Xbox

. The tracklist for the single is as follows:. As the architectures are entirely different between Xbox and Xbox 360, unlike other backward compatible consoles such as the PlayStation 2, software emulation is the only viable option for compatibility.
. (Games in emulation add support for the Xbox 360's higher screen resolution and anti-aliasing abilities.) These emulators are periodically updated to add compatibility for older games; these updates are available for free on Xbox Live for those with the hard drive. Cloud Strife has his own side story, involving conflict with Sephiroth and his relationships with Tifa and Aerith. When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited subset of the Xbox's library (more than 200 games at US launch) through emulation. Another non-Nomura character included is Setzer Gabbiani of Final Fantasy VI, as a challenger in Twilight Town.

[17]. One of these was Vivi Ornitier of Final Fantasy IX, who appears in Twilight Town as a member in Seifer's group. NVIDIA ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August of that year, which almost certainly marks the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 featuring a new GPU from NVIDIA's rival ATI. It had been stated by Nomura that, although the first game strictly stuck to characters Nomura designed, this time around they were going to "take some risks", which implied that characters from the Final Fantasy games without involvement from Nomura could make an appearance. Microsoft's next generation Xbox, the Xbox 360, was released on November 22, 2005. The Moogles, featured in many different Final Fantasy titles, serve as shopkeepers in the world of Hollow Bastion. 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. Sephiroth, Cloud's ever-present enemy, comes along as well, battling Cloud.

Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. Cid Highwind also returns, but he is still wearing the same attire as in the previous game; he has a speaking role this time around as opposed to caption bubbles in Kingdom Hearts. With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console. Tifa Lockhart of Final Fantasy VII also makes her first cameo in the series, wearing her Advent Children attire. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. Aerith Gainsborough also appears, albeit wearing a modified version of her Before Crisis clothing. 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. Squall Leonhart (Leon) and Selphie Tilmitt of Final Fantasy VIII, and Cloud Strife and Yuffie Kisaragi as depicted in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children return as cameos in Hollow Bastion.

Of note is the high European launch price. Younger versions of Seifer Almasy, Fujin (called "Fuu"), and Raijin (called "Rai") from Final Fantasy VIII appear in Twilight Town, as a "disciplinary committee". Oceania. Yuna, Rikku and Paine from Final Fantasy X-2 appear as fairies at the Hollow Bastion. Europe. Auron of Final Fantasy X will be Sora's partner in battle in Hercules' world. North America. Seventeen characters from the Final Fantasy series appear.

Recently, the firmware to the newer optical drives was edited to allow signed code to play. He works with the resurrected Maleficent, who refuses to relent in her desire for power. Modding your Xbox in this manner will definitely void your warranty, since it requires you to disassemble the console. Pete is also in the game as an ever-persistent enemy to Sora, Donald and Goofy, appearing in many worlds. There are now sites that offer to modify the software on your Xbox for free. Scrooge McDuck also makes an appearance. Probably the most legal way of modding the Xbox is replacing the whole motherboard so that you can install Linux or any other operating system designed for PC without having to hack anything. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty give Sora his new outfit.

One such successful use of Live to discourage modding was when the hit game Halo 2 was released, and many owners of modded consoles found out that they were permanently banned from the Xbox Live service, but was retaliated with On-Off switchable Modchips (or add-ons) and XBOX Live friendly softmods from XBOX hackers community. Merlin returns and will be in Disney Castle and Hollow Bastion, revealing the existence of Timeless River to the heroes. As of November 2004, Microsoft has been taking new actions for banning Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service. Yen Sid the sorcerer, Mickey's master in the movie Fantasia, makes an appearance, inhabiting a mysterious tower. Also, most internal hardware modifications will render an Xbox unable to participate in Xbox Live, which has forced many modders to use a switch that turns on and off their modifications. Characters from the previously unexplored worlds of Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron and The Lion King also play parts in the game. Modding an Xbox may require opening the Xbox case, and would certainly void the Xbox's warranty. Stitch from Lilo & Stitch and the titular characters of Chicken Little and Peter Pan act as new summons.

A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux, FreeBSD, or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. Potts, Chip, and Wardrobe from Beauty and the Beast, the merchant from Aladdin, Eric from The Little Mermaid, and Santa Claus as depicted in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center software (XBMC) allowing the playing of DVDs without the DVD dongle/remote and streaming of music and video files from the hard drive or from another computer over a network. In addition to the Disney characters that will be returning from Kingdom Hearts, there will also be additional characters from their movies including Megara, Pegasus, Pain, Panic and the Hydra from Hercules, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. This process does require 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. On these maps, a small Kingdom Keyblade indicates Sora's location. This allows the user to spare game disks from scratching and allows for faster load times. In addition, mini-maps can be found in each world.

Then Xbox games can be copied from the DVD to the hard disk with programs such as DVD2Xbox and PxHDDLoader, and then played directly from the hard drive. It is optional to have a map in the top-right corner of the screen. The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. There are two different Command Menus; a normal one, used to access magic, items and attack, and another used for attack, drive and party. This is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it. If the player desires, the command menu's design can be changed to the original Kingdom Hearts design in the options menu. This allows running an alternate dashboard such as UIX, Avalaunch, Evolution-X or UnleashX and in turn makes playing original (free) homebrew games or various older games through arcade and console game emulators possible. For instance, Olympus Coliseum's design shows the image of the top of the Coliseum, and Port Royal's design is to show a ship's steering wheel and the Pirates of the Caribbean logo.

Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. A new feature is that each world has their own command menu, which are sometimes animated. [15][16]. If you lose as Mickey, Sora will be automatically revived. He was sentenced to 140 hours community service, ordered to pay £750 costs at a court in Caerphilly, Wales, and his computer equipment was confiscated. After the bar is full, pressing the triangle button will bring Sora back to life. It is the first conviction since the Directive was enacted in October 2003 in the UK. This can also be done by constantly attacking the opponent.

(The Directive makes it illegal to circumvent copy protection systems on hardware including video game consoles). However, you must revive Sora to finish off the boss; this is done by pressing the triangle button repeatedly to fill up his Drive bar. This was the first conviction of its kind in the UK. Mickey is fast and his attacks are brutal, and he can shoot beams of magic from his Keyblade. In July 2005, a 22 year old Cambridge University graduate was convicted under the EU Copyright Directive for modifying Xboxes and selling them with an upgraded 200 GB hard drive, which was pre-loaded with 80 games. In certain boss battles, if Sora is knocked out, a second option may be available, called "I won't give up!" It allows you to play as Mickey Mouse. 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. There are four summons.

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). Instead of the summoned character being limited to only one action, the summoned character now has a menu of his own to perform multiple actions, some solo actions and some cooperative actions with Sora. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. The character will replace the two computer-controlled characters and fight alongside Sora for as long as the drive meter holds out. 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. Summoning however, uses the drive meter, so Sora can't drive and summon at the same time. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. Like the previous game, Sora can summon a particular character to aid him in battle when attaining each of their respective items.

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. Reflect causes a large shield to form around Sora for a very short amount of time, then crack and send out sharp shards a limited distance. Included with the Hello Kitty Crystal console was a matching Crystal Controller S and a copy of Hello Kitty Mission Rescue. Magnet creates a sphere that slowly sucks in enemies. A limited production run of 550 units was sold at a retail price of S$99 (US$61), if you purchase selected Samsung LCD TVs during a promotion. Two new abilities introduced to the game are Magnet and Reflect. The special edition console was translucent with a pink and orange Hello Kitty picture covering the X on top of the case. Casting spells in different drive forms also offers another variety to the spell effects, mostly increasing their strength.

The Hello Kitty Crystal Xbox was released with Sanrio in Singapore, to commemorate the release of Hello Kitty Mission Rescue on the Xbox. Some spells have been replaced, other have differing effects. Included with the neon green console was one of two games: Project Gotham Racing 2 or Amped 2. Sora's magic spells from Kingdom Hearts has been modified. Dew logo under the Xbox name. Later in the game Sora will also be able to perform team attacks with Donald and Goofy individually in similar fashion. The Mountain Dew Limited Edition Xbox was neon-green colored and had a special jewel atop the Xbox that had the words "Limited Edition" and the Mt. In the Olympus Coliseum world, for example, Sora has the option to perform a linked attack with Auron when battling enemies.

Production numbers are unknown. A gameplay addition gives Sora a special linked attack with any of the guest characters, and the effect varies depending on the character teaming up with Sora. The sweepstakes spanned 5 months – from April to August – in 2004. Reaction commands are often pivotal in defeating bosses as well. The Mountain Dew Limited Edition Xbox was only available through a Mountain Dew sweepstakes requiring loyal Dew-drinking Xbox fans to amass 550 points in order to "buy" the Limited Edition Xbox. For example, a nobody might shoot a red bullet at you, but with a well timed reaction command, Sora will kick the bullet back at it. Included with the Ice Blue console was a matching Controller S, and a copy of Halo 2. Reaction commands can also trigger counter moves as well.

The console was translucent blue and retailed for approximately $249. For example, against "Dusk" nobodies, your character will slide behind the normally evasive opponents and set you up for a combo. On March 18, 2005, an Ice Blue Halo 2 Limited Edition Xbox was released in Canada and Asia. The reaction command, similar to the Resident Evil 4 real time reaction commands, is used during fights and can allow you to perform certain actions when timed correctly. The original retail price was ¥22'800 yen ($215), and included the translucent blue console with a matching Controller S, a DVD Playback Kit, an Xbox Live Starter Kit with a free one-year membership, a copy of Dead or Alive Online, and a five-foot-long Kasumi body pillow. Sora is also unable to use either items or magic, and both of the computer controlled partners will dissappear regardless of who Sora drives with. The translucent blue case was based on the costume of Dead or Alive's main character, Kasumi, and had "Dead or Alive Online" written in white lettering in the lower left corner of the top of the case. Unlike the other forms, when this form occurs it will cancel out Drive when entering a new area as opposed to staying in effect.

The system had a limited manufacturing run of 5,000 units, and was released simultaneously with Tecmo's fighting game, Dead or Alive Online. While in this form, both partners disappear and Sora uses his "claws" for wide-range attacks that may be weak with individual attacks, but he also has a very high maximum combo count. On March 25, 2004, a Kasumi-chan Blue Xbox console was released in Japan. Sora turns completely black like a shadow, walks on all fours, and has yellow eyes, similar to a basic Heartless. 200,000 of these Xboxes were produced. Anti Form is a bizarre form that is caused by taking too much damage while in Drive form, and then attempting to use the Drive command afterward. The version of Halo that came with this bundle was identical to other versions of Halo, with the exception of a "NOT FOR RESALE" notice placed on the front of the game case. Wielding two Keyblades psychokinetically as well as the ability to fly incredibly fast, Sora wields incredible power in this form, dispatching enemies with ease and dealing increased physical and magical damage.

The console case featured the Halo logo and the words "Special Edition"; the controller had a jewel that had the Halo logo in place of the normal Xbox logo. When in Final Form, Sora will merge with both other party members and don silver and black clothing. This version was translucent green and came with a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved and a matching translucent green Controller S. The drawback to this form is that the drive meter will decrease quicker than the previous two drives. On March 14, 2004, Microsoft released a special version of the Xbox in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. His clothes turn yellow and black, and he is able to glide very swiftly as well as perform a double jump. A Crystal Controller S was also availible separately. Two Keyblades can be wielded,one psychokinetically and the other is held normally.

The Crystal console was re-released on October 8, 2004 in a new bundle (but with only one controller) at the normal Xbox price of €149/£99. Sora's combo potential is increased, and his magic power is increased as well. It is unknown how many Crystal Limited Editions were produced, however; later bundles were released pairing a re-released Crystal Xbox with different Xbox games and Xbox Live subscriptions. Master Form, where Sora merges with both Donald and Goofy, combines the powers of the Brave and Wisdom forms. With a price tag of €199/£139, the Crystal Limited Edition came with a transparent console and two matching Crystal Controller S. The other two forms have Sora combine with two of Donald, Goofy or another party member to attain greater power than in the other two forms. On March 14, 2004, the Crystal Limited Edition Xbox was released in Europe to celebrate the Xbox's European birthday. Wisdom Form replaces the attack command with shoot, which lets him shoot a blue magic bullet from the tip of the Keyblade in rapid fire if pressed continuously making Wisdom Form a long distance specialized form.

Included with the Pure White console was a matching Controller S, a DVD Playback Kit, and an Xbox Live Starter Kit with a free one-year membership and voice communicator. Sora gains a massive magic attack boost, and hovers across the floor never touching the ground, instead of running giving him superior movement control. The original retail price for the Pure White Limited Xbox was ¥19'800 yen ($186) and was only available for purchase online at the Official Xbox Japan website between the dates of January 30 and February 6, 2004. The other, Wisdom Form, is where Sora merges with Donald for this form, and he dons blue and black clothes. The words "Limited Edition 2004" were also carved into the jewel of the console, and into the exclusive Controller S (right below the Xbox name). Sora also runs twice as fast in this form. The system had a limited manufacturing run of 1,000 units and allowed purchasers to personalize their console with up to twenty letters (Japanese characters not allowed) engraved on the case. Sora wields two Keyblades which doubles his combo potential dramatically and also gives him additional attacks.

On February 22, 2004, a Pure White Limited Xbox Console was released in Japan, to commemorate the console's two-year anniversary in that country. Although he cannot use magic in this form, Sora gains a massive boost to his physical ability. The Translucent Green Limited Edition Xbox was also released in Candada and came with one matching Controller S and two games, Crimson Skies and Project Gotham Racing 2. One is Brave Form, where Sora merges with Goofy, and dons red and black clothes. The green Controller S was also sold separately. The first two forms have Sora merge with one of his permanent party members, Donald or Goofy. The styling of the Translucent Green Xbox is identical to Debug Units used in game development; of course, the retail versions lacked the words "Debug Unit" on the front of the case. There are five drive forms in all.

The console came with two matching Controller S and retailed for €229/£149. Three out of the five forms allow Sora to use two Keyblades instead of one, and the second keyblade may be equipped in the items menu for this purpose. On May 2, 2003 a Translucent Green Limited Edition Xbox was released in Europe to celebrate Xbox's one-year European birthday. Sora can "fuse" with either Donald or Goofy to become more powerful and acquire different attributes as well. Included with the Special Edition console was a matching white Controller S, an Xbox Component A/V cable, an Xbox Component AV pack, a copy of Panzer Dragoon Orta with its soundtrack CD, and a dragon head necklace. Gameplay is revamped from the last game; there are various new features offering the potential of more interesting play. The Panzer Dragoon Orta Special Edition was priced at ¥35'800 ($358) and could only be pre-ordered on November 1, 2002 through Sega Direct. As in the first Kingdom Hearts game, the player can access different worlds with themes based mostly on Disney films.

The console's special features included a white case with the Panzer Dragoon Orta logo in top's the lower left hand corner, as well as some artwork from Orta surrounding the Xbox jewel. As the game progresses, Sora learns how much he and Roxas have in common. This Special Edition had a limited production of 999 units; however, it is rumored that there are actually 1,049 units in total. Sora continues his quest, sealing the keyholes of each world to protect them from the Heartless, as well as facing Axel and the remaining members of the mysterious Organization XIII. This quickly became the most sought-after Xbox to date. Gaining new clothes and powers, Sora began his journey anew, unaware of the events that have taken place in Chain of Memories. On December 19, 2002, a Panzer Dragoon Orta Special Edition Xbox was released in Japan to commemorate the release of Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox. When Sora awakens, he eventually arrives in Twilight Town, the place where a mysterious boy, Roxas, who can use dual Keyblades, lived before he left suddenly.

Included with the Clear Black console was a matching Clear Black Controller S, an Xbox Component AV pack, and a key chain that had Bill Gates' signature and the console's serial number engraved in it. Sora and his companions have been asleep for about a year, regaining their memories. The system had a limited manufacturing run of 50,000 units, and originally retailed for ¥35'800 yen. Kingdom Hearts II begins where Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories left off. In 2001, a Clear Black Limited Edition Xbox was released in Japan to commemorate the Xbox's Japanese release. . Manufacturing photos can be found here.. The in-game music is composed by Yoko Shimomura, who composed the music for the first game, and the theme song Passion (Sanctuary for the international release) is written and performed by Japanese pop music star Utada Hikaru.

Microsoft extended the warranty on those first generation Xboxes that came with faulty drives and fixed them for free, unlike Sony and their first generation PS2s. The English version will be released on March 28, 2006 in North America [1], followed by European and Australian releases later in the year. Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in attempt to defeat them), cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units' drives gave Disc Reading Errors). Developed by Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts II was released in Japan on December 22, 2005. This Japanese controller (which was briefly imported by even mainstream video game store chains, such as GameStop) was subsequently released in other markets as the "Xbox Controller S", and currently all Xbox consoles come with a "Controller S", while the original controller (known as Controller "0" or "The Duke") was quietly discontinued. Directed by Tetsuya Nomura, the game continues Sora's adventures in finding King Mickey and Riku with the help of a large cast of Disney characters including Donald, Goofy, Jack Sparrow, Tron, Aladdin, the Beast and more. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. Kingdom Hearts II is an RPG video game sequel to the 2002 Disney/Square RPG Kingdom Hearts, though it is actually the third installment in the series.

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands. The release year of Mulan is erronously written as 1992 in Jiminy's Journal in the Japanese version. However, the Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being yanked from the shelf. The plot of Agrabah is loosely based on a direct-to-video movie, The Return of Jafar. Because of this, the Xbox has found itself a target of mild derision, as gamers poke fun at it for things like a warning in the Xbox manual that a falling Xbox "could cause serious injury" to a small child or pet. The name of the world "Space Paranoids" is a reference to one of the games that Kevin Flynn created in Tron. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. [21].

The Xbox itself is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. During its first week of availability in Japan, Kingdom Hearts II sold 727,591 copies. 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. [20]. Therefore if the Xbox crashes, the only way to recover is to reboot the console as there is no multitasking support on Real Mode. It is notable because only five games have been given perfect '40/40' scores. That is why Xbox is running on Real Mode and not Protected Mode as seen on Windows 2000. The notoriously harsh magazine Famitsu has given the game a score of 39/40; close to perfect.

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 8.1, it incorporates changes optimized for gaming uses as well as restrictions designed to prevent uses not approved by Microsoft. Characters from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, such as Axel, DiZ, and Naminé, as well as allusions to deceased Organization members, such as Marluxia, make appearances in the game. An Xbox owner can rip music from standard Audio CDs to the hard drive so players can use their custom soundtrack in addition to the original soundtrack of Xbox games that support such feature. A teaser for what appears to be a sequel or a spin-off can be seen if the player accomplishes certain tasks. Some games support "Custom soundtracks," another particularly unusual feature allowed by the hard drive. Certain levels of gameplay are based on music and button coordination, such as the Atlantica world and the Stitch summon. Most of the games also use it as a disk cache, for faster game loading times. Click here to listen to a 46 second sample of Passion.

The Xbox was the first console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves (eliminating the need for separate memory cards) and content downloaded from Xbox Live. Passion ~after the battle~ (5:57). Nonetheless, most of these features were not fully exploited in its first year of launch, notably the lack of Xbox Live online multiplayer. Passion ~single version~ (4:36). Also, the console cost as much as the high-end GeForce 3 video card alone in 2001, while having comparable graphics processing power (the Xbox's NV2A graphics chipset is a derivative of the GeForce 3). The CD single for Passion was released on December 14, 2005, with a price of ¥1,050 (roughly 8.78 USD). At the time of its introduction, the Xbox was the only game console to do so. The theme songs to Kingdom Hearts II, Passion and Sanctuary (the English version of Passion) are performed by Utada Hikaru, and according to Tetsuya Nomura it ties in even more closely with the game's story than Hikari (Simple and Clean) did with Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

The Xbox was designed to take advantage of a slowdown in the saturated PC gaming market and incorporates a built-in Ethernet adapter. See Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack. This prediction turned out to be correct; Microsoft Game Studios, Microsoft's game division in charge of Xbox development, had its first profitable quarter reported in January 2005, thanks largely to the success of Halo 2[14]. An original soundtrack CD for Kingdom Hearts II, composed by Yoko Shimomura was released on January 25, 2006 and its catalogue number is TOCT-25871~2. Microsoft predicted that it would not make a profit on the Xbox for at least three years. as Chicken Little. The losses deepened when sales of the Xbox increased and when the price was reduced successive times to compete with PlayStation 2 [13]. Keiko Yamamoto ..

[12] In particular, the Xbox hardware itself is a loss leader, since the console was sold at a loss even at its debut price. as Peter Pan. Internal documents show that the Xbox division had invested $4 billion from 2000 to 2005. Yu Hayashi .. The large size of the hardware itself did not endear itself to the size-sensitive Japanese consumers. as Gopher. The Xbox has sold poorly in Japan mainly because Microsoft was unable to enlist enough local developers to cater to Japanese interests. Mahito Tsujimura ..

In Europe, the Xbox's market share is currently ahead of the GameCube, but is still behind the PlayStation 2. as Roo. The Xbox has enjoyed its greatest success in North America, where an estimated 13.5 million units have been sold and where it managed for a time to outsell the PS2[11]. Masaya Sugimoto .. Although ahead of the GameCube's 18.5 million, this was far behind the PlayStation 2's 90 million (after the Xbox was discontinued in favour of the Xbox 360, the GameCube and PlayStation 2 have reached 19.8 million[9] and 100 million[10], respectively). as Tigger. According to company documents, Microsoft has shipped 25 million consoles to retailers worldwide at the end of 2005[8]. Tessho Genda ..

However, as of February 2005, estimates show the Xbox's share of the worldwide console market is only moderately ahead of the Nintendo GameCube and far behind the PlayStation 2. as Owl. Some critics were initially concerned that the Xbox would allow Microsoft to extend its dominance of the PC software market to consoles. Toshiya Ueda .. In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live reached 1 million subscribers, and announced in July 2005 that Live had reached 2 million. as Rabbit. 250,000 subscribers had signed on in 2 months since Live was launched [7]. Naoki Tatsuta ..

This online service works exclusively with broadband. as Piglet. In November 2002 Microsoft released the 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. Mitsuru Ogata .. In 2005, the long-awaited Xbox-exclusive Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Far Cry Instincts were released. as Winnie the Pooh. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal which would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live. Sukekiyo Kameyama ..

In 2004, Halo 2 set records as highest grossing release in entertainment history [6] as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. as MCP. In addition, many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months. Ikuya Sawaki .. Take-Two Interactive's exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and its sequels to be published on the Xbox. as Sark. Several best-selling and critically-acclaimed titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Tetsuo Kanao ..

The Xbox Live online service was launched with a strong lineup including MotoGP, MechAssault and Ghost Recon. as Tron. In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. Hiroshi Tsuchida .. Lastly, Sony countered the Xbox by making exclusivity deals for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. as Banzai. Although it enjoyed strong third-party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not take full advantage of its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish themselves from the PS2 version, and this negated one of the Xbox's main selling points. Ben Hiura ..

However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy [4] and Azurik: Rise of Perathia [5]) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox. as Shenzi, Kanga. Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing[2] and Dead or Alive 3 [3]). Tomie Kataoka .. Halo still remains the console's standout title. as Rafiki. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch games was Halo: Combat Evolved, which was critically well-received [1] and one of the best-selling games of the year. Ryuji Saikachi ..

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. as Mufasa. The Xbox even brought high-end gaming technology to the mainstream, sporting a top of the line GeForce 3 equivalent graphics processor, a built-in Ethernet adapter, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Shinya Owada .. The Xbox also presented a standardized alternative to the near-endless variety of end-user configurations on the PC. as Nala. Being based upon Windows and standard PC hardware, the Xbox was more familiar to developers and as a result was significantly easier to develop for in contrast to PlayStation 2's proprietary processor and operating system. Riko Hanamura ..

The authors concluded that the Xbox project as a direct response to the upcoming PlayStation 2. as Simba. As well, a venture into the gaming console market would also diversify Microsoft's product line, which up to that time had been heavily concentrated into software. Mitsuru Miyamoto .. The growing video game market seemed to threaten the PC market which Microsoft had dominated and relied upon for most of its revenues. as Santa Claus. According to the book Smartbomb, by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, the remarkable success of the upstart Sony PlayStation worried Microsoft in late 1990s. Tomoaki Nagae ..

Some see the Xbox as a way to capitalize on the growing video game market, noting that the PC market growth was stagnating after the dot-com bust. as Oogie Boogie, Pumbaa. In May 2000 the "Xbox Project" was officially confirmed by Microsoft. Hiroshi Hatanaka .. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. as Barrel. The rumors of a video game console being developed by Microsoft first emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Shigeo Matsuzawa ..

The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. Finklestein, Timon. . as Dr. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and Project Gotham Racing. Yuji Mitsuya .. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console. as Sally, Shock.

The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America and Puerto Rico, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and later on March 14, 2002 in Europe. Yuko Doi .. Xbox: Part Deux (Xbox XGPU Basics)" by Dave Salvator, ExtremeTech.Com, November 30, 2001, retrieved January 30, 2006. as Jack Skellington. "GameCube vs. Masachika Ichimura .. NZ$249 (2004 Q4, 2005). as Iago.

NZ$299 (2004 Q2). Toru Ohkawa .. AU$249 (2004, 2005). as Jafar. NZ$349 (2004). Akira Takarada .. AU$299 (2004). as the Merchant.

NZ$399 (2003). Takashi Matsuo .. AU$349 (2003). as Jasmine. NZ$499 NZD (3 October, 2002, Launch Price). Kaori Aso .. AU$299 AUD (2005). as Aladdin.

AU$399 AUD (2004). Shinichiro Miki .. AU$699 AUD (26 April, 2002, Launch Price) (Quickly dropped to $399 to compete with launch of Nintendo GameCube). as Barbossa, Scar. €99 (Spain, January 2006 promotional price). Haruhiko Jo .. €99 (Ireland; Christmas 2005 promotional price). as Elizabeth Swann.

£99 (August 27, 2004). Saori Yumiba .. €149 (August 27, 2004). as Will Turner. £130 (2003). Daisuke Hirakawa .. €199 (2003). as Jack Sparrow.

€249 (August 30, 2002). Hiroaki Hirata .. €299 (Launch Price (Rest of Europe) and Ireland April 26, 2002). as Ariel's Sister #2. £299 GBP (Launch Price March 14, 2002),. Shion Hino .. €479 (Launch Price (Ireland) 14 March, 2002),. as Ariel's Sister #1.

US$179 (February 6, 2006, Bundled with Forza). Hiromi Maeda .. CAD$199 (March 29, 2004). as Flounder. US$149 (March 29, 2004). Takuya Kaihoko .. US$179 (May 14, (2003). as King Triton, Eeyore.

US$199 (May 15, (2002). Taro Ishida .. US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price). as Prince Eric. Approved by Microsoft for wireless gameplay with Xbox. Kazuhiko Inoue .. Logitech 2.4 GHz wireless controller. as Ursula.

This system has been defeated by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify gamesaves to work in a different console, though some unique technical information concerning the recipient Xbox must be known. Kujira .. Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure. as Dale. Note that some recent games (e.g. Minoru Inaba .. 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. as Chip.

The precise layout of the controls differs between the two variations of controller.

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. Yuko Mizutani .. Later, as the price of the Xbox dropped, the DVD remote was bundled. as Hades. 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. Kyusaku Shimada .. By selling a DVD remote separately, Microsoft was able to bundle the cost of the DVD licensing fee with it. as Megara.

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. Rika Matsumoto .. DVD Playback Kit: Required in order to play DVD movies, the kit includes an infrared remote control and receiver. as Philoctetes. It can also be used for DVD playback. Ichiro Nagai .. 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. as Hercules.

This functionality is similar to Sega's DirectLink for Sega Saturn. Yasunori Matsumoto .. System Link Cable: A Cat 5 crossover cable for connecting together two consoles or a Cat 5 straight through cable used in conjunction with an ethernet hub for connecting up to four consoles, for up to 16 total players. as the Wardrobe. The headset can in fact be replaced with most standard earpiece-and-microphone headsets; headset specialist Plantronics produce various officially-licensed headsets, including a special-edition headset for Halo 2. Takako Kondo .. 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. Potts.

While the official Wireless Adapter guarantees compatibility with the Xbox, almost any wireless bridge can be used. as Mrs. 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. Kimiko Fukuda .. Note that while there is an "official" Xbox 'System Link' cable (a crossover cat5e cable), any PC ethernet cable can be used in the normal way treating the xbox as an NIC, eg an Xbox-Xbox connection requires a crossover cable, whereas an xbox-switch connection requires a straight-through cable. as Lumiere. Ethernet (Xbox Live) Cable: A Cat 5 cable for connecting the Xbox to a broadband modem or router. Masashi Ebara ..

As Europe has no HDTV standard, no High Definition cable is currently provided in those markets. as Cogsworth. 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. Kazuo Kumakura .. Also provides analog RCA and digital TOSLINK audio outputs. as Belle. High Definition AV Pack: A breakout box, intended for HDTVs, that provides a YPrPb component video signal over three RCA connectors. Eri Ito ..

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. as Chien-Po. RF Adapter: Provides a combined audio and video signal on an RF connector. Kozo Shioya .. European systems come with a RCA jack to SCART converter block in addition to the cable. as Ling. Comes with the system. Ryusei Nakao ..

Standard AV Cable: Provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. as Yao. Dimensions: 320 × 100 × 260 mm (12.5 × 4 × 10.5 inches). Yutaka Oda .. Weight: 3.86 kg. as Shan Yu. Controller Ports: 4 proprietary USB ports. Hiroshi Fujioka ..

EDTV and HDTV Support: 480p/720p/1080i (see game boxes for supported resolutions). as the Emperor. PAL TV's have less than 600 horizontal lines. Osamu Kobayashi .. Note: NTSC (Non-HD) TV's have less than 500 horizontal lines. as Captain Shang, Lock. Maximum Resolution (2x32bpp frame buffers +Z): 1920(vert.)x1080(horiz)