Specifications
- Height: 3.1'
- Width: 11.8'
- Depth: 7.1'
- Weight: 8.8 lbs
- Media Type: DVD-ROM
- CPU: X86-to-RISC Intel Pentium III or Celeron 733 MHz
- RAM installed: 64 MB
- RAM technology: DDR SDRAM
- Cache size: 128 KB
- HDD Capacity: 8 GB
- Video Output: NVidia Xbox GPU 256-bit 2D/3D graphics acceleration
- Supported Video: NTSC S-Video Installed,Component video Installed,Composite video Installed
- Max resolution (external): 1920 x 1080 pixels Graphic Effects Shadows,Fog effects,Pixel Shaders,Vertex Shaders,Texture lighting,Bilinear filtering,Trilinear filtering
- Fill Rate: 4000 million pixels/sec
- Audio Processor: NVidia Xbox MCP
- Sound Output Mode: Stereo
- Memory Card: 8mb Flash
- Net: Intergrated 100mbps modem/LAN
- Ports: 1 Xbox AV output Xbox AV connector Installed,4 Game controller,1 Network RJ-45 Installed
The XBOX is Microsoft’s entry into the videogame industry. Released in November 2001 in the United States, this system quickly became a gamer’s favorite. The launch success was greatly due to the concurrent release of the game, Halo: Combat Evolved, which today is still a very popular game and has developed into many sequels. What made the XBOX so promising was the fact that Microsoft was already quite successful in the home computing software industry. This consumer interest was inspired on the name recognition and the fact that an ample amount of quality software would be released on this platform. It helped increase its sales dramatically. Microsoft also did a fairly good job promoting its product in the United States as well. The XBOX brought to the consumer a totally awesome sound environment with its 5.1 stereo capacity. Couple this with extremely powerful graphic capabilities, it was an instant winner. Also notable is that this is the first system that I know of, which utilizes a hard drive which allows you to download add-ons, updates and games from the XBOX live subscription service. It also replaces the memory cards that were popular on the other systems which you had to use to save your game play. All of these factors helped this system to compete against the other platforms which were out at the time (Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube).
The XBOX did fairly well in its competition against the other consoles of its time. It was the second best selling console, running behind the Sony Playstation 2, in overall sales. This was helped by the advance technology that came with this system. It sported a fairly quick DVD player, 4 game ports with breakaway cable connectors that prevented damage if the controllers were pulled too hard from the console. It also had an Ethernet network and internet connectivity, which allowed you to play online, with a Microsoft XBOX live subscription or even at a bootleg site. The graphics are incredible and intense. The video processor has the capacity to compute over one trillion operations per second and with a core processor which was advanced for its time; it was a winning combination. It would be appropriate to say that it was very high tech and cutting edge at its release. Other notable issue about the XBOX is the storage capacity of its hard drive. It sported a 10 gigabyte hard drive. This was enormous for its time and could hold almost unlimited game saves and you could save game down loads from the Xbox live service.
The controllers had two analog joysticks and can be found in two variations. The earliest variation is slightly bulkier than the later generation controllers. You can also find various wireless controllers to supplement the original controllers
Interestingly the Xbox never sold very well in Japan. It is hard to understand and easy to understand in context of the Japanese culture. The Xbox system itself is fairly bulky. When you compare the Xbox to the GameCube system and the Playstation 2 system, it has a huge footprint. It’s not a tower, but rather is a huge slab of computer plastic. In Japan, space is limited and is a huge consideration when a person buys a product. Simply put, the Xbox took too much of the storage space for the average Japanese video gamer. Add on a little nationalistic pride and you have an unfavorable environment which made it difficult for the Xbox to compete against its Japanese rivals. The audacity of an American company competing with a traditionally Japanese industry severely limited the Xbox sales in Japan.
The Xbox is a very durable system. I have had the same unit for years and have logged what seems half my life on this system. There are differences in the hardware of the Xboxes as well and one should be familiar with these differences. Usually the units come with a Thompson DVD player. The Thompson unit is the standard media player. This unit would not read CD-R type disks. This was obviously an attempt by Microsoft to prevent bootlegging. Other units, such as the limited edition Mountain Dew version, came equipped with the Samsung DVD player. The Samsung DVD unit did not have this limitation and would read all DVD and CD media. Of course you can modify and replace the Thompson DVD with the Samsung if you were interested in modifying your unit. The Xbox was also capable of being modified with a MOD chip. You can read all about modification of the Xbox in the chapter which deals with modifications of game systems.
