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Xbox, Xbox 360 And Xbox 360 Live
Xbox, which is manufactured by Microsoft, is a video game console, which was the first foray of Microsoft, in the market of gaming consoles. This console competed with its major rivals including PlayStation2, Dreamcast and Game Cube of Sony, Sega and Nintendo. There is an integrated live service in this console, with the name of Xbox Live, which enables the users to compete with online gamers. This console was released in the markets of North America, Japan, Australia and Europe on 15th November 2001, 22 February 2002 and 14th March 2002, respectively. This console is the predecessor of Xbox 360 of Microsoft. This console discontinued in 2006, but the final game of Xbox; Madden NFL 09 was released in the year of 2008. The company has stopped giving free repairs to those consumers, whose console is out of guarantee, but in-warranty repairs are still being provided.
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Xbox 360 console was the last gaming console, which was ventured in the markets, by Microsoft, after the company collaborated with Sega. Microsoft ported Windows CE to the Sega's Dreamcast. Seamus Blackley was the part of the small team of Microsoft, which developed the first edition of Xbox. The release of this console was delayed, as it was mentioned that it will be released in 1999, but it did not release on announced date, which was disclosed by the CEO of that time, Bill Gates.
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Microsoft stated in a press release that Bill Gates wanted to release a game console, which according to him was essential for the multimedia convergence. Bill Gates unveiled this console in 2000, at the Games Developers Conference and the audiences were dazzled by this technology. At the time, when Gates announced the release of this console, Sega's Dreamcast was about to diminish from the markets and Sony's Play Station 2 was all set to hit the markets of Japan.
In order to concentrate only on the markets of Japan, Microsoft delayed the release of the console in the markets of Europe, but later on the market of Europe was proven to be more successful and receptive. The two main members of the team, which worked on the development of Xbox; Seasmus Blackley and Kevin Bachus, left the company, but other members of the same team including Otto Berkes and Ted Hase are still with Microsoft, but both of them are not working on the project of Xbox.
The production of Xbox was ceased in the year of 2005 and in this way the production of this console was ended and it resulted in the manufacturing of Xbox 360. The console was released on 22nd November 2005. The functions and features of Xbox 360 were far better than the original Xbox, in terms of superior storage and audio and video capabilities.
Basically, Xbox is considered to be the first console, which wielded a hard disc drive. It helped in automatic storing of games, contents and archives. It helped in eliminating the need of memory cards. It was also the only console, which featured Dolby Interactive Content-Encoding Technology, which helps in the encoding of real time Dolby Digital, in gaming consoles. This console is based on commodity PC hardware, which is much stronger, efficient and heavier than its rivals. This is the result of DVD ROM Drive and because of the standard-size 3.5-inch hard drive. Xbox has also put in great concern on the safety and precautionary measures including the availability of breakthrough cables, which helps the console from being pulled off from the floor, on which it rests.
The controller of Xbox features two analog sticks, a directional pad; which is pressure sensitive, two analog triggers, back button, start button, two slots for accessories and six 8-bit analog buttons. The standard controller of Xbox is called Duke. This controller was for all the territories, except for Japan. This controller has been greatly criticized because of its big size and bulky shape. Duke has been listed in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, as the biggest controller of any gaming console and this console was also ranked as the second worst controller by IGN editor; Craig Harris.
Microsoft launched Xbox Live on 15th November 2002. This is an online service, which helps the gamers to play online games. This service did not only help in playing online games, but the users can also download new content directly to the hard drives of their systems. This service only works with broadband and within two months after Xbox Live's launch, around 250,000 subscribers signed up to this service. The popularity and demand of this service has been increasing and now the number of subscribers of this online service has reached up to 20 million subscribers.
Halo: Combat Evolved is the most famous game of Xbox, which was launched in North America, on 15th November, 2001 and the sequel of Halo 2 is considered to be the best-selling first generation Xbox game, which is popular worldwide.
Although, there are many features of Xbox, which are considered to be outdated, but still there is great demand of this console.
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