Xbox

Xbox
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.

Price History
Europe (prices include tax)


 * €479.99 (Launch Price (Europe) (March 14, 2002)
 * €499 (Launch Price (Finland) (March 14, 2002)
 * €299.99 (April 26, 2002)
 * €249.99 (August 30, 2002)
 * €199.99 (April 10, 2003)
 * €149.99 (August 27, 2004, Last official MSRP)
 * €99 (Ireland; Christmas 2005 promotional price)
 * €99 (Spain, January 2006 promotional price)
 * €99 (Italy, 2006)
 * €79 (The Netherlands, March 2006)

United Kingdom


 * £299.99 (March 14, 2002, Launch Price)
 * £199.99 (April 26, 2002)
 * £159.99 (August 30, 2002)
 * £129.99 (April 10, 2003)
 * £99.99 (August 27, 2004, Last official MSRP)
 * £49.99 (Christmas 2006)
 * £39.99 (January 2007)
 * £29.99 -PREOWNED- (Jan 2008)

North America


 * US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price) (C$449)
 * US$199 (May 15, 2002) (C$299)
 * US$179 (May 14, 2003) (C$249)
 * US$149 (March 29, 2004) (C$199)

Oceania


 * AU$699 (March 14, 2002, Launch Price)
 * AU$399 (April 26, 2002)
 * AU$239 (2004)
 * AU$209 (2005)
 * AU$188 (2006 Q2)
 * AU$100 (2007)
 * NZ$499 (October 3, 2002, Launch Price)
 * NZ$399 (2003)
 * NZ$349 (2004)
 * NZ$299 (2004 Q2)
 * NZ$249 (2004 Q4) (2005)

Japan


 * ¥34,800 (February 2, 2002, Launch Price)
 * ¥24,800 (May 22, 2002)
 * ¥16,800 (November 20, 2003)

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), 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 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). 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.

The Controller S, a smaller, lighter Xbox controller was originally the standard Xbox controller only in Japan (codenamed "Akebono"). 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.

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.