Andy Williams

Compilations of interest to collectors. [1] (http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/12/afx2024549.html). Other labels. NVidia have announced that they will cease production of the Xbox's GPU in August of that year, which will almost certainly mark the end of that console's production. Columbia Records. Microsoft is expected to release a new generation of Xbox hardware, the Xbox 360, in 2005. Cadence Records. To avoid frustrating early adopters, they offered a bundle containing two games and one controller for free to any purchaser who could provide a sales receipt showing the original higher price.

Williams's birthplace in Wall Lake, Iowa is a tourist attraction open most of the year. Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. He hosted a major golf tournament in San Diego for many years, which was known as the Andy Williams San Diego Open during that time. With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console (interestingly, the PS2 had faced similar attacks during the UK tabloids' preoccupation with "Ripoff Britain"). Williams is an avid golfer. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. Williams's homes have been featured in Architectural Digest, and he is a noted collector of modern art. As with many games consoles (for example, the PlayStation series), the Xbox was launched with a price in GBP equal to its US price in USD (in this case, $/£299), and this price then converted for the rest of Europe.

They make their homes at Branson, Missouri and La Quinta, California. Of note is the high European launch price. Williams married a second time in the 1990s to the former Debbie Haas. Oceania. They were divorced in 1975. Europe. To this union were born three children, Noelle, Christian, and Robert. North America.

Williams married French chanteuse Claudine Longet in 1961. Currently, it is believed that Microsoft compares each Xbox's serial number and hard drive serial number upon connecting to Live, and that any "unpairing" of the two will result in a ban for the user associated with the console. Nearly everything Williams ever recorded has now been made available on CD through a series of compilations from 1997 to 2004. One theory is that there is a "marriage" of one's hard drive serial number and one's Xbox's serial number, and banning if one of those two change due to part replacement. Another is that it might check for modified files, and another suggesting that Microsoft is detecting if the unique hard drive key of every Xbox has changed. His 1967 recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" was a surprise hit in England in 2003, following closely on the heels of a new duet of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" with a British model and singer, Denise Van Outen. There has been several theories on how banning in this new method is done. He continues to do 8-12 shows a week from September to December and occasionally makes tours of Europe earlier in the year. But as of November 2004, Microsoft has been taking new actions for banning Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service.

In the early 1990s, Williams gave up most of his touring schedule in order to open his own theatre in Branson, Missouri, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater. Also, most internal hardware modifications will render an Xbox unable to participate in Xbox Live which is why many modders use a switch to turn on and off their modifications to the Xbox. He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976-77. Modding an Xbox may require opening the Xbox case, and would certainly void the Xbox's warranty. He hosted the Grammy Awards for three consecutive years in the 1970s. A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years. Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/) software (XBMC) allowing the playing of DVDs without the $30 DVD dongle/remote and streaming of music and video files from the hard drive or from another computer over a network.

His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. This requires a modded Xbox using one of the alternative dashboards, and is used by scrupulous users to eliminate load times or leave their games in storage, and by unscrupulous users to play illegally copied games. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. Then Xbox games can be copied from the DVD to the hard disk and then played directly from the hard drive. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. This series, "The Andy Williams Show," won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. This is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it.

Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had some hit singles including "Can't Get Used to Losing You," "Happy Heart," and "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story." Building on his experience with Allen and some short-term variety shows in the 1950s, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This allows running an alternate dashboard such as Avalaunch, Evolution-X or UnleashX and in turn makes playing original (free) homebrew games such as Star Wars or various older games through arcade and games console emulators possible. This was repeated the next year with the pair's "Days of Wine and Roses" (which also won), Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards. Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams's theme song. However, there are many reputable sites in the UK (where overall, it is still technically legal) selling pre-loaded modchipped Xboxes. Williams forged a collaborative relationship with Henry Mancini, although they never recorded together. Hardware modding can involve anything from simply replacing the console's green decorative "jewel" with a custom-designed one to opening up the case and installing a modchip.

Among his hit albums from this period were "Moon River," "Days of Wine and Roses" (number one for 16 weeks in mid-1963), "Dear Heart," "The Shadow of Your Smile," "Love, Andy," "Get Together with Andy Williams," and "Love Story.". The recent popularity of the Xbox has inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms (sometimes in order to use the Xbox as a low cost web server), as well as to add customized design touches to the console's case (similar to PC case modding). By 1973 he had earned as many as 17 Gold records. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. He was primarily an album artist, and at one time he had earned more Gold Albums than any solo performer except Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. The API was developed jointly between Microsoft and NVIDIA, whose chips power the Xbox graphics. During the 1960s, Williams became one of the most popular vocalists in the country and signed what was to that time the biggest recording contract in history. Microsoft's set of low-level APIs for game development and multimedia purposes, DirectX, was used as a basis for the Xbox's hardware programming (as well as its name, which implies "DirectX Box").

Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams's later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits in the 1960s. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams's peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Numerous unofficial third-party cables and breakout boxes exist that provide combinations of outputs not found in these official video packages; however, with the exception of a few component-to-VGA transcoders and custom-built VGA boxes, the four official video packages represent all of the Xbox's possible outputs. Bernadette," and "Lonely Street," before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles. Currently, all Xbox consoles come with a "Controller S", and the original version of the controller (also known as 'The Duke') is no longer sold. More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song," "Are You Sincere," "The Village of St. Another common complaint about the system was that the original game controller design was seen as too large for some people. For the Japanese Xbox launch, a new and smaller controller was introduced, a design which was subsequently released in other markets as the "Controller S", which eventually replaced the original design.

His third single, "Canadian Sunset' (1956) hit the Top Ten, and was soon followed his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" (a cover of a Charlie Gracie record on which Williams imitated Elvis Presley). While some elements of the Xbox's design, like break-away cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being yanked from the shelf, take the size into account, it has undoubtedly hurt the system's sales to the space-conscious Japanese. After landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1955, he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. Despite managing to be smaller and lighter than similar commodity PCs, the Xbox has found itself a target of mild derision, as gamers poke fun at it for things like a (overly cautious) warning in the Xbox manual that a falling Xbox "could cause serious injury" to a small child or pet. He recorded six sides for RCA's label "X," but none of them were popular hits. This is largely due to the large, tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. Williams's solo career began in 1952 after his brothers left the act. The Xbox is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries, and shipped with an unusually large controller.

This led to a nightclub act with Kay Thompson, a comedian, from 1947 to 1951. The Xbox does not use Windows CE due to Microsoft internal politics at the time, as well as limited support in Windows CE for DirectX. They appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star" (1944). Although the Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and runs a stripped-down version of the Windows 2000 kernel using APIs based largely on DirectX, it incorporates restrictions designed to prevent uses not approved by Microsoft. Williams graduated from high school in Cincinnati. racing/driving games) where the music is inconsequential to what is happening in the game. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Dick, and Don, formed a quartet, the Williams Brothers, in the late 1930s, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. Custom Soundtracks are often supported in non-cinematic games (e.g.

He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. The inclusion of the hard disk not only serves as a disk cache for faster game loading times compared to the PS2 and repository for saved game information (eliminating the need for sold-separately memory cards), it also allows users to download and save new content for their games from Xbox Live and copy music from standard Audio CDs so players can partially or completely replace the soundtrack of Xbox games that support Custom Soundtracks, all firsts in console history. Andy Williams (born Howard Andrew Williams in December 3, 1927) is an American pop singer from Wall Lake, Iowa. However, it still uses standard console architecture. B Sides and Rarities, Collectables, 2003, (contains recordings as early as 1948, many of which had never appeared on any album before). Microsoft built the Xbox around industry-standard PC hardware, unlike the traditionally proprietary design of nearly all other gaming consoles. Complete Columbia Chart Singles Collection, Taragon, 2002. Several internal hardware revisions have been made to discourage modding, cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (the early units' drives were prone to failure).

The Best of the Cadence Years, Varese Sarabande, 1997. The milestone of 1 million subscribers was announced in July 2004. 16 Most Requested Songs, Columbia/Legacy, 1990. This online service only works with broadband. Easy Does It, Metro, 2002. In November 2002, Microsoft released the successful Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with (or against) other subscribers all around the world and download new content for their games to the hard drive. Andy Williams Live: Christmas Treasures, 2001. Microsoft predicted that it would not make a profit on the Xbox for at least three years and that turned out to be correct; the division had its first profitable quarter in 2005.

Branson City Limits [Live], Unison, 1998. In much of Europe, the Xbox is currently slightly ahead of the GameCube, but is still far behind the PlayStation 2. It's a Wonderful Christmas, Publishing Mills, 1997. The Xbox has not sold well in Japan, due to the Japanese people's poor acceptance of non-Japanese consoles, limited Japanese developer support, few game choices and the large size of the hardware itself. We Need A Little Christmas, Unison, 1997. While some critics were initially concerned that the Xbox would allow Microsoft to extend its dominance of the PC software market to consoles, as of February 2005 estimates show the Xbox's share of the worldwide console market is only comparable to the Nintendo GameCube and far behind the PlayStation 2. The New Andy Williams Christmas Album, Laserlight, 1994. The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small crew including Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist.

Nashville, Curb, 1991. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and Project Gotham Racing. I Still Believe in Santa Claus, Curb, 1990. The price is currently 149 USD, 149 EUR, 99 GBP, 200 CAD, 249 AUD, 290 NZD and 1200 NOK. Feelings, PolyTel, 1989. It is Microsoft's first independent venture into the console arena, after having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console. Close Enough for Love, Atlantic, 1986. The Xbox is Microsoft's game console, released on November 15, 2001.

From Andy With Love, Hallmark, 1985. NZ$249 (2004 Q4,2005). The Andy Williams Wedding & Anniversary Album, CSP, 1981. NZ$299 (2004 Q2). Greatest Love Classics, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1984. AU$249 (2004,2005). Let's Love While We Can, 1980 (not released in US until 2004). NZ$349 (2004).

Spanish Eyes, 1976. AU$299 (2004). Andy, 1976. NZ$399 (2003). The Other Side of Me, 1975. AU$349 (2003). Christmas Present, 1974. NZ$499 NZD (3 October, 2002, Launch Price).

You Lay So Easy on My Mind, 1974. AU$399 AUD. The Way We Were, 1974. AU$699 AUD (26 April 2002, Launch Price) (Quickly dropped to $399 to compete with launch of Nintendo Gamecube). II, 1973. £99 (August 27, 2004). Andy Williams' Greatest Hits Vol. €149 (August 27, 2004).

Solitaire, 1973. £130 (2003). Alone Again (Naturally), 1972. €199 (2003). Love Theme from the Godfather (Speak Softly Love), 1972. €249 (August 30, 2002). You've Got a Friend, 1971. €299 (Launch Price (Rest of Europe) and Ireland April 26, 2002).

Love Story, 1971. £299 GBP (Launch Price March 14, 2002),. Andy Williams' Greatest Hits, 1970. €479 (Launch Price (Ireland) 14 March, 2002),. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, 1970. CAD$199 (March 29, 2004). The Andy Williams Show, 1970. US$149 (March 29, 2004).

The Andy Williams' Sound of Music, 1969. US$179 (2003). Get Together with Andy Williams, 1969. US$199 (2002). Happy Heart, 1969. US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price). Honey, 1968. Approved by Microsoft for wireless gameplay with Xbox.

Love, Andy, 1967. Logitech 2.4 Ghz wireless controller. Born Free, 1967. Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure. In the Arms of Love, 1967. Note that some recent games (e.g. The Shadow of Your Smile, 1966. Memory Unit: An 8 MB removable solid-state memory card onto which game saves can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox Dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game.

Andy Williams' Newest Hits, 1966 (compilation of early Columbia singles). The white and black buttons are located below the ABXY buttons, and the Back/Select buttons are similarly placed below the left thumbstick. Merry Christmas, 1965. Once the standard Xbox controller in Japan, it was released in other territories by popular demand, and eventually replaced the standard controller in the retail pack for the Xbox console. Hawaiian Wedding Song, 1965 (reissue of the Cadence Records album To You Sweetheart, Aloha). Controller S: A smaller, lighter Xbox controller. Canadian Sunset, 1965 ( reissue of the 1962 Cadence Records compilation Andy Williams' Best). The black and white buttons are located above the ABXY buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are located between and below the d-pad and right thumbstick.

Dear Heart, 1965. It is considered to be bulky. The Great Songs from My Fair Lady and Other Shows, 1964. Standard Xbox Controller (AKA "Controller O"): The normal Xbox controller for all territories except Japan, this has since been replaced in Xbox packs by the Controller S, and due to its increasing rarity, is believed to have been discontinued. Call Me Irresponsible, 1964. It also allows users to upload pictures in JPG format (to create slide shows) as well as audio in WMA and MP3 format (for karaoke or a game's Custom Soundtracks feature) from a Windows XP machine running the Xbox Music Mixer PC Tool (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/musicmixer/pctool-overview/). The Wonderful World of Andy Williams, 1964. Provides a music player with 2D/3D visualizations as well as basic karaoke functions.

The Andy Williams Christmas Album, 1963. Xbox Music Mixer: A utility software bundled with a microphone that connects to an adapter that plugs into the top expansion slot of a controller. Days of Wine and Roses, 1963. Although there is nothing to prevent the Xbox from acting as a progressive-scan DVD player, Microsoft chose not to enable this feature in the Xbox DVD kit in order to avoid royalty payments to the patent-holder of progressive scan DVD playback. Can't Get Used To Losing You, 1963. By selling a DVD remote separately, Microsoft was able to bundle the cost of the DVD licensing fee with it. Warm and Willing, 1962. DVD playback was not included as a standard feature of the Xbox due to licensing issues with the DVD format that would have added extra cost to the console's base price.

Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes, 1962. DVD Playback Kit: Required in order to play DVD movies, the kit includes an infrared remote control and receiver. Danny Boy and Other Songs I Love to Sing, 1962. It can also be used for DVD playback. Million Seller Songs, 1962. Xbox Media Center Extender: A kit that allows Xbox to act as a Media Center Extender to stream content from a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC. Andy Williams' Best, 1961 (compilation including Cadence singles which had never appeared on an album). This functionality is similar to Sega's DirectLink for Sega Saturn.

Under Paris Skies, with Quincy Jones, 1961 (William's Last Album of New Material for Cadence). System Link Cable: A Cat 5 crossover cable for connecting together two to four consoles, for up to 16 total players. Bernadette, 1960. The headset can in fact be replaced with most standard earpiece-and-microphone headsets; headset specialist Plantronics produce various officially-licenced headsets, including a special-edition headset for Halo 2. The Village of St. Xbox Live Starter Kit: A subscription and installation pack for the Xbox Live service, as well as a headset (with monaural earpiece and microphone) that connects to a control box that plugs into the top expansion slot of a controller. Lonely Street, 1959. While the official Wireless Adapter guarantees compatbility with the Xbox, almost any wireless bridge can be used.

To You, Sweetheart, Aloha, 1959. Xbox Wireless Adapter: a wireless bridge which converts data running through an ethernet cable to a wireless (802.11b or 802.11g) signal to connect to a wireless LAN. Two Time Winners, 1959. Ethernet (Xbox Live) Cable: A Cat 5 cable for connecting the Xbox to a broadband modem or router (note that there is no "official" Xbox Live cable; any PC ethernet cable can be used). Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1959. As Europe has no HDTV standard, no High Definition cable is currently provided in those markets. Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen, 1959. Advanced SCART Cable: The European equivalent to the Advanced AV Pack, providing a full RGB video SCART connection in place of S-Video, RCA composite and stereo audio connections (composite video and stereo are still provided by the cable, through the SCART connector, in addition to the RGB signal), while retaining the TOSLINK audio connector.

Andy Williams, 1957 (compilation of A and B sides of second through seventh Cadence singles). Also provides analog RCA and digital TOSLINK audio outputs. High Definition AV Pack: A breakout box, intended for HDTVs, that provides a YPrPb component video signal over three RCA connectors. Advanced AV Pack: A breakout box that provides S-Video and TOSLINK audio in addition to the RCA composite video and stereo audio of the Standard AV Cable. RF Adapter: Provides a combined audio and video signal on an RF connector.

European systems come with a RCA jack to SCART converter block in addition to the cable. Comes with the system. Standard AV Cable: Provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. Dimensions: 324 × 265 × 90 mm (12.8 × 10.4 × 3.5 inches).

Weight: 3.86 kg. Controller Ports: 4 proprietary USB-based ports. HDTV Support: Yes, 480p/720p/1080i (see game boxes for supported resolutions). PAL TV's have less than 600 horizontal lines.

Note: NTSC (Non-HD) TV's have less than 500 horizontal lines. Maximum Resolution (2x32bpp frame buffers +Z): 1920(vert.)x1080(horiz)