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The Xbox is a sixth generation video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed directly with Sony's PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia. It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.
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History
The Xbox was Microsoft's first product that ventured into the video game console market, after having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. Notable launch titles for the console included Halo: Combat Evolved, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Dead or Alive 3, Project Gotham Racing, and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.
Development
The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team that included game developer Seamus Blackley. Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which was revealed at the end of 1999 following interviews of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Gates stated 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.
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. Additionally, a venture into the gaming console market would diversify Microsoft's product line, which up to that time had been heavily concentrated on software.
According to Dean Takahashi's book, Opening the Xbox, the Xbox was originally to be named "DirectX-box", to show the extensive use of DirectX within the console's technology.[4] "Xbox" was the final name decided by marketing, but the console still retains some hints towards DirectX, most notably the "X"-shaped logo, which DirectX is famous for, along with the "X" shape on the top of the system.
As the console approached launch, Microsoft's J Allard was responsible for the hardware and system software development, Ed Fries was responsible for game development on the platform, and Mitch Koch was responsible for sales and marketing; all three reported to Robbie Bach. This team was also primarily responsible for Microsoft's follow-up product, the Xbox 360.
Price history
| Europe (prices include tax)
United Kingdom | North America
Oceania
Japan
|
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) on April 26, 2002, just a month and 12 days after its initial launch in the UK. To avoid frustrating early adopters, they offered any two current games and an extra controller for free to any purchaser who could provide a sales receipt showing the original higher price.
By September 15, 2005, Microsoft reported a four billion dollar loss in selling the Xbox gaming system.[5]
Xbox 360
NVIDIA ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August 2005, which marked the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005.
When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited number of the Xbox's game library through emulation. Emulation adds support for anti-aliasing as well as upscaling of the still standard definition image. 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. These updates are also available monthly as part of the demo disc that comes with each issue of Official Xbox Magazine. 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.
Hardware and accessories
Hardware
- See also: Xbox special limited editions
Xbox was the first console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves compressed in ZIP archives and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards (although some older consoles, such as the TurboGrafx-CD, Sega CD and Sega Saturn had featured built-in battery backup memory prior to this).[citation needed] Most of the games also use the hard drive as a disk cache, for faster game loading times.[citation needed] Some games support "custom soundtracks", another unusual feature allowed by the hard drive.[6] An Xbox owner can rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive and play their custom soundtrack, in addition to the original soundtrack of Xbox games that support the feature.
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. however, it also incorporates changes optimized for gaming and multimedia 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.[citation needed]
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 inch hard drive. 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.
The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands and caused cramping in the hands of some users. 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". In addition, all future Xbox consoles were shipped with a "Controller S", while the original controller (known as Controller "0" or "The Duke"[citation needed]) was quietly discontinued.
Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in an attempt to defeat them), to cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units' drives gave Disc Reading Errors due to the unreliable Thomson DVD-ROM drives used). Later generation of Xbox units that used the Thomson TGM-600 DVD-ROM drives and the Philips VAD6011 DVD-ROM drives were still vulnerable to failure that rendered the consoles either unable to read newer discs or caused them to halt the console with an error code usually indicating a PIO/DMA identification failure, respectively. These units would not be covered under the extended warranty.
In 2002, Microsoft and NVIDIA entered arbitration over a dispute on the pricing of NVIDIA's chips for the Xbox.[7] NVIDIA's filing with the SEC indicated that Microsoft was seeking a US$13 million discount on shipments for NVIDIA's fiscal year 2002. Additionally, Microsoft alleged violations of the agreement the two companies entered, sought reduced chipset pricing, and sought to ensure that NVIDIA fulfill Microsoft's chipset orders without limits on quantity. The matter was settled on February 6, 2003, and no terms of the settlement were released.[8]
Central Xbox gaming units were manufactured in Hungary, while the controllers were manufactured primarily in Indonesia.
Technical specifications
 | This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
- CPU: 32-bit 733 MHz Coppermine-based Mobile Celeron in Micro-PGA2 package. 180 nm process.
- SSE floating point SIMD. 4 single-precision floating point numbers per clock cycle.
- MMX integer SIMD.
- 133 MHz 64-bit GTL+ front side bus to GPU.
- 32 KB L1 cache. 128 KB on-die L2 "Advanced Transfer Cache".
- Shared memory subsystem
- GPU and system chipset: 233 MHz "NV2A" ASIC. Co-developed by Microsoft and NVIDIA.
- 4 pixel pipelines with 2 texture units each
- 932 megapixels/second (233 MHz x 4 pipelines), 1,864 megatexels/second (932 MP x 2 texture units) (peak)
- 115 million vertices/second, 125 million particles/second (peak)
- Peak triangle performance: 29,125,000 32-pixel triangles/sec raw or w. 2 textures and lit.[citation needed]
- 485,416 triangles per frame at 60fps[citation needed]
- 970,833 triangles per frame at 30fps[citation needed]
- 4 textures per pass, texture compression, full scene anti-aliasing (NV Quincunx, supersampling, multisampling)
- Bilinear, trilinear, and anisotropic texture filtering
- Similar to the GeForce 3 and GeForce 4 PC GPUs.
- Storage media
- Audio processor: NVIDIA "MCPX" (a.k.a. SoundStorm "NVAPU")
- 64 3D sound channels (up to 256 stereo voices)
- HRTF Sensaura 3D enhancement
- MIDI DLS2 Support
- Monaural, Stereo, Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital Live 5.1, and dts Surround (DVD movies only) audio output options
- Integrated 10/100BASE-TX wired ethernet
- DVD movie playback
- A/V outputs: composite video, S-Video, component video, SCART, Optical Digital TOSLINK, and stereo RCA analog audio
- Resolutions: 480i, 576i, 480p, 720p and 1080i
- Controller ports: 4 proprietary USB ports
- Weight: 3.86 kg (8.5 lb)
- Dimensions: 320 × 100 × 260 mm (12.5 × 4 × 10.5 in)
Official 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 an 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: 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: Intended for HDTVs, it 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 had no HDTV standard when the Xbox was released, no high definition cable was 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 converters 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.
Networking
- Ethernet (Xbox Live) cable: A Cat 5 cable for connecting the Xbox to a broadband modem or router.
- 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 produces various officially-licensed headsets, including a special-edition headset for Halo 2.
- System Link cable: A Cat 5 Ethernet 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.
Multimedia
- Xbox Windows Media Center Extender: A software kit released by Microsoft which allows Xbox to act as a Windows Media Center Extender to stream content from a Windows XP Media Center Edition computer. 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. The DVD Playback kit only plays DVDs from the local region. The DVD Playback kit will also allow the Xbox to play VCD movies. By default, the Xbox can only play Xbox games and audio CDs.
- 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. It provides a music player with 2D/3D visualizations as well as basic karaoke functions. It also allows users to transfer pictures in JPEG format (to create slide shows) as well as audio in MP3 or WMA format (for karaoke or a custom game soundtrack) from a Windows XP or Windows Vista machine running the Xbox Music Mixer PC Tool.
Controllers and removable storage
The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 4-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, Black, and White).
The standard Xbox controller (also known as the Duke controller)[citation needed], originally the normal Xbox controller for all territories except Japan, has since been quietly discontinued and replaced in Xbox packs by the Controller S. The Duke controller was designed for foreign gamers because of their larger hands. The Duke controller has been criticized for being relatively large and bulky compared to other video game controllers (it was awarded "Blunder of the Year" by Game Informer in 2001).[9] The black and white buttons are located above the A, B, X, and Y buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are located between and below the d-pad and right analog stick. Also, the standard face buttons (A, B, X, and Y) were oriented in an oblong parallelogram rather than a uniform diamond, which was very unusual compared to other standard controllers.[citation needed]
The Controller S, a smaller, lighter Xbox controller was originally the standard Xbox controller only in Japan (codenamed "Akebono").[10] It was subsequently released in other territories by popular demand, and eventually replaced the standard controller in the Xbox's retail package. The white and black buttons are located below the A, B, X, and Y buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are similarly placed below the left analog stick. This controller has received its share of criticism as well, especially with regards to placement of the black/white and back/start buttons.[11]
An 8 MB removable solid state memory card can be plugged into the controllers, onto which game saves (.zip archives 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 and that some games may work differently with this. This system has been defeated by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though some unique technical information concerning the recipient Xbox must be known. It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, allowing the user to share it with another Xbox owner, assuming both have access to Xbox Live.
Games
The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch titles was Halo: Combat Evolved which was well received by critics.[12] Its sequel, Halo 2, is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game worldwide.[3] Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3.[13][14][15] However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy[16] and Azurik: Rise of Perathia[17]) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox.
Although the console 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 them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox's main selling points. Additionally, 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 (although they were later ported to the Xbox and are no longer exclusive).
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 in late 2002 alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically acclaimed 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, 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.
In 2004, Halo 2 set records as the highest-grossing release in entertainment history making over $125 million in its first day,[18] as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal that would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live.
The last widely released game for the Xbox was Madden NFL 08, in August 2007. However Ratatouille was released exclusively in EBGames and Gamestop stores on 28th September 2007.
Xbox Live
On November 15, 2002, Microsoft launched its 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 system's hard drive. This online service works exclusively with a broadband Internet connection. Approximately 250,000 subscribers had signed up within two months of Xbox Live's launch.[19] In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers, and a year later, in July 2005, that membership had reached two million. An Xbox Live Gold subscription (which allows the user to access the most features of any membership) currently costs US$50 a year (roughly US$4 a month). Recently, competitive leagues have been created, namely playing Halo 2. Leagues include prizes and sponsorships.
Xbox modding
The popularity of the Xbox inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms, a practice informally known as modding. The Xbox BIOS was dumped a few months after release, and hacked so it would skip digital signature checks and media flags, allowing unsigned code, Xbox game backups, etc., to be run. This is due to flaws in the Xbox's security.[20] Modding an Xbox in any manner will void its warranty, as it may require disassembly of the console. Having a modified Xbox will also disallow it from accessing Xbox Live as it contravenes the Xbox Live Terms of Use,[21] however most modchips can be disabled, allowing the xbox to boot in a "stock" configuration, softmods can be disabled by "coldbooting" a game (having the game in the DVD drive before turning the console on, so the softmod is not loaded) or by using a multiboot configuration.
Four main methods exist of modding the Xbox:
- Modchip: Installing a modchip inside the Xbox that bypasses the original BIOS, with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms.[22]
- TSOP Flashing: Re-flashing the onboard BIOS chip with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms. The Xbox BIOS is contained on a commodity EEPROM (the 'TSOP'), which can be made writable by the Xbox by bridging points on the motherboard.[23] Flashing is usually carried out by using a specially crafted gamesave (see 'Game save exploit', below) to flash the onboard TSOP, but the TSOP can also be desoldered and rewritten in a standard EEPROM programmer. This method only works on 1.0 to 1.5 Xboxes, as later versions replace the commodity TSOP with an LPC ROM contained within a proprietary chip.[24]
- Softmods: Installing additional software files to the Xbox hard drive, which exploit programming errors in the Dashboard to gain control of the system, and overwrite the in-memory copy of the BIOS.[25] Soft modification is known to be safe for Xbox Live if the user enables multibooting with the Microsoft dashboard and an original game disc is used.[26]
- Game save exploit: Using select official game releases to load game saves that exploit buffer overflows in the save game handling.[27] When these special game saves are loaded, they access an interface with scripts for installing the necessary softmod files. Disassembly of the Xbox is not required when installing most game save exploits.
- Hot swap: Using a computer to change the data on the hard drive. This requires having the Xbox unlock the hard drive when it is turned on, then swapping the hard drive into a running computer. From there it can be accessed by a special LiveCD. The user installs the softmod files directly to the Xbox hard drive. This technique has been used extensively to harbor cheating on many online games. Disassembly is required to install this softmod.
Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center.[28]
There are also distributions of Linux developed specifically for the Xbox, including those based on Gentoo, Debian (see also Xebian), Damn Small Linux, and Dyne:bolic.
Alternative operating systems: Xbox Linux is a project that ported Linux to the Xbox. FreeBSD has also been ported to Xbox.
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