of the PC software market to consoles. However, as of February 2005, estimates show the Xbox's share of the worldwide console market is only moderately ahead of the Nintendo GameCube and far behind the PlayStation 2. According to company documents, Microsoft has shipped 22 million consoles to retailers worldwide at the end of 2005 [9]. Although ahead of the GameCube's 20.61 million [10], this was far behind the PlayStation 2's 100 million shipped [11]. Diagram of a typical modern PC. A personal computer or PC is usually a microcomputer whose price, size, and capabilities make it suitable for personal usage. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the Sixth generation era—the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ...

The Xbox has enjoyed its greatest success in North America, where an estimated 13.5 million units have been sold and where it managed for a month to outsell the PS2[12]. In Europe, the Xbox's market share is currently ahead of the GameCube, but is still behind the PlayStation 2. Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to some dispute as to Europes actual borders. ...

The Xbox has sold poorly in Japan mainly because Microsoft was unable to enlist enough local developers to cater to Japanese interests. The large size of the hardware itself did not endear itself to the size-sensitive Japanese consumers. It is estimated about 450,000 units have been sold in Japan [13].

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars into the Xbox internal documents and received back billions of dollars in sales. Overall though Xbox division has lost $4 billion from 2001 to 2005. [14] In particular, the Xbox hardware itself is a loss leader, since the console was sold at a loss even at its debut price. The losses deepened when sales of the Xbox increased and when the price was reduced successive times to compete with PlayStation 2 [15]. Microsoft predicted that it would not make a profit on the Xbox for at least three years. This prediction turned out to be correct; Microsoft Game Studios, Microsoft's game division in charge of Xbox development, had its first profitable quarter reported in January 2005, thanks largely to the success of Halo 2 [16]. Investor relations documents says that in the end of 2005 Microsoft lost more than 1 billion dollars [17]. The Xbox project never gave an annual profit to Microsoft according to these documents. In return for the money loss though the Xbox gained name recognization and a dedicated fan base. [18] In marketing, a loss leader is an item that is sold below cost in an effort to stimulate other profitable sales. ... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ...

Hardware

The Xbox was designed to take advantage of a slowdown in the saturated PC gaming market and incorporates a built-in Ethernet adapter. Also, the console cost as much as the high-end GeForce 3 video card alone in 2001, while having comparable graphics processing power (the Xbox's NV2A graphics chipset is a derivative of the GeForce 3). Nonetheless, most of these features were not fully exploited in its first year of launch, notably the lack of Xbox Live online multiplayer. The GeForce 3 (codenamed NV20) was NVIDIAs third-generation GeForce chip. ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ...

The Xbox was the first console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves compressed in zip archives (eliminating the need for separate memory cards) and content downloaded from Xbox Live. Most of the games also use it as a disk cache, for faster game loading times. Some games support "Custom soundtracks," another particularly unusual feature allowed by the hard drive. An Xbox owner can rip music from standard Audio CDs to the hard drive so players can use their custom soundtrack in addition to the original soundtrack of Xbox games that support such feature. Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... The ZIP file format is a popular data compression and archival format. ... Memory cards are solid-state electronic flash memory data storage devices used with digital cameras, handheld and laptop computers, phones, music players, video game consoles and other electronics. ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Rainbow Books. ...

Although the Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and runs a stripped-down version of the Windows 2000 kernel using APIs based largely on DirectX 8.1, it incorporates changes optimized for gaming uses as well as restrictions designed to prevent uses not approved by Microsoft. The Xbox does not use Windows CE due to Microsoft internal politics at the time, as well as limited support in Windows CE for DirectX. Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K, W2K or Windows NT 5. ... In computer science, the kernel is the fundamental part of an operating system. ... DirectX is a collection of APIs for easily handling tasks related to game programming on the Microsoft Windows operating system. ... Windows CE for Handheld PC 3. ...

The Xbox itself is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. Because of this, the Xbox has found itself a target of mild derision, as gamers poke fun at it for things like a warning in the Xbox manual that a falling Xbox "could cause serious injury" to a small child or pet. However, the Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being yanked from the shelf. DVD is an optical disc storage media format that is used for playback of movies with high video and sound quality and for storing data. ...

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. This Japanese controller (which was briefly imported by even mainstream video game store chains, such as GameStop) was subsequently released in other markets as the "Xbox Controller S", and currently all Xbox consoles come with a "Controller S", while the original controller (known as Controller "0" or "The Duke") was quietly discontinued. GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME), headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is the largest video game and entertainment software retailer in the United States. ... The Controller S is the smaller version of the X-Box Controller. ...

Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in attempt to defeat them), cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units' drives gave Disc Reading Errors). Microsoft extended the warranty on those first generation Xboxes that came with faulty drives and fixed them for free, unlike Sony and their first generation PS2s. Modding is a slang expression for the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software to perform a function not intended by someone with legal rights concerning that modification. ... Xenium Mod Chip soldered into a Xbox. ...

Detailed specifications

• CPU: Micro PGA2 733 MHz Intel Coppermine Core. Basically a Pentium III.
  • Intel IA-32 instruction set
  • SIMD: SSE. Four single-precision floating-point numbers in one instruction.
    • Theoretical maximum 4 FLOPS/cycle (2.9 gigaFLOPS for Xbox)
    • Pentium III had architectural drawbacks that lessened real-world SSE throughput.
  • SIMD: MMX. Integer functions. Switching between FPU and MMX is slow, so not of great use for 3D rendering tasks. Often used for audio and video.
  • 133 MHz FSB. Same as fastest Pentium III EB CPUs.
  • 32 kB L1 cache. 128 kB L2 Advanced Transfer Cache (256-bit). Same size as Celeron, but 8-way associative like Pentium III E.
• Unified Memory Subsystem: Total (shared) Memory: 64 MB DDR SDRAM running at 200 MHz, supplied by Hynix or Samsung depending on manufacture date and location
  • Theoretical Memory Bandwidth: 6.4 GB/s
• Graphics Processor: 233 MHz custom chip "NV2A", developed by Microsoft and nVIDIA (fits between GeForce 3 and GeForce 4 in capability). Enhanced vertex processing with 2 vertex shaders, and more flexible pixel shading than DirectX 8.
  • Theoretical Geometry Rate: 115+ million vertices/second
  • Theoretical Particle Performance: 125 M/s
  • Pipeline Configuration: 4 pixel pipelines with 2 texture units each
  • Theoretical Pixel Fill Rate: 932 Megapixels/second (233 MHz x 4 pipelines)
  • Theoretical Texture Fill Rate: 1,864 Megatexels/second (932 MP x 2 texture units)
  • Simultaneous Textures: 4
  • Compressed Textures: Yes (6:1 through DDS)
  • Full Scene Anti-Aliasing: Yes
• Storage Medium: 2-5x DVD (XFAT), 8 gigabyte hard disk (new consoles contain a 10GB physical hard drive, though it is formatted to only use 8GB, uses XFAT), optional 8MB memory card for savegame transfer
• Audio Processor : nVIDIA MCPX (a.k.a. Soundstorm NVAPU)
  • Audio Channels: 64 3D channels (up to 256 stereo voices)
  • 3D Audio Support: HRTF Sensaura 3D enhancement.
  • MIDI DLS2 Support: Yes
  • AC3 (Dolby Digital) Encoded Game Audio: Yes (via TOSLINK)
• Broadband Enabled: Yes (10/100base-T ethernet)
• DVD Movie Playback: Yes (separate DVD Playback Kit/Remote required or by modding the Xbox and running DVD-playing homebrew software)
• Maximum Resolution (2x32bpp frame buffers +Z): 1920(vert.)x1080(horiz)
  • Note: NTSC (Non-HD) TV's have less than 500 horizontal lines. PAL TV's have less than 600 horizontal lines.
• EDTV and HDTV Support: 480p/720p/1080i (see game boxes for supported resolutions).
• Controller Ports: 4 proprietary USB ports
• Weight: 3.86 kg
• Dimensions: 320 × 100 × 260 mm (12.5 × 4 × 10.5 inches)

Manufacturing photos can be found here. A notebook processor is a CPU optimized for notebook computers. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is a U.S.-based multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Pentium III logo The Pentium III is an x86 (more precisely, an i686) architecture microprocessor by Intel, introduced on February 26, 1999. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with X86 assembly language. ... -1... SSE is an abbreviation for Shenzhen Stock Exchange Sign Supported English, the use of British Sign Language with an English grammar. ... In computing, single precision is a computer numbering format that occupies one storage location in computer memory at a given address. ... A floating-point number is a digital representation for a number in a certain subset of the rational numbers, and is often used to approximate an arbitrary real number on a computer. ... For commercial failures, see list of commercial failures. ... SSE is an abbreviation for Shenzhen Stock Exchange Sign Supported English, the use of British Sign Language with an English grammar. ... MMX is a SIMD instruction set designed by Intel, introduced in their Pentium MMX microprocessors. ... In computers, the front side bus (FSB) is a term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the central processing unit (CPU) and other devices within the system such as random access memory (RAM), the system BIOS, AGP video cards, PCI expansion cards... Pentium III logo The Pentium III is an x86 (more precisely, an i686) architecture microprocessor by Intel, introduced on February 26, 1999. ... Advanced Tranfer Cache (ATC) is a type of L2 cache contained within the Pentium III series processor that is embedded on the same die as the CPU itself. ... Celeron D logo as of 2006. ... Diagram of a CPU memory cache A CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... DDR SDRAM or double-data-rate synchronous dynamic random access memory is a type of memory integrated circuit used in computers. ... Hynix Semiconductor Inc. ... Samsung Group is one of the largest South Korean business groupings. ... NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is a major supplier of graphics processors (graphics processing units, GPUs), graphics cards, and media and communications devices for PCs and game consoles such as the original Xbox and the new upcoming next generation Playstation 3. ... The GeForce 3 (codenamed NV20) was NVIDIAs third-generation GeForce chip. ... A GeForce 4 (codenames below) is a fourth-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) manufactured by NVIDIA which forms the basis of many computer graphics cards. ... In geometry, a vertex (Latin: whirl, whirlpool; plural vertices) is a corner of a polygon (where two sides meet) or of a polyhedron (where three or more faces and an equal number of edges meet). ... A pixel pipeline is a video card part that transfers pixel information. ... A pixel (pix, 1932 abbreviation of pictures, coined by Variety headline writers + element) is one of the many tiny dots that make up the representation of a picture in a computers memory. ... In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing aliasing (jagged or blocky patterns) when representing a high-resolution signal at a lower resolution. ... XFAT is the File Allocation Table designed for the Xbox video game console hard disk drive. ... XFAT is the File Allocation Table designed for the Xbox video game console hard disk drive. ... HRTFs for left and right ear (expressed here as HRIRs) describe the filtering of a sound source (x(t)) before it is perceived at the left and right ears as xL(t) and xR(t), respectively. ... Sensaura, a division of Creative Technology, provides sophisticated 3D audio technology for the interactive entertainment industry. ... Note names and MIDI note numbers Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is an industry-standard electronic communications protocol that defines each musical note in an electronic musical instrument such as a synthesizer, precisely and concisely, allowing electronic musical instruments and computers to exchange data, or talk, with each other. ... Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies by Dolby Laboratories. ... TOSLINK connector (JIS F05) TOSLINK™ is a standardized optical fibre connection system. ... Broadband in general refers to data transmission where multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneously to increase the effective rate of transmission. ... Ethernet is a frame-based computer networking technology for local area networks (LANs). ... Enhanced-definition television, extended-definition television, or EDTV is a CEA marketing shorthand term for certain television formats. ... High-definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. ... Type A USB connector Dual images of the two Type B USB connectors, mini and full size, side and front view, compared with a U.S. 5¢ piece (nickel) in both images for scale. ...

Xbox and DirectX

Microsoft's set of low-level APIs for game development and multimedia purposes, DirectX, was used as a basis for the Xbox's hardware programming. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. API may refer to: In computing, application programming interface In petroleum industry, American Petroleum Institute In education, Academic Performance Index This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Multimedia is the use of several different media (e. ... DirectX is a collection of APIs for easily handling tasks related to game programming on the Microsoft Windows operating system. ...

Special limited editions

Main article: Xbox special limited editions

The Microsoft Xbox was released in many editions other than its famous green and black color. ...

Official Xbox accessories

Audio/video connectors

• Standard AV Cable: Provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. Comes with the system. European systems come with a RCA jack to SCART converter block in addition to the cable.
• RF Adapter: Provides a combined audio and video signal on an RF connector.
• Advanced AV Pack: A breakout box that provides S-Video and TOSLINK audio in addition to the RCA composite video and stereo audio of the Standard AV Cable.
• High Definition AV Pack: A breakout box, intended for HDTVs, that provides a YPrPb component video signal over three RCA connectors. Also provides analog RCA and digital TOSLINK audio outputs.
• Advanced SCART Cable: The European equivalent to the Advanced AV Pack, providing a full RGB video SCART connection in place of S-Video, RCA composite and stereo audio connections (composite video and stereo are still provided by the cable, through the SCART connector, in addition to the RGB signal), while retaining the TOSLINK audio connector. As Europe has no HDTV standard, no High Definition cable is currently provided in those markets.

Numerous unofficial third-party cables and breakout boxes exist that provide combinations of outputs not found in these official video packages; however, with the exception of a few component-to-VGA transcoders and custom-built VGA boxes, the four official video packages represent all of the Xbox's possible outputs. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. Composite video is the format of an analog television (picture only) signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. ... Monaural (often shortened to mono) sound reproduction is single-channel. ... Symbol for stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly called stereo, is the reproduction of sound, using two independent audio channels, through a pair of widely separated speaker systems, in such a way as to create a pleasant and natural impression of sound heard from various directions as in natural hearing. ... A panel of four RCA jacks, and three RCA (cinch; phono) plugs of various quality RCA jack in PlayStation 2 An RCA jack, also referred to as a phono connector or CINCH/AV connector, is a type of electrical connector which is commonly used in the audio/video market. ... SCART plug Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Scart SCART (from Syndicat des Constructeurs dAppareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs) is a French-originated standard and associated 21-pin connector for connecting audio-visual equipment together. ... An RF connector is an electrical connector designed to work at radio frequencies in the multi-megahertz range. ... A breakout box is a piece of test equipment used for diagnosing problems in computer communications, typically over a serial port. ... S-Video (also known as Y/C) is a baseband analog video format offering a higher quality signal than composite video, but a lower quality than RGB and component video. ... Example of U-V color plane, Y value = 0. ... S-Video (also known as Y/C) is a baseband analog video format offering a higher quality signal than composite video, but a lower quality than RGB and component video. ... High-definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. ...

Networking

• Ethernet (Xbox Live) Cable: A Cat 5 cable for connecting the Xbox to a broadband modem or router. Note that while there is an "official" Xbox 'System Link' cable (a crossover cat5e cable with one of the wires switched), any PC ethernet cable can be used in the normal way treating the xbox as an NIC, eg an Xbox-Xbox connection requires a crossover cable, whereas an xbox-switch connection requires a straight-through cable.
• Xbox Wireless Adapter: a wireless bridge which converts data running through an ethernet cable to a wireless (802.11b or 802.11g) signal to connect to a wireless LAN. While the official Wireless Adapter guarantees compatibility with the Xbox, almost any wireless bridge can be used.
• Xbox Live Starter Kit: A subscription and installation pack for the Xbox Live service, as well as a headset (with monaural earpiece and microphone) that connects to a control box that plugs into the top expansion slot of a controller. The headset can in fact be replaced with most standard earpiece-and-microphone headsets; headset specialist Plantronics produce various officially-licensed headsets, including a special-edition headset for Halo 2.
• System Link Cable: A Cat 5 crossover cable for connecting together two consoles or a Cat 5 straight through cable used in conjunction with an ethernet hub for connecting up to four consoles, for up to 16 total players. This functionality is similar to Sega's DirectLink for Sega Saturn.

Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is an unshielded twisted pair cable type designed for high signal integrity. ... IEEE 802. ... Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... Plantronics is a hardware company based in Santa Cruz, California, that specializes in lightweight headsets and is the market leader worldwide. ... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is an unshielded twisted pair cable type designed for high signal integrity. ... EIA/TIA-568B is a joint Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standard for twisted pair wiring. ... Sega (セガ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... Directlink is a high voltage direct current transmission line between Mullumbimby and Bungalora in Australia. ... The Sega Saturn (Japanese: セガサターン, Sega Saturn), is a video game console of the 32-bit era. ...

Multimedia

• Xbox Media Center Extender: A kit that allows Xbox to act as a Media Center Extender to stream content from a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC. It can also be used for DVD playback.
• DVD Playback Kit: Required in order to play DVD movies, the kit includes an infrared remote control and receiver. DVD playback was not included as a standard feature of the Xbox due to licensing issues with the DVD format that would have added extra cost to the console's base price. By selling a DVD remote separately, Microsoft was able to bundle the cost of the DVD licensing fee with it. Although there is nothing to prevent the Xbox from acting as a progressive-scan DVD player, Microsoft chose not to enable this feature in the Xbox DVD kit in order to avoid royalty payments to the patent-holder of progressive scan DVD playback. Later, as the price of the Xbox dropped, the DVD remote was bundled.
• Xbox Music Mixer: A utility software bundled with a microphone that connects to an adapter that plugs into the top expansion slot of a controller. Provides a music player with 2D/3D visualizations as well as basic karaoke functions. It also allows users to upload pictures in JPG format (to create slide shows) as well as audio in WMA and MP3 format (for karaoke or a game's Custom Soundtracks feature) from a Windows XP machine running the Xbox Music Mixer PC Tool.

A typical Windows XP MCE 2005 Menu Windows XP Media Center Edition (codename eHome) is a version of Windows XP designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... The official DVD logo. ... Progressive scan Progressive or non-interlaced scanning is any method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and... A microphone, sometimes called a mic (pronounced mike), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. ... A Karaoke machine Karaoke (Japanese: カラオケ, from 空 kara, empty, and オーケストラ ōkesutora, orchestra) is a form of entertainment in which an amateur singer or singers sing along with recorded music on microphone. ... A photo of a flower compressed with successively higher compression ratios from left to right. ... Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a proprietary compressed audio file format developed by Microsoft. ... MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers directed by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany. ... Windows XP is a major revision of the Microsoft Windows operating system created for use on desktop and business computer systems. ...

Controllers and removable storage

Original controller

Controller S

• The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a digital pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots, and six 8-bit analog action buttons (ABXY, Black, and White). The precise layout of the controls differs between the two variations of controller.
  • Standard Xbox Controller (AKA "Controller O" or "The Duke"): Originally the normal Xbox controller for all territories except Japan, this has since been quietly discontinued and replaced in Xbox packs by the Controller S. It is considered to be bulky. The black and white buttons are located above the ABXY buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are located between and below the d-pad and right thumbstick.
  • Controller S: A smaller, lighter Xbox controller. Once the standard Xbox controller in Japan, it was released in other territories by popular demand, and eventually replaced the standard controller in the retail pack for the Xbox console. The white and black buttons are located below the ABXY buttons, and the Back/Select buttons are similarly placed below the left thumbstick.
• Memory Unit: An 8 MB removable solid-state memory card onto which game saves (zip archieves in reality) can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox Dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game. Note that some recent games (e.g. Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure. This system has been defeated by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify gamesaves to work in a different console, though some unique technical information concerning the recipient Xbox must be known.
• Logitech 2.4 GHz wireless controller. Approved by Microsoft for wireless gameplay with Xbox.

original xbox controller This work is copyrighted. ... original xbox controller This work is copyrighted. ... Xbox Controller S This work is copyrighted. ... Xbox Controller S This work is copyrighted. ... An analog stick from the GameCube game controller An analog stick, often mistakenly referred to as a joystick, is an input device for a controller, often a game controller, that is used for two-dimensional input. ... In physics, the solid state is one of the three phases of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). ... A 32 MB High Speed CompactFlash Type I card A memory card or flash memory card is a solid-state electronic flash memory data storage devices used with digital cameras, handheld and laptop computers, telephones, music players, video game consoles, and other electronics. ... Ninja Gaiden (忍者外伝) is a series of video games by Tecmo, featuring the dragon ninja Ryu Hayabusa. ... Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a beach volleyball game by Tecmo released in 2003 for the Xbox gaming console. ...

Screenshots

Halo: Combat Evolved Bungie (2001) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. ... Bungie Studios is a video game developer founded in 1991 under the name Bungie Software by two undergraduate students at the University of Chicago, Alex Seropian and Jason Jones. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...	Crimson Skies Microsoft (2002) This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Crimson Skies logo Crimson Skies is an alternate history universe, created by Jordan Weisman and Dave McCoy, that has spawned a number of games and novels. ... Microsoft Game Studios (MGS), formerly the Microsoft Game Division, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ...	Amped 2 Microsoft (2003) Amped 2 File links The following pages link to this file: Xbox ... Amped 2 is the successful followup to Microsofts Amped. ... Microsoft Game Studios (MGS), formerly the Microsoft Game Division, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...	Halo 2 Bungie (2004) Image File history File links Microsoft Game Studios/Bungies Halo 2 (2004) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... Bungie Studios is a video game developer founded in 1991 under the name Bungie Software by two undergraduate students at the University of Chicago, Alex Seropian and Jason Jones. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...
Dead Or Alive: Ultimate Tecmo (2004) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x576, 272 KB)Screenshot of Dead Or Alive: Ultimate (Xbox). ... Dead or Alive (DOA) is a video game series produced by Tecmo that is comprised primarily of fighting games. ... Tecmo, Ltd. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...	OutRun 2 Sega (2004) Image File history File links Out2. ... OutRun 2 is a racing game released by Sega in 2003. ... Sega (セガ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...	Ninja Gaiden Tecmo (2004) Image File history File links Ryu Hayabusa fights Murai, one of the bosses, in the Xbox version of the game. ... Ninja Gaiden (忍者外伝) is a series of video games by Tecmo, featuring the dragon ninja Ryu Hayabusa. ... Tecmo, Ltd. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...	Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict Epic Games (2005) Image File history File links 920087_20050110_screen003. ... Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is a first-person shooter video game based on the Unreal series of games. ... Epic Games, formerly known as Epic MegaGames and also known as Epic, is a computer game development company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Modding the Xbox

The popularity of the Xbox inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms, a practice informally known as modding. Modding is a slang expression for the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software to perform a function not intended by someone with legal rights concerning that modification. ...

There are now sites that offer to modify the software on Xboxes for free. Modding an Xbox in this manner voids its warranty, as it requires the disassembly of the console.

Hardware modifications

Electronic

One of the main reasons that the Xbox modding community was able to thrive is that on the motherboard of the Xbox there are 12 LPC points which were used by developers for readouts when testing games. These holes allow modchips to get power and data from the motherboard, and made it possible to produce solderless adapters needing only one wire to connect to the motherboard. Another contributing factor was the Xbox's built in hard drive, which facilitated the installation of software modifications in modified Xboxes. The Low Pin Count bus, or LPC bus, is used on PC-style personal computers to connect low-bandwidth devices to the CPU, such as the boot ROM, the legacy I/O devices (behind a Super I/O chip), and audio controllers. ...

The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. Xbox games can then be copied from their DVDs to the hard disk using programs such as DVD2Xbox, PxHDDLoader, and most of the alternative dashboards; and then played directly from the hard drive. This allows the user to spare game disks from scratching and allows for faster load times. This process does require a modded Xbox using one of the alternative dashboards, and is used by scrupulous users to eliminate load times or leave their games in storage, and by unscrupulous users to play illegally copied games (see Legal Issues). To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America and Puerto Rico , then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ...

Most Xbox modding requires opening the case, which voids the Xbox's warranty. Also, most internal hardware modifications render an Xbox unable to participate in Xbox Live, which has forced many modders to use a switch that turns on and off their modifications. As of November 2004, Microsoft has implemented new ways to ban Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service. One such successful use of Live to discourage modding was when the hit game Halo 2 was released, and many owners of modded consoles found out that they were permanently banned from the Xbox Live service. This resulted in the creation of On-Off switchable modchips (or add-ons) and Xbox Live friendly softmods from Xbox hacker community. Xbox Live is a subscription-based online gaming service for Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ...

Cosmetic

Beyond the more technical electronic modifications, it is also possible to modify the Xbox aesthetically. These modifications range from the simple, such as replacing the console's green decorative "jewel" with a custom-designed one, to the complex, such as full resprays of the Xbox's plastic casing..

Software modifications

Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. This allows a user to run an alternate dashboard such as UIX, Avalaunch, Evolution-X or UnleashX and in turn makes playing original (free) homebrew games or various older games through arcade emulators (eg. MAME-X) and console game emulators (eg. FCE Ultra) possible. This is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it. As well, Some people actually make their own Xbox applications to run, but these usually aren't trustable. EXPLOit is a Content Management System that handles structured (SGML or XML) contents. ... Digital signature (or public-key digital signature) is an encryption scheme for authenticating digital information that should not be confused with ordinary physical signatures on paper or with an electronic signature, but implemented using techniques from the field of public-key cryptography. ... Avalaunch is an alternative Xbox dashboard that allows users a lot of flexibility and ability to customize the layout to fit their needs. ... Evolution-X (not to be confused with the illegal xbox BIOS called EvoX made by the same group) is a replacement menu system designed to run on modchipped Xboxes. ... UnleashX is a dashboard (or boot up screen on the Xbox system) used to run/select programs on modified Xbox game systems. ... An arcade emulator is a program that emulates one or more arcade games on a different computer, such as a PC. See the List of emulators for examples of arcade emulators. ... A console emulator is a program for a computer, or other computing device, that can emulate a video game console or handheld, so a computer can be used to play games that were created for that console or to develop games for that console. ... A game controller is an input device used to control a video game. ... A video arcade (known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom) is a place where people play arcade video games. ...

Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center software (XBMC) allowing the playing of DVDs without the DVD dongle/remote and streaming of music and video files from the hard drive or from another computer over a network. A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux, FreeBSD, or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. Xbox Media Center (XBMC) is a feature-rich open source media player for the Xbox. ... A dongle is a small hardware device that connects to a computer to authenticate some piece of software. ... Streaming media is media that is consumed (read, heard, viewed) while it is being delivered. ... Tux the penguin, based on an image created by Larry Ewing in 1996, is the logo and mascot of Linux. ... FreeBSD is a Unix-like free software operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) branch through 386BSD and 4. ... Windows CE for Handheld PC 3. ... An operating system is a special computer program that manages the relationship between application software, the wide variety of hardware that makes up a computer system, and the user of the system. ...

Recently, the firmware to the newer optical drives was successfully hacked to allow unsigned code to play.

Legal Issues

In July 2005, a 22 year old Cambridge University graduate was convicted under the EU Copyright Directive for modifying Xboxes and selling them with an upgraded 200 GB hard drive, which was pre-loaded with 80 games. This was the first conviction of its kind in the UK. (The Directive makes it illegal to circumvent copy protection systems on hardware including video game consoles). It is the first conviction since the Directive was enacted in October 2003 in the UK. He was sentenced to 140 hours community service, ordered to pay £750 costs at a court in Caerphilly, Wales, and his computer equipment was confiscated. [19][20] The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The European Union (EU) directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, commonly known as the EU Copyright Directive or short EUCD, is the EUs implementation... Caerphilly Castle Caerphilly (Welsh: Caerffili) is a town in Glamorgan, Wales, located at the bottom of the Rhymney Valley. ... For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom and England, see British Isles (terminology). ...

An unambiguously legal way of modding the Xbox is replacing the whole motherboard to enable the installation of Linux, or other operating systems designed for PCs, without hacking any of Microsoft's copy-protection components. This effectively turns the Xbox into a standard PC, making the matter of copy protection for copyrighted Xbox games irrelevant. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Xbox#Modding_the_Xbox. ...

Price history

North America

• US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price)
• US$199 (May 15, (2002)
• US$179 (May 14, (2003)
• US$149 (March 29, 2004)
• CAD$199 (March 29, 2004)
• US$179 (February 6, 2006, Bundled with Forza)

Europe November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

• €479 (Launch Price (Ireland) 14 March, 2002),
• £299 GBP (Launch Price March 14, 2002),
• €299 (Launch Price (Rest of Europe) and Ireland April 26, 2002)
• €249 (August 30, 2002)
• €199 (2003)
• £130 (2003)
• €149 (August 27, 2004)
• £99 (August 27, 2004)
• €99 (Ireland; Christmas 2005 promotional price)
• €99 (Spain, January 2006 promotional price)

Oceania March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... GBP may be: short for Game Boy Player the ISO currency code for the British Pound Sterling. ... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... Births 1407 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (d. ... Births 1407 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (d. ...

• AU$699 AUD (26 April, 2002, Launch Price) (Quickly dropped to $399 to compete with launch of Nintendo GameCube)
• AU$399 AUD (2004)
• AU$299 AUD (2005)
• NZ$499 NZD (3 October, 2002, Launch Price)
• AU$349 (2003)
• NZ$399 (2003)
• AU$299 (2004)
• NZ$349 (2004)
• AU$249 (2004, 2005)
• NZ$299 (2004 Q2)
• NZ$249 (2004 Q4, 2005)

Of note is the high European launch price. As with many games consoles (for example, the PlayStation series), the Xbox was launched with a price in GBP equal to its US price in USD (in this case, $/£299), and this price then converted for the rest of Europe. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. However it seems that, while Microsoft is continuing to ignore exchange rates, for the 360 they have used the euro (whose value is much closer to that of the US Dollar than the pound) as the price basis for Europe i.e. €/$399.99 and then converted into other currencies. Au. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... Au. ... Au. ... The New Zealand dollar (ISO 4217: NZD, sometimes NZ$ and often informally known as the Kiwi dollar) is the official currency of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Xbox 360 The Xbox 360, known during development as the Xenon, Xbox 2 or the Xbox Next, is the successor to Microsofts original Xbox video game console. ... The euro (plural euro, symbol: €; banking code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union and single currency for over 300 million Europeans in the following twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain; collectively also known as... Sterling may refer to: Sterling (car), a British automobile manufacturer. ...

With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console. Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. To avoid frustrating early adopters, they offered a bundle containing two games and one controller for free to any purchaser who could provide a sales receipt showing the original higher price.

Xbox 360

Main article: Xbox 360

NVIDIA ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August of 2005, which almost certainly marks the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 featuring a new GPU from NVIDIA's rival ATI. [21] Xbox 360 The Xbox 360, known during development as the Xenon, Xbox 2 or the Xbox Next, is the successor to Microsofts original Xbox video game console. ... This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... ATI Technologies Inc. ...

When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited subset of the Xbox's library (more than 200 games at US launch) through emulation. Emulation adds support for higher screen resolution (i.e. games originally presented in anamorphic widescreen rendered at 480p like Halo 2 are rendered at 720p on the Xbox 360) and anti-aliasing. These emulators are periodically updated to add compatibility for older games and are available for free through Xbox Live or as a file download to be burned to a CD/DVD from the Xbox web site. As the architectures are entirely different between Xbox and Xbox 360, software emulation is the only viable option for compatibility without including processors from the original Xbox, unlike the PlayStation 2 and Gameboy Advance which do contain processors from their previous respective platforms to achieve backward compatibility. This is the list of Xbox 360 backward compatibility games. ... Anamorphic widescreen in cinematography was first popularized with CinemaScope, which was one of many widescreen formats developed in the 1950s. ... 480p is the shorthand name for a video mode. ... Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... 720p is the shorthand name for a category of video modes. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ... The Game Boy Advance is a best-selling handheld. ...

References

• "GameCube vs. Xbox: Part Deux (Xbox XGPU Basics)" by Dave Salvator, ExtremeTech.Com, November 30, 2001, retrieved January 31, 2006.

See also

• List of Xbox games
• List of Xbox network games
• XFAT

This is a list of video game consoles by the era they appeared in. ... This article deals with the history of the first generation video game consoles. ... The Magnavox Odyssey is the first home video game console, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years. ... PONG was a video game based on ping-pong, released by Atari on November 29, 1972. ... The Telstar is a video game console produced by Coleco which first went on sale in 1976. ... This article deals with the history of the second generation video game consoles. ... The Fairchild Channel F The Fairchild Channel F is the worlds first cartridge-based video game console. ... The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ... Philips Videopac G7000 shown playing Pickaxe Pete The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978. ... The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1980; development of the console began in 1978 (less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the legendary Atari 2600 aka the Atari VCS). ... The Atari 5200 is a video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari. ... The Colecovision is Colecos third generation video game console, released in August 1982. ... The Vectrex is an 8-bit video game console developed by General Consumer Electric (GCE) and later bought by Milton Bradley Company. ... The SG-1000, which stands for Sega Game 1000, is a cartridge-based video game console manufactured by Sega. ... In the history of video games, the 8-bit era was the third generation of video game consoles, but the first after the video game crash of 1983 and considered by some to be the first modern era of console gaming. ... The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. ... The Sega Master System (SMS for short) is an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console that was manufactured by Sega. ... The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari in 1986 (a test market occurred in June 1984). ... In the history of video games, the 16-bit era was the fourth generation of video game consoles. ... The PC Engine was a video game console released by NEC, a Japanese company, in 1987. ... For information on the Japanese version of this console, see PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16 was a video game console released by NEC in 1989, for the North American market. ... The Sega Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... The original Neo-Geo console was greatly advanced for its time. ... CD-i or Compact Disc Interactive is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard utilized by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was co-developed by... In the history of computer and video games, the 32-bit / 64-bit era was the fifth generation of video game consoles. ... 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (most commonly referred to as the 3DO) was a line of video game consoles released in 1993 and 1994 by Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar. ... The Atari Jaguar is a video game console introduced in November 1993 as a powerful next generation platform. ... The Sega Saturn (Japanese: セガサターン, Sega Saturn), is a video game console of the 32-bit era. ... The PlayStation is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... The PC-FX console The PC-FX was NECs 32-bit sequel to its PC Engine (US:TurboGrafx 16). ... The Nintendo 64, commonly called the N64, is Nintendos third home video game console. ... The sixth-generation era (sometimes inaccurately referred to as the 128-bit era; see section below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. ... The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト; code-named Blackbelt, Dural and Katana during development) was Segas last video game console. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the Sixth generation era—the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... The seventh generation era is a video game era in the history of computer and video games that began towards the end of 2004, but is not set to really take off until late 2006 with the release of new video game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, the three... Xbox 360 The Xbox 360, known during development as the Xenon, Xbox 2 or the Xbox Next, is the successor to Microsofts original Xbox video game console. ... The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is Sonys seventh generation era video game console in the PlayStation series. ... The Nintendo Revolution is the current codename for Nintendos fifth home video game console and the successor to the Nintendo GameCube. ... This is a list of games for the Microsoft Xbox video game system, organised alphabetically by name. ... This is a list of Network games on the Xbox video game console. ... XFAT is the File Allocation Table designed for the Xbox video game console hard disk drive. ...

External links

• Official Xbox website
• Xbox Connect - Tunneling software for Xbox and PSP games which allows online play for games designed to work only on a LAN.
• XLink Kai global gaming network - Allows free online Xbox functionality as well as GameCube, PS2 and recently Sony PSP and Nintendo DS all from a single application
• Xbox Directory
• Xbox Media Center - Play almost any kind of video and audio formats with a modded Xbox
• Xbox-Linux website
• IGN Xbox- News, Reviews, Previews and Cheats
• Transforming Xbox into a Media Center - A step-by-step guide how to softmod your Xbox on
• Xbox modding site - A site that focuses on xbox halo 2 modding.
• 1337ModZ - Another site that focuses on xbox halo 2 modding.