Xbox 360

Xbox 360 is a video game platform.

Recent Images News Videos Community Guides

The Xbox 360 is the second game console produced by Microsoft Corporation and is the successor to the original Xbox. It is currently the second best selling console of the console generation and was the first of the three to be released.

Overview

The Xbox 360, the second video game console from Microsoft Corporation, was officially unveiled on May 12, 2005 during a special presentation show that aired live on MTV.
The Xbox 360 logo
The Xbox 360 logo

Co-Developed with IBM, ATI, and Silicon Integrated Systems, the Xbox 360 uses the triple-core IBM designed Xenon as its CPU, ATI Xenos which has 10 MB of embedded eDRAM as the graphics processor and has a main memory pool of 512 MB.  Development of the Xbox 360 began in early 2003, a year and a half after the original Xbox release.

Following the official unveil on MTV, Microsoft announced launch dates at its 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference.  Launching in North America on November 22, 2005,  December 2, 2005 in Europe, and  December 12, 2005 in Japan, the Xbox 360 has gone on to sell more than 29 million units as of April 2009.

Current SKUs

Xbox 360 Arcade

An entry level Xbox 360 that replaced the now discontinued Xbox 360 Core. The Xbox 360 Arcade sports a wireless controller, 256 MB memory unit (Which has now been replaced with an internal 256mb chip in the 'Jasper' version of consoles), composite AV cable, HDMI 1.2 output, and 5 Xbox Live Arcade titles: Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Uno on a single disk.  This disc also includes a "Welcome Video" and several game trailers/demos.  Officially announce on October 22, 2007, the Xbox 360 Arcade has a MSRP of $199.99 USD. Recently Microsoft confirmed that they are now putting internal memory into the Xbox 360 Arcade.  This storage will be the same size as the previous external memory units: 256MB.  Xbox 360 Arcade systems packaged for the 2008 holiday shopping season are bundled with a copy of Sega Superstars Tennis.

The Xbox 360
The Xbox 360


Xbox 360 Pro

The Xbox 360 Pro, available in the "Go Pro" bundle, has a MSRP of $299.99 USD and replaced the Xbox 360 Premium SKU.  Included in the bundle are all the features found in the Xbox 360 Arcade with an included 60 GB hard drive and a hybrid composite/component cable.  The Pro bundle does not include an HDMI cable.  The pre-loaded, detachable 60GB hard drive comes with game demos, video clips and a free Live Arcade game: Hexic HD.  The hard drive allows for the storage of downloaded content, backwards compatibility with original Xbox games and storage of game saves.  The Xbox 360 Pro bundle carries an MSRP of $299.99 USD.  The Pro SKU has had a few modifications to it.  Prior to August 2008, the included HDD was only 20GB.  For the 2007 holiday shopping season, Microsoft bundled copies of Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance with the Xbox 360 Pro.  In 2008, the holiday bundle included Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda.

Xbox 360 Elite

The Elite is currently the most expensive Xbox 360 configuration carrying an MSRP of $399.99 USD.  It has all of the features of the Xbox 360 Pro, but comes with an upgraded 120 GB hard drive, packed-in HDMI cable, and has a matte black finish with matching controller and headset.  For the 2008 holiday shopping season, The Elite model came packed with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda.

Former SKUs

Halo 3 Special Edition (Discontinued)

Prior to the release of Halo 3, Microsoft revealed the Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360, with an MSRP of $399.99 USD.  The system's specifications were virtually identical to the Xbox 360 Premium at the time.  The system, wireless controller, and headset were painted in "Spartan green and gold," and the case sported the Halo 3 logo.  The system came with an exclusive Dashboard theme and a Play and Charge Kit for the wireless controller.

Xbox 360 Premium (Discontinued)

The Xbox 360 Premium was identical to the current Xbox 360 Pro configuration but with an older CPU architecture.  Manufacturing for the Premium branded units ceased in August 2007.

Xbox 360 Core (Discontinued)

The Xbox 360 Core was the barebones 360 model that carried an MSRP of $279.99 and was similar to the current Arcade configuration.  It included a wired controller, had no HDMI port, and did not include any kind of storage.  The Xbox 360 Core was often seen as a misstep because its production meant that developers could not take advantage of the features Xbox 360 HDD in their games, since not all users would have one.  It's main benefit to Microsoft was in marketing the platform when it was launched, as they were able to state that consumers could buy an Xbox 360 for "under $300," even though the more desirable Xbox 360 Premium was close to $400 USD at the time.

New Xbox Experience (NXE)

The old Xbox 360 Dashboard
The old Xbox 360 Dashboard
Since launch the main way of interacting with the Xbox 360 has been using the 'Dashboard', a menu system split into sections by 'Blades'; initially the 'Dashboard' consisted of 4 'Blades' Live, Games, Media and Settings; a blade was later added which separated the Xbox Live Marketplace from the Xbox Live 'Blade'. At the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Microsoft announced it would be completely redesigning the Xbox Dashboard into a more conventional menu system dubbed the New Xbox Experience.

The New Xbox Experience (NXE) is designed to be more user friendly and to be expandable as new content is added, it takes several design cues from the likes of Apple and Nintendo. and introduces several new features such as Avatars and Live Party. The New Xbox Experience will be out November 19th.

Features that were announced initially such as video sharing and Xbox Live Primetime will not be available at launch and will be added at a later date.

Notable features of the NXE:

  • Avatars: A 3D representation of the user, replaces the current Gamercard; however Microsoft assure gamers they can still use their old Gamercard.
  • Live Party: A group of up to 8 people, allows users to voice chat independent of which game they are each playing.
  • Play From Drive: Allows players to copy disc content over to the HDD in order to cut down load times and DVD drive noise. The disc of the game played from the HDD is still required to be in the DVD drive.
    The New Xbox Experience
    The New Xbox Experience
  • Deleting Zero-Point games: The ability to delete games with no achievements unlocked has become possible, so that players may improve their ratio of possible achievements to ones gained.

The new Xbox 360 Guide (right) will mimic the interface of the current "Blade" dashboard system that is currently used. It will be accessible in all Xbox 360 games to mange messages/invites, create parties, view player statistics, et cetera.

The NXE update was be distributed initially over Xbox Live starting Fall '08, it will later be included as an update on Xbox 360 game discs; this update will be mandatory.  It has been confirmed by Microsoft that the "Next Xbox Experience"  will require roughly 128 MB of storage space to install.  For those customers who bought an Arcade or Core machine who may have less than 128 MB of storage space Microsoft is offering a solution.  People who visit are asked to enter their consoles serial number and console ID which can be found in the system information section of their dashboard.  Microsoft is then offering either a 512 MB Memory Unit for free or a 20 GB Hard Drive for $20.  Customers who have had a big enough storage device attached and connected to Xbox LIVE will not have this offer available to them.

Features after NXE
At CES 2009 Microsoft's Robby Bach announced Xbox Live Primetime. Primetime is the newest channel on Xbox Live that will create scheduled programming at specific time so you can find friends & experience live events. One of the first games to run in Primetime is 1 VS 100. Xbox Live Primetime & 1 VS 100 will be available Spring 2009.

Criticisms

There are a number of criticism that are often leveraged against the Xbox 360, the main one being unreliable hardware quality; however, excessive DVD drive noise and a confusing amount of hardware configurations are also targeted by critics of the system.

'The Red Ring of Death'

Red Ring of Death
Red Ring of Death
The Xbox 360 has gained a reputation for a high failure rate, sometimes rumored to be as high as 30% although Microsoft have denied the failure rate is that high; they have not released an official failure rate. The most common hardware failure is the General Hardware Failure, denoted by the bottom two and upper right quadrant of the Ring of Light flashing red; leading to the failure being dubbed the 'Red Ring of Death'. This failure renders the console unable to boot or 'bricked' and the only official course of action for the consumer being to call Xbox support to ship the console back to Microsoft where it is either repaired or replaced. While there is no official course of action on fixing the Red Ring of Death there are some unofficial solutions to try. The most popular is called the "towel trick" in which you take everything off of your Xbox 360, your hard-drive, A/V cables ect. The only thing you want plugged in is the power supply. Now you wrap it in three (3) large towels (the ones you would use to dry yourself off after a shower) and turn it on. Let it sit running for 20-30 minutes, turn it off, and let it cool off for another 15. Then turn it on and it should work. *Note this is not a permanent solution.*

No official reason has been given by Microsoft as to why this error is so common place, however most speculation points towards insufficient cooling around the GPU leading to a warping of the motherboard. Microsoft has taken steps to solve this problem by adding an additional heat sink to the GPU in later units and units returned from repair. These changes were included in a chipset refresh codenamed 'Falcon' which also includes a 65nm CPU to further reduce heat. An as yet unreleased chipset refresh, codenamed 'Jasper', will introduce a 65nm GPU and is hoped to solve the 'Red Ring of Death' problem.

As well as these hardware revisions Microsoft has increased the Xbox 360 warranty to 3 years, however this is only to cover the 'Red Ring of Death' all other hardware problems are only covered for 1 year; this was reported to have cost Microsoft $1 billion.

DVD Drive Problems

The DVD Drive is often the target of criticism, mostly for the excessive noise produced and an apparent tendency for scratching discs. These issues are less apparent in later models of the 360 as Microsoft have replaced the initial DVD drive with a quieter model from BenQ.

Power Adapter Size

The Xbox 360's power adapter is significantly larger than similar adapters on previous consoles.  Though this criticism was mostly vocal at the beginning of the Xbox 360's retail life, and it is recognized as a minor gripe, Microsoft has not reduced the power adapter's size over the life of the console.

Xbox Live Arcade File Size Restriction

Xbox Live Arcade games had to come in under the 50 MB file size restriction. Many people felt that that 50MB was to small to create games. Over time Microsoft stretched the size to 150MB then 250MB. Now with games coming out like Watchmen: The End is Nigh (1.2GB) and past games like Portal: Still Alive (625MB) & Street Fighter II HD Remix (369MB) it seems like Microsoft has loosened its grip over Xbox Live Arcade file size restrictions.

Xbox 360 games
Edit
Platform Name: Xbox 360
Release Date: Nov. 22, 2005
Online Support: True
Install Base: 29,780,000
Original Price: $399
Producing Company: Microsoft Game Studios
Total Games: games
David Beckham
first in
14
Wayne Rooney
first in
14
Cristiano Ronaldo
first in
13
Steven Gerrard
first in
12
Ashley Cole
first in
11
John Terry
first in
11
Michael Ballack
first in
11
Deco
first in
11
Joe Cole
first in
11
Ricardo Carvalho
first in
11
The United States of America
first in The Oregon Trail
68
New York
first in
61
Japan
first in
43
Space
first in Spacewar!
43
Parking lot
first in
41
Europe
first in
39
Los Angeles
first in
31
Chicago
first in
31
Washington, D.C.
first in
31
North America
first in
30
Achievements
first in Kameo: Elements of Power
438
3D
first in Elite
273
Xbox Live
first in Unreal Championship
197
Voice Acting
first in
145
Health
first in
139
Online
first in
137
Xfire
first in
134
Jump
first in Donkey Kong
133
Downloadable Content
first in
133
Cutscene
first in Pac-Man
133
Gun
first in
180
Shotgun
first in
132
Pistol
first in
131
Helmet
first in
119
Grenade
first in
108
Sword
first in
103
Sniper Rifle
first in Snipes
103
Tree
first in
98
Assault Rifle
first in
96
Machine Gun
first in
91

You are in Edit Mode. Make sure to save your work at the end!!
  • Submissions can take 24 hours to be moderated.
  • Please leave a comment to explain why you're making this change.
Save Changes Cancel