Xbox (console)

The Xbox is a Xbox series of video game consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released as Microsoft's number one foray into a gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. this is the classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the number one major console exposed by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993.

The console was announced in March 2000. With the release of the PlayStation 2, which submission the ability to playback Intel Pentium III processor, a processor that could be found on a specification PC. The Xbox was the first console to feature a built-in hard disk. The console also was built with direct help for broadband connectivity to the Internet via an integrated Ethernet port, and with the release of Xbox Live, a fee-based online gaming service, a year after the console's launch, Microsoft gained an early foothold in online gaming and made the Xbox a strong competitor in the sixth types of consoles. The popularity of blockbuster titles such as Bungie's Halo 2 contributed to the popularity of online console gaming, and in specific first-person shooters.

The Xbox had a record-breaking launch in North America, selling 1.5 million units ago the end of 2001, aided by the popularity of one of the system's launch titles, , which sold a million units by April 2002. The system went on to sell a worldwide calculation of 24 million units, including 16 million in North America; however, Microsoft was unable to take aprofit off the console, which had a manufacturing price far more expensive than its retail price, despite its popularity, losing over $4 billion during its market life. The system outsold the GameCube and the Sega Dreamcast, but was vastly outsold by the PlayStation 2, which had sold over 100 million units by the system's end of production. It also underperformed external of the Western market; particularly, it sold poorly in Japan due to its large console size and an overabundance of games marketed towards American audiences instead of Japanese-developed titles. Production of the system was discontinued starting in 2005. The Xbox was the first in an ongoing brand of video game consoles developed by Microsoft, with a successor, the Xbox 360, launching in November 2005, followed by the Xbox One in 2013 and the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles in 2020.

Hardware

The Xbox was the first video game console to feature a built-in hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards although some older consoles, such(a) as the Amiga CD32, used internal flash memory, and others, such as the TurboGrafx-CD, Sega CD, and Sega Saturn, had featured built-in battery backup memory prior to 2001. An Xbox user could rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive, and these songs were used for the custom soundtracks in some games.

Unlike the PlayStation 2, which could play movie DVDs without the need for a remote predominance although an optional remote was available, the Xbox asked an external IR adapter to be plugged into a controller port in ordering to play movie DVDs. if DVD playback is attempted without the IR sensor plugged in, an error screen will pop up informing the user of the need for the Xbox DVD Playback Kit. The said kit sent the IR sensor and a remote authority unlike the PS2, the Xbox controller could not control DVD playback. Said remote was manufactured by Thomson which also manufactured optical drives for the console and went on sale in unhurried 2002, which meant a modified explanation of the remote layout used by the RCA, GE and ProScan consumer electronics of the era was used for the Xbox remote, and therefore users wishing to use a universal remote were instructed to utilize RCA DVD remote codes.

The Xbox was the first gaming product to feature Dolby Interactive Content-Encoding Technology, which makes real-time Dolby Digital encoding in game consoles. previous game consoles could only ownership Dolby Digital 5.1 during non-interactive "cut scene" playback.

The Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and 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. The Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being pulled from the surface upon which it rests.

Several internal hardware revisions take been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding hackers continually updated modchip designs in an try to defeat them, to cut manufacturing costs, and to make the DVD-ROM drive more reliable some of the early units' drives gave disc-reading errors due to the unreliable Thomson DVD-ROM drives used. Later-generation units that used the Thomson TGM-600 DVD-ROM drives and the Philips VAD6011 DVD-ROM drives were still vulnerable to failure that, respectively, either rendered the consoles unable to read newer discs or caused them to halt the console with an error code commonly indicating a PIO/DMA identification failure. These units were not indicated under the extended warranty.

In 2002, Microsoft and Nvidia entered arbitration over a dispute on the pricing of Nvidia's chips for the Xbox. Nvidia's filing with the SEC indicated that Microsoft was seeking a $13 million discount on shipments for NVIDIA's fiscal year 2002. Microsoft alleged violations of the agreement the two corporation entered, sought reduced chipset pricing, and sought to ensure that Nvidia fulfill Microsoft's chipset orders without limits on quantity. The matter was privately settled on February 6, 2003.

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