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This article is about the Xbox brand. For the 2001 console, see Xbox (console). For other uses, see Xbox (disambiguation).
 Division of Microsoft Corporation | |
| Industry | Video game consoles |
|---|---|
| Products | Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass |
| Website | Xbox.com |
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. It represents a series of video game consoles developed by Microsoft, with entries in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth generations respectively. The brand also represents applications (games), streaming services, and an online service by the name of Xbox Live. The brand was first introduced on November 15, 2001 in the United States, with the launch of the original Xbox console.
The Xbox was the first video game console offered by an American company since the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. It sold over 24 million units as of May 10, 2006.
Microsoft's second console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005 and has sold over 83 million consoles worldwide as of 2017. The successor to the Xbox 360 console, the Xbox One, was revealed on May 21, 2013. The Xbox One has been released in 21 markets in total, with a Chinese release on September 29, 2014. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S were both announced at E3 2019 and were released globally in November 2020 as the successors to the Xbox One.
The head of Xbox is Phil Spencer, who succeeded former head Marc Whitten in late March 2014.
Consoles[]
- Xbox (2001 to 2006)
- Xbox 360 (2005 to 2016)
- Xbox One (2013 to 2020)
- Xbox Series X|S (since 2020)
Services[]
Xbox Live[]
Xbox network (formerly Xbox Live) is an online service with over 65 million users worldwide (as of July 2019).[1] It comprises an online virtual market, the Xbox Live Marketplace, which allows the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia. Online gaming on the Xbox first started on November 15, 2002 worldwide. The service is still active and continues to be played by many gamers.
Microsoft Store[]
Microsoft Store is an online marketplace made for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. Users can buy games, apps, movies, and other content via digital download.
The Xbox 360 console uses the previous Xbox Games Store client.
Xbox Live Marketplace[]
The Xbox Live Marketplace (XBLM) is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content. The service offers movie and game trailers, Video Store, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie Games (Previously Community Games), Games on Demand (Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals), downloadable content such as map packs, gamer pictures, and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes.
The August 11, 2009 update added Xbox 360 games for download, the Avatar Marketplace, and renamed Community Games to Indie Games.
The Spring 2007 update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard relocated the Marketplace to its own "blade" in order to bring more attention to the service and make it more accessible to users. Although this has been obsoleted by the NXE update, the section has been implemented into three separate sections in the Dashboard: the Game Marketplace, Video & Music Marketplace, and Avatar Marketplace.
Downloaded content requires enough space on either the Xbox 360's hard drive, or an Xbox 360 Memory Unit. Selected downloads are placed in a queue and are downloaded whilst the console is powered on and is connected to Xbox Live. Users can choose to send certain downloads to the front of the queue to be downloaded first. Downloads are temporarily halted during certain times where games make use of Xbox Live's features (e.g. online multiplayer).
Xbox SmartGlass[]
Xbox SmartGlass is a companion application for Xbox 360 available for Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Phone, iOS, Android (version 4.0 and above) and Windows Server 2012. It was announced by Microsoft during E3 2012 and released on October 26, 2012, coinciding with the release of Windows 8. It connects with the Xbox 360 and allows more interactive entertainment, allowing mobile devices to potentially serve as second screens and remote controller. Currently Windows 8 and Windows RT Tablets and PCs, Windows Phone (7.5 and 8) iOS devices, and Android smartphones (4.x) are compatible with SmartGlass, providing information such as Halo 4 stats and Forza Horizon GPS. Users of Windows Server 2012 can currently download the application from the Windows Store after installing the Windows Desktop Experience feature in the Server Manager.
Xbox Game Pass[]
Xbox Game Pass is a video game subscription service for use with the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 and 11, as well as Android and iOS devices via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox Game Pass grants users access to a rotating catalog of games from a range of publishers and other premium services, including Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, for a single monthly subscription price. Subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate have access to Xbox Cloud Gaming at no additional cost.
Xbox Wire[]
Xbox Wire is the official news blog of the Xbox brand, launched by Microsoft in May 2013 in preparation for the announcement of the Xbox One. It was Microsoft's first Xbox-focused blog since it shut down Gamerscore in early 2009. In March 2022, a Japanese-language version of the site was published as part of Microsoft's focus on the Japanese gaming market.
Software[]
Xbox 360 Dashboard[]
- See also: Xbox 360 System Software
The Xbox 360's original graphical user interface was the Xbox 360 Dashboard; a tabbed interface that featured 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 start up, 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.
Xbox One Dashboard[]
Controllers[]
Original Xbox Controller[]
Released in 2001, the Xbox control pad was the first controller made for the original Xbox. The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a pressure-sensitive directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons). The standard Xbox controller (originally nicknamed the "Fatty" and now more commonly the "Duke") was originally the controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan.
Xbox 360 Controller[]
Released in 2005, the Xbox 360 controller for the Xbox 360 succeeded its predecessor. A standard Xbox 360 controller features eleven digital buttons, two analog triggers, two analog sticks and a digital D-pad. The right face of the controller features four digital actions buttons; a green "A" button, red "B" button, blue "X" button and yellow "Y" button. The lower right houses the right analog stick, in lower left is a digital D-pad and on the left face is the left analog stick. Both analog sticks can also be "clicked in" to activate a digital button beneath. In the center of the controller face are digital "Start", "Back" and "Guide" buttons. The "Guide" button is labelled with the Xbox logo, and is used to turn on the console/controller and to access the guide menu. It is also surrounded by the "ring of light", which indicates the controller number, as well as flashing when connecting and to provide notifications. The left and right "shoulders" each feature a digital shoulder button, or "bumper", and an analog trigger.
Xbox 360 Kinect[]
Kinect (stylized as KINECT) is a motion sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game console and Windows PCs. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typical gamer base. Kinect competes with the Wii Remote Plus and PlayStation Move with PlayStation Eye motion controllers for the Wii and PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively. A version for Windows was released on February 1, 2012.
Xbox One Controller[]
The Xbox One console has a revised controller with forty improvements over the 360's controller. This new controller is built to work with Kinect. The Start and Back buttons are replaced with Menu and View buttons. It has impulse triggers that replace the regular triggers. The button with the Xbox logo will once again bring up the guide as it did on the Xbox 360.
Xbox One Kinect[]
Although featuring improved performance over the original Kinect, its successor has been subject to mixed responses. It has been praised for its wide angle, its fast response time and high quality camera. However, the Kinect's inability to understand some accents in English was criticized. Furthermore, controversies surround Microsoft's intentional tying of the sensor with the Xbox One console despite the initial requirements for the sensor being plugged in at all times having been revised since its initial announcement. There have also been a number of concerns regarding privacy
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ Madan, Asher (18 July 2019). "Xbox Live monthly active users grew to 65 million over the past 3 months". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019.