Xbox

Microsoft Xbox
Released: 2001
Created By: Microsoft
Price: $149.99 / £79.99 / €169,99

It may seem hard to believe now, but when word first got out that Microsoft was going to make a new console system to challenge the likes of video game heavyweights Sony and Nintendo, nearly everyone sided with the fact that the company was too inexperienced in this area and that a system from them wouldn’t last in the highly competitive market place, and would go the way other American systems like the 3D0 or the Atari Jaguar. Matter of fact, a lot of people didn’t believe that three systems could survive simultaneously in the first place. It’s all about the games though, so here’s a peek:


“An American game system?”, people exclaimed. “I’ll stick with my Sony and Nintendo, thank you.”

The interesting thing is, Sony was looked at the same way before they introduced their Playstation to challenge then video game mainstays Sega and Nintendo. As everyone knows, the Playstation would go on to become the most successful game console in history. So how has Microsoft fared?

Microsoft, as most people know, is one of the richest, most powerful companies in the world. Thanks to their almost complete domination of the PC market due to their Windows Operating System and multiple other products for the PC. The pockets of Microsoft run very, very deep; obviously, this put Microsoft (MS) in a very good position to be one of the few companies in the world that could stand to break into the industry against such juggernauts as Sony (the largest electronics company in the world) and Nintendo (the largest video game developer and publisher in the world) and succeed. Due to their vault of billions of dollars, MS didn’t have to worry as much about the costs of developing, marketing and producing a video game console and game titles.

The Xbox (sometimes abbreviated “XB”) was in development for years, and thanks to MS deep pockets, they were able to attract most 3rd party developers to make at least one game for their system, even if it was just an updated port of an existing game from another console. Microsoft did have some previous game experience in the PC sector (and with once-console creator Sega), but it wasn’t nearly enough experience that was generally thought to be needed in the console sector, which differs widely from the world of computer games. Thus they went out and made some prize accusations, such as buying the creators of Halo, Bungie, for $5 million dollars, and later on they would buy one of Nintendo’s greatest 2nd-party developers, Rareware, for over $100 million (all that cash of which Nintendo pocketed outright, covering the losses they were set to endure that year due to slumping sales and the development costs of the GameCube).

MS also did extensive research into what gamers said they wanted for a new game system (which they incorporated into the design of the controller and the system itself), and they included broadband internet support out of the box (and would later launch their highly praised Xbox Live service, still considered to be the best online infrastructure for a game console), the ability top play DVD movies (although you had to buy a separate remote due to licensing issues with the DVD format, the remote was later bundled with the system) as well as a hard drive built directly into the system (a first for a console). The hard drive was really the first thing about the system that truly made it stand-out from its competitors, breaking the rule of having to have memory cards to save your games. With the Xbox no memory cards were needed (although they could be bought separately for those times when you wanted to take a saved game to a friend’s house), you simply saved games directly onto the Xbox’s hard drive, and the hard drive was so huge that you never had to worry about space, which was a huge breath of fresh air, due to the expensive prices of memory cards for the PS2 and GameCube and having to manage the cards. Nothing was worse than starting a game and making good progress only to realize that there isn’t enough space on the memory card to save, which by then it was already too late.

It was features like these that really caught the eye of the mainstream audience, and that’s not even mentioning the Xbox’s superior graphic and sound capabilities when compared to its competitors.

When the Xbox launched in 2001 it was a major success. Despite not having the greatest launch library, the system still did extremely well (even though people complained the controller was too big. It was later replaced with a smaller one) and continued to sell, and Microsoft’s fan-base grew and grew, eventually catching the eye of nearly every game developer the world over, who continued to pump out high quality games for the system.

Interestingly enough, the biggest selling point in Microsoft’s game library was the Bungie first-person shooter Halo (a launch game for the system), which would go on to become one of the best-selling games of all time, certainly the top-selling game in the entire Xbox library. The popularity of Halo simply shot through the roof; matter of fact, some people have gone so far as to suggest that the Xbox system as a whole may have failed if it wasn’t for Halo. People literally bought the system for Halo, and the release of the sequel was a landmark event in gaming, debuting with the crazy success that is usually only reserved for feature films. In fact, the rights to a Halo movie were recently announced and the film will be executive produced by The Lord of the Rings mastermind Peter Jackson. Halo has literally become Microsoft’s savior, and it’s funny to think that the company that made it, Bungie, was a relatively unknown developer before the insane success of Halo, which originally started out as a real-time strategy game on the PC before the company was scooped up by Microsoft.

The Xbox would go on to become the 2nd best-selling console in nearly all the regions of the world except for Japan, where the American console has yet to even make a crack in the market-place, which is dominated by Sony and Nintendo (both Japanese developers). However neither Microsoft nor Nintendo can even come close to catching up to Sony sales-wise, whose Playstation 2 console has sold over 100 million units worldwide. Compared to the GameCube’s 20 million and the Xbox’s slightly higher 22 million units sold worldwide.

On Nov. 22nd 2005, Microsoft launched its successor to the Xbox, the Xbox 360, in North America, and will have launched the system in Europe on Dec. 2nd and Japan on Dec. 10th (the first ever near-simultaneous global console launch). The launch was a huge success for Microsoft, despite shortages of the system, although that only served to increase demand for the hard-to-get console for the upcoming Christmas season. For more information on the 360, see our Xbox 360 console overview.

So for the person who’s looking for a system to buy, should they look into the Xbox? At this point in time, the original Xbox is still very much a viable option; it will take a while to be phased out by the superior Xbox 360. There are still plenty of upcoming games for the system and the Xbox library itself if massive, with tons of great games. If however you are big into Japanese RPGs, then you would be better of springing for a PS2, since if there’s one genre the Xbox lacks, it’s Japanese RPGs (American RPGs however are in abundance, unlike on Sony’s system). But anyway you slice it, the Xbox has the games to satisfy, and if you are looking for online gaming, then the Xbox, with it’s superior Xbox Live service, is definitely the way to go (unless you’d like to go for the more advanced Xbox 360 and Live 2.0).

Features: built-in hard drive, online-ready out of the box [requires a broadband internet service], the hard drive means you don’t need to spend extra cash on memory cards, the hard drive allows you to save music from your CD’s onto the system for future listening and also allows you to put your music into certain games that support the “Custom Soundtrack” feature, four-controller ports, can play DVD movies if you have the DVD remote.

Pros: A huge library of games, the best graphics and sound capabilities compared to the PS2 and GCN, a huge library of great games at a budget price (Microsoft’s Platinum Hits line-up), the included hard drive means you don’t need to spend extra money on memory cards, the original Xbox Live online service is still better than what the PS2 offers.

Cons: Will become more and more obsolete due to the Xbox 360, the console is still expensive when compared to the GameCube

Launch Games Included: Halo, Cel Damage, Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive 3, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, Max Payne, MX 2002 featuring Ricky Carmichael, Amped, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2, Airforce Delta Storm, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Batman: Vengeance, Dark Summit, Azurik: Rise of Perathia, Kabuki Warriors, Shrek, NBA Live 2002, NHL 2002, Fuzion Frenzy, NFL Fever 2002, Star Wars: Obi-Wan, WWF Raw Is War, NASCAR Thunder 2002, NHL Hitz 20-02, Mad Dash Racing, Starfighter: Special Edition, New Legends, UFC Tapout, Nightcaster, Test Drive Off-Road: Wide Open, Transworld Surf, SSX Tricky, NFL 2K2, NFL Blitz 20-02, The Simpsons: Road Rage, Arctic Thunder

Great Exclusive Xbox Games Include: Halo 1* & 2, the Dead or Alive series (3, Ultimate, Extreme Beach Volleyball), the Oddworld Series (Much’s Oddysee and Stranger), Crimson Skies, Blood Wake, Fable* and Fable: The Lost Chapters*, the Project Gotham Racing series, the Amped series, Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1* & 2, Ninja Gaiden & Ninja Gaiden: Black, the Otogi series, Forza Motorsport.

* = PC version also available

Share This