Xbox 360

Xbox 360
Basic Information
Type(s)	Home Console
Generation	Seventh
Manufacturer(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Predecessor(s)	Xbox
Successor(s)	Xbox One
Competitor(s)	PlayStation 3, Wii
Unit(s) sold	80 million as of October 17, 2013
Top game(s)	Halo 3: 9.37 million as of March, 2009
Technical Information
Variant(s)	Xbox 360 Elite, Xbox 360 Arcade
Supported Media	DVD-ROM
Save Capabilities	20, 60, or 120 GB Hard Drive or 64, 256, or 512 MB Memory Card
Input(s)
Xbox 360 Wired Controller,Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
Features
Xbox Live HDTV ready DVD Video Playback
European Release
December 2, 2005
North American Release
November 22, 2005
Japanese Release
December 10, 2005
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The Xbox 360 is the second video game console from Microsoft and the first seventh-generation console. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with more information about the launch and games announced later that month at E3 2005. It competed with the PlayStation 3 and Wii. It was released in North America on November 22, 2005; Europe on December 2, 2005; and Japan on December 10, 2005.

The Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the console's lifetime. Available in free (Xbox Live Silver) and subscription-based (Xbox Live Gold) varieties, Xbox Live allows users to play games online, download games (through Xbox Live Arcade) and game demos, purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video portals, and access third-party content services through media streaming applications. Several peripherals have been released, including wireless controllers, expanded hard drive storage, and the Kinect motion-sensing camera. The release of these additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia, turning it into a hub for living-room computing entertainment.

Launched worldwide between 2005 and 2006, the earliest versions of the console suffered a high failure rate, indicated by the infamous "Red Ring of Death", necessitating an extension of the device's warranty period. As a result of these hardware failures, Microsoft released two redesigned models of the console: the Xbox 360 S in 2010, and the Xbox 360 E in 2013.

It was discontinued worldwide on April 20, 2016, and was succeeded by the Xbox One, which was released on November 22, 2013.

History

Development

Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS, or NextBox, the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003.

Launch

The Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005, in the United States and Canada; December 2, 2005, in Europe and December 10, 2005, in Japan. It was launched later in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Russia. In its first year in the market, the system was launched in 36 countries – more countries than any other console has launched in a single year.

Software

Games

Main article: List of Xbox 360 video games

The Xbox 360 launched with 14 games in North America and 13 in Europe.

Launch titles

According to IGN this was the launch list

• Amped 3 - (2K Sports)
• Call of Duty 2 - (Activision)
• Condemned: Criminal Origins - (SEGA)
• 2006 FIFA World Cup - (Electronic Arts)
• Gun (Activision)
• Kameo: Elements of Power - (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Madden NFL 2006 - (Electronic Arts)
• NBA 2K6 - (2K Sports)
• NBA Live 06 - (Electronic Arts)
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted - (Electronic Arts)
• NHL 2K6 - (2K Sports)
• Perfect Dark Zero - (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Peter Jackson's King Kong - (Ubisoft)
• Project Gotham Racing 3 - (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Ridge Racer 6 - (Namco)
• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - (Activision)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 - (Electronic Arts)
• Quake 4 - (Activision)

Interface

From top: the "Blades" UI; the "New Xbox Experience"; the "Metro" interface.

The Xbox 360's original graphical user interface was the Xbox 360 Dashboard, a tabbed interface that features five "Blades" (formerly four blades), and was designed by AKQA and Audiobrain. It could be launched automatically when the console booted without a disc in it, or when the disc tray was ejected, but the user had the option to select what the console does if a game is in the tray on startup, or if inserted when already on. A simplified version of it was also accessible at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. This simplified version showed the user's gamercard, Xbox Live messages, and friends list. It also allowed for personal and music settings, in addition to voice or video chats, or returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the game.

On November 19, 2008, the Xbox 360's dashboard was changed from the "Blade" interface, to a dashboard reminiscent of that present on the Zune and Windows Media Center, known as the "New Xbox Experience" or NXE.

Since the console's release, Microsoft has released several updates for the Dashboard software. These updates have included adding new features to the console, enhancing Xbox Live functionality and multimedia playback capabilities, adding compatibility for new accessories, and fixing bugs in the software. Such updates are mandatory for users wishing to use Xbox Live, as access to Xbox Live is disabled until the update is performed.

XNA community

XNA Community is a feature whereby Xbox 360 owners can receive community-created games, made with Microsoft XNA GAme Studio, from the XNA Creators Club. The games are written, published, and distributed through a community managed portal. XNA Community provides a channel for digital videogame delivery over Xbox Live that can be free of royalties, publishers and licenses.

Services

Xbox Live

When the Xbox 360 was released, Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live was shut down for 24 hours and underwent a major upgrade, adding a basic non-subscription service called Xbox Live Silver (later renamed Xbox Live Free) to its already established premium subscription-based service (which was renamed Gold). Xbox Live Free is included with all SKUs of the console. It allows users to create a user profile, join on message boards, access Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace, and talk to other members.

Xbox Live Marketplace

Main article: Xbox Live Marketplace

The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for the console that allows Xbox Live users to download purchases or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes as well as add-on game content (items, costumes, levels etc.). These features are available to both Free 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 and demos) are free to download. Microsoft Points can be obtained through prepaid cards in 1,600 and 4,000-point denominations. Microsoft Points can also be purchased through Xbox Live with a credit card in 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000-point denominations. Users are able to view items available to download on the service through a PC via the Xbox Live Marketplace website. An estimated 70 percent of Xbox Live users have downloaded items from the Marketplace.

Hardware specifications

Significantly, the Intel x86 processor of the Xbox has been replaced by a custom IBM-designed processor based on the PowerPC architecture.

According to the official Xbox website, the final specifications of the system are:

Technical problems

The three red lights that represent a general hardware error, also known infamously as the Red Ring of Death.

The original Xbox 360 model has been subject to a number of technical problems, with users reporting concerns over its reliability and failure rate.

The most infamous technical problem with the original model was the so-called "Red Ring of Death" – red lights on the Xbox 360's ring indicator that indicate a hardware problem such as overheating.

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU "Xenon"

• Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz
• Two hardware threads per core; six total
• VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
• 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
• 1MB L2 cache (Lockable by Graphics Processor)

Custom ATI C1 Based GPU "Xenos"

• 337 Million transistors total
• 500 MHz parent GPU (90 nm process, 232 Million Transistors)
• 10 MiB daughter eDRAM Framebuffer (90 nm process, 105 Million Transistors)
  • 256 GB/s internal memory bandwidth to internal logic for AA, 32GB/s to parent GPU (2 GHz x 64bit Bus)
• 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically-scheduled shader pipelines (ALU's for Vertex or Pixel Shader processing)
• Unified shader architecture (This means that the pipelines are shared between pixel pipelines and vertex shaders; for example, 42 pixel pipelines : 6 vertex shaders.)
• 16 Filtered & 16 Unfiltered Texture samples per clock
• Polygon Performance: 500 million triangles per second
• Pixel Fill Rate: 16 gigasamples per second fillrate using 4X MSAA
• Shader Performance: 48 billion shader operations per second (96 billion shader operations per second theoretical maximum)
• Dot product operations: 9 billion per second (Microsoft figure)

Memory

• 512 MB 700 MHz GDDR-3 RAM (unified memory architecture)
• Memory Bandwidth
  • 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
  • 256 GB/s eDRAM internal memory bandwidth
  • 32 GB/s GPU to eDRAM bandwidth
  • 21.6 GB/s frontside bus

Overall System Floating-Point Performance

• 1 TFLOPS

Audio

• Multichannel surround sound output
• Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
• 320 independent decompression channels
• 32 bit processing
• 256+ audio channels

Controller

Controller up close

The Xbox 360 has the ability to support four wireless controllers. Additionally it can support three wired

Xbox 360 Slim's controller

controllers through the use of its USB ports (two in front, one in back). The wired controller cords are nine feet in length and are breakaway similar to those used with the Xbox.

The controller for the Xbox 360 is a similar yet improved version of the Type-S gamepad for the original Xbox. The Xbox 360 controller adds the new feature of the Xbox guide button, which has the appearance of the Xbox 360 emblem and is surrounded by a ring of light. Pressing the Xbox guide button will bring the Xbox 360 out of sleep mode or instantly bring up the "Xbox Guide". The ring of light lights up to designate what controller "port" the gamepad is currently using and which console (if more than one) the controller is connected to. The black and white buttons have been redesigned as shoulder buttons, now referred to as bumper buttons, located above the left and right triggers. The rear of the controller has been redesigned to include a new port where the player can connect a headset. The new port replaces the two non-standard USB connectors on the front of the Xbox controller.

Xbox Guide

The Xbox Guide is a tabbed interface that contains several features such as:

• Xbox Live
• Marketplace
• Favorites List
• Custom Playlists
• Friends Lists
• and more

Physical Dimensions and Weight

• The Xbox 360 weights 7.7 pounds or 3.62 kg
• 309mm wide x 83mm high x 258mm deep
• 12.15" wide x 3.27" high x 10.15" deep

Miscellaneous

• Support for WMV HD DVD Video, Standard DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG photo CD
• Media Center Extender capability
• All games support a 16:9 aspect ratio and 720p, 1080i, and 1080p video modes
• Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported
• At least 4x Anti-Aliasing will be enabled at all times
• Customizable faceplates to change the appearance
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• Support for 4 wireless controllers
• Detachable 20, 60, or 120 GB hard drives
• Wi-Fi ready (802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g), using an Xbox 360-specific or third-party wireless bridge accessory. Xbox 360 consoles will automatically detect and link with other Xbox 360 consoles within range.

Packages

Name	Info	Image
Saint Row Bundle	On September 8, 2007, an Xbox 360 bundle with Saint's Row was released in Europe only for 439 Euros.
Trusty Bell Bundle	On June 14, 2007, Microsoft released a Trusty Bell bundle for Japan. It includes a Xbox 360, wired controller, copy of Trusty Bell and a special DVD soundtrack
Best of Halo Bundle	In January 2009 Microsoft released a Best of Halo Bundle, which includes a Xbox 360 Pro, a wireless controller, a one-month Xbox Live Silver account, Halo 3 and Halo Wars. The bundle cost $350 USD and will be sold in Europe
Game of the Year Bundle	In May 2009 Microsoft released a Game of The Year Bundle, which includes a Xbox 360 Elite, Halo 3, and Fable 2. The bundle cost $399 USD
Gears of Wars Bundle	On June 4, 2009 a Gears of War bundle is released for Australia. The bundle includes Gears of War, Gears of War 2, an Xbox 360, and a controller. The bundle cost AUD$449.

Gallery

• 

  "Xbox 360" package

• 

  "Core 360 System" package

• 

  Xbox Live interface

• 

  Xbox 360 from all angles.

See also

• List of Xbox 360 video games
• List of region-free Xbox 360 video games
• Xbox 360 games category
• Xbox
• PlayStation 3
• Wii

External Links

• Faulty Xbox 360 Repair Guides
• Xbox 360 3 Red Lights Fix
• Connect Xbox 360 with USB modem