Xbox 360

As part of the December 4, 2007 dashboard update, a new feature, called Xbox Originals, was launched allowing users to download original Xbox games directly to their Xbox 360. The games have not been altered in any way, except that any demos and game previews have been stripped out. As of December 2007, all titles are available for 1200 Microsoft Points (US$15) each.The games available from the launch of the Xbox Originals are: Halo: Combat Evolved, Fable, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Psychonauts, Fusion Frenzy, Indigo Prophecy, and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. Videos previewing the service had shown Burnout 3: Takedown as a title, and though it was not included at launch, it became available on January 14, 2008.

Xbox Live Arcade is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute downloadable video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners. In addition to classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man, the service offers some new original games like Assault Heroes. The Xbox Live Arcade also features games from other consoles, such as the PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and PC games such as Zuma. The service was first launched on November 3, 2004,, using a DVD to load, and offered games for about US$5 to $15. Items are purchased using Microsoft Points, a proprietary currency used to reduce credit card transaction charges. On November 22, 2005, Xbox Live Arcade was re-launched with the release of the Xbox 360, in which it was now integrated with the Xbox 360’s dashboard. The games are generally aimed toward more casual gamers; examples of the more popular titles are Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting, and UNO.

he Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for the console that allows Xbox Live users to download purchased or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, gamertag images and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes as well as add-on game content (items, costumes, levels etc). These features are available to both silver and gold members on Xbox Live. A hard drive or memory unit is required to store products purchased from Xbox Live Marketplace. In order to download priced content, users are required to purchase Microsoft Points for use as scrip;though some products (such as trailers) are free to download. Users are able to view items available to download on the service through a PC via the Xbox Live Pipeline website.An estimated seventy percent of Xbox Live users have downloaded items from the Marketplace.

The Xbox 360 is available in three standard variants; the “Xbox 360 Arcade”, the “Xbox 360″, and the “Xbox 360 Elite”.A discontinued SKU, the “Xbox 360 Core”, was replaced by the “Xbox 360 Arcade” in October 2007.At launch, the Xbox 360 was available in two configurations: the “Xbox 360″ package, priced at US$399, and the “Xbox 360 Core”, priced at US$299. The original shipment of the Premium version included a cut-down version of the Media Remote, but this was removed from later shipments. The Elite package was launched later at US$479, and the “Xbox 360 Arcade” replaced the “Xbox 360 Core” in October 2007 at US$279.

Known during development as Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS, Xbox Next or NextBox, the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003.In February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsoft vice president J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, Washington, to recruit support for the system. Also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12, 2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, a deal which was publicly announced two days later. The following month, IBM agreed to develop the triple-core CPU for the console.Before the launch of the Xbox 360, several alpha development kits were spotted using Apple’s Power Mac G5 hardware. This was due to the system’s PowerPC 970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBM’s Xenon processor.

Xbox 360 is the second video game console to be produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Its Xbox Live service allows players to compete online and download content such as arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, and movies. The Xbox 360 is the successor to the Xbox, and competes with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It is the first console to provide a near-simultaneous launch across three major sales regions (Europe, Japan and United States). The console sold out completely at release (with the exception of Japan) and, as of February 22, 2008, 18 million units have been sold worldwide according to Microsoft.The Xbox 360 comes in three different versions, the “Arcade” console, the “Premium” console, and the “Elite” console, each having its own set of included accessories and features. Another version of the Xbox 360, called the “Core” has been discontinued, but still can be found in some retail stores.