Xbox

[17]. The sequel uses a refined camera system, and includes a Drive ability that gives Sora the ability to merge with one of his party members for a short time. 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. There are new levels exclusive to the sequel, such as Pirates of the Caribbean's Port Royal and The Lion King's Pride Land, as well as new places to visit in old levels; those include the Underworld in the Hercules world and the palace garden in Agrabah. Microsoft's next generation Xbox, the Xbox 360, was released on November 22, 2005. The Heartless are still running loose and a mysterious group, Organization XIII, is plotting against Sora. 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. Taking place a year after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II features Sora, Donald and Goofy, as well as a new cast of characters, including King Mickey himself and familiar faces.

Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. A second sequel, Kingdom Hearts II for the PlayStation 2, was officially released in Japan on 22 December 2005 and will be released in USA on 28 March 2006. With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console. The game was released on December 7, 2004. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. These cards can be used to create new worlds, open doors, and attack Heartless. 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. The game abandoned the Kingdom Hearts battle system, focusing instead on card-based game play.

Of note is the high European launch price. As both Sora and Riku fight their ways through the castle, piecing together what is real and what is not, they are unaware that they are being targeted by a mysterious organization. Oceania. At the same time, Riku escapes from Kingdom Hearts and finds his own way to Castle Oblivion, where he must contend with the lingering darkness of Xehanort in his heart. Europe. There, the group visits replicas of the worlds in the original game, created by Sora's memories. North America. In the beginning, Sora, Donald and Goofy meet a mysterious man who leads them to Castle Oblivion, a strange castle where even memories cannot be trusted.

Recently, the firmware to the newer optical drives was edited to allow signed code to play. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the Game Boy Advance sequel to the original game, takes place directly after the plot of Kingdom Hearts, and provides the link between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Modding your Xbox in this manner will definitely void your warranty, since it requires you to disassemble the console. It is unknown how many of them have been made in Japan. There are now sites that offer to modify the software on your Xbox for free. Currently, two volumes of the English version of the manga are available. 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. The manga is published in English in the United States by TOKYOPOP (ISBN 1598162179) and in English in Singapore by Chuang Yi.

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. There is a manga based off of the video game written and illustrated by Shiro Amano. As of November 2004, Microsoft has been taking new actions for banning Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service. Although he apologized to Square (not yet merged with Enix at that point) in the radio interview, he firmly believed that the game did not deserve its Japanese sales or its (then) 6800 Yen price tag. 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. He expressed disappointment because Kingdom Hearts outsold his GameCube remake of Resident Evil in Japan, believing that his game was the superior product. Modding an Xbox may require opening the Xbox case, and would certainly void the Xbox's warranty. Shinji Mikami, creator of Capcom's Resident Evil series, criticized Kingdom Hearts on Japanese radio in 2002.

A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux, FreeBSD, or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. The developers seem to have taken these comments onboard as the sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, features an overhaul of this aspect of the series by making the ship missions much more fast paced then in the original Kingdom Hearts. 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. Another criticism levelled by reviewers and players alike revolves around the Gummi ship missions, with the main complaint being that they are not up to the same standard of play as the rest of game. 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. Elements of the combat system were also criticized, particularly the use of menu-based items and magic in what was a frequently hectic real-time battle scenario, and the awkward camera angles that could occur during battle. This allows the user to spare game disks from scratching and allows for faster load times. Some Final Fantasy fans were critical of the combination of the Final Fantasy mythos and the role-playing genre with Disney characters and other elements that they considered to be for children.

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. Some also felt that, while original, the combination of Square and Disney did not work as well as it could have, with aspects of both the story and gameplay swinging between 'Disney-style' and 'Square-style', without reaching an acceptable middle ground for most of the game. The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. Some fans also disapproved of the casting of the voice actors for the more popular Final Fantasy characters: in particular, the casting of pop music singers Mandy Moore as Aerith Gainsborough and Lance Bass as Sephiroth. This is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it. For example, several prominent characters are made much younger and do not play a major role in the story. 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. Kingdom Hearts has been criticized by some Final Fantasy fans for making poor use of the Final Fantasy characters placed in it.

Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. The emphasis on characters from later Final Fantasy installments disappointed fans; the refusal to use earlier characters stems from character designer Tetsuya Nomura's hesitation to use characters he did not design. [15][16]. The names of various spells are the names of Gummi blocks, and various summons, weapons, bosses, and monsters are the names of Gummi ships blueprints. 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. Cure, Cura, Curaga, etc.) is also in place. It is the first conviction since the Directive was enacted in October 2003 in the UK. The Final Fantasy magic naming system (ie.

(The Directive makes it illegal to circumvent copy protection systems on hardware including video game consoles). This and several other weapons, such as Lionheart and Save the Queen, share names with other weapons from previous entries in the Final Fantasy series. This was the first conviction of its kind in the UK. Moogles make an appearance and help the player obtain the ultimate weapon (the aptly named Ultima Weapon). 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. The game also uses other Final Fantasy icons. 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. Cloud and Sephiroth make appearances, including a cutscene fight between both in Final Mix.

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). Rikku from Final Fantasy X and Irvine Kinneas from Final Fantasy VIII were both originally set to make cameo appearances, but were replaced by Yuffie and Wakka respectively. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. In Traverse Town, the player encounters Squall (under the alias of "Leon") from Final Fantasy VIII, as well as Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII. 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. On Destiny Islands, the player meets younger versions of Tidus, Wakka (both from Final Fantasy X), and Selphie (from Final Fantasy VIII). This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. It is in these cameos that gamers base arguments on the inclusion of this game in the Final Fantasy series.

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. One of the less important quests of the game is to find the 99 lost dalmatian puppies from all over the game, while there is a statue of Lady and the Tramp in the Third District of Traverse Town. Included with the Hello Kitty Crystal console was a matching Crystal Controller S and a copy of Hello Kitty Mission Rescue. The title roles of One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Lady and the Tramp have cameo appearances in the game, too. 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. Only the Genie and Tinkerbell summons are automatically obtained; the others must be gained by obtaining unique gems and giving them to the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. The special edition console was translucent with a pink and orange Hello Kitty picture covering the X on top of the case. The player can summon Simba from The Lion King, the Genie from Aladdin, Bambi, Dumbo, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, and Mushu from Mulan.

The Hello Kitty Crystal Xbox was released with Sanrio in Singapore, to commemorate the release of Hello Kitty Mission Rescue on the Xbox. These characters replace Sora's two companions for the duration of the summon. Included with the neon green console was one of two games: Project Gotham Racing 2 or Amped 2. In addition, various Disney characters can be temporarily summoned during battle. Dew logo under the Xbox name. For instance, Jack Skellington joins the player's party in the Nightmare Before Christmas world, but will not accompany the player elsewhere. 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. Most worlds have a unique computer-controlled party member who can be chosen to replace Goofy or Donald in the party.

Production numbers are unknown. Goofy and Donald are the only computer-controlled characters that are usable on every world. The sweepstakes spanned 5 months – from April to August – in 2004. The computer controlled characters can have their behavior altered by the player, changing their item usages from "frequently" to "occasionally" for example. 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. Sora is the only character directly controlled by the player; other members in the party are computer controlled. Included with the Ice Blue console was a matching Controller S, and a copy of Halo 2. Several traits can also be altered further by permanent boost items or equipped item effects.

The console was translucent blue and retailed for approximately $249. Sora's stats are more customizable; the player can select what attribute to excel in and which attribute to be lacking in, such as defense, magic or strength, at the beginning of the game. On March 18, 2005, an Ice Blue Halo 2 Limited Edition Xbox was released in Canada and Asia. The main characters are Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy. 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. Examples such as this convey a stronger sense of nostalgia when paired with characters, settings and voice clips from popular Disney films. 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. For instance, when in Atlantica (The world from The Little Mermaid), the background music is a non-lyrical reinterpretation of the song 'Under the Sea'.

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 there are many original themes written specifically for the game by Shimomura, most of the soundtrack is comprised of popular melodies derived from classic disney films. On March 25, 2004, a Kasumi-chan Blue Xbox console was released in Japan. Both versions of the song were composed and performed by Utada Hikaru. 200,000 of these Xboxes were produced. The music is composed by Yoko Shimomura, the ending credits theme and opening orchestration is by Kaoru Wada, and the main vocal theme is "Hikari" (Light) known as "Simple and Clean" in Western releases. 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. The original worlds:.

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. The Disney-based worlds:. This version was translucent green and came with a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved and a matching translucent green Controller S. The many worlds in which the game takes place include various Disney settings (nearly all of which are part of the Disney animated features canon), as well as some original ones. On March 14, 2004, Microsoft released a special version of the Xbox in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Other changes include new abilities, new weapons, new items, additional and recolored enemies; and gameplay tweaks to make the game easier for the player, along with two new difficulty levels. A Crystal Controller S was also availible separately. The Night on the Bald Mountain track from the English version has been included as well.

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. New music was incorporated; the tracks are Disappeared and Another Side. 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. In another attempt at foreshadowing, a video called Another Side, Another Story: Deep Dive will play along with Another Side, Another Story if the player accomplishes certain tasks. With a price tag of €199/£139, the Crystal Limited Edition came with a transparent console and two matching Crystal Controller S. The optional bosses first included in the English version were introduced to Japanese players for the first time, along with the "Engimatic Man", in an attempt to raise interest for the sequel. On March 14, 2004, the Crystal Limited Edition Xbox was released in Europe to celebrate the Xbox's European birthday. A gameplay tweak allows the player to skip cutscenes after seeing them once.

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. New scenes, clarifying certain plot points, such as Riku's journey and foreshadowing of Kingdom Hearts II, were included. 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. Spoken dialogue was in English, with Japanese subtitles. 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). Kingdom Hearts was re-released in Japan as Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, this version had several events and a number of gameplay tweaks that were not in the American, European and Australian releases. 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. Yoko Shimomura's arrangement of Night on Bald Mountain was set as the background music for the Chernabog boss fight, whereas the original Japanese version uses generic boss music.

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. Besides English localization, three additional optional bosses were added, notably Sephiroth. 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. The English version of Kingdom Hearts had new features that were not found in the original version of Kingdom Hearts in Japan. The green Controller S was also sold separately. Sora promises to return to Kairi once he finds a way to bring Riku out of Kingdom Hearts. 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. Sora and Kairi's reunion is cut extremely short as they are pulled apart by the reforming Destiny Islands.

The console came with two matching Controller S and retailed for €229/£149. Before the door is locked, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi. On May 2, 2003 a Translucent Green Limited Edition Xbox was released in Europe to celebrate Xbox's one-year European birthday. Using his own Keyblade, Mickey locks Kingdom Hearts from the inside, but this forces himself and Riku to stay inside. 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. Riku, who has regained his body, helps the others close the door on the other side, along with King Mickey Mouse. 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. Sora, Donald and Goofy attempt to close the door, but their strength is not enough.

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. Though the light of Kingdom Hearts defeated Ansem, the door threatens to unleash millions upon millions of Heartless onto the universe. This Special Edition had a limited production of 999 units; however, it is rumored that there are actually 1,049 units in total. They return to lock the keyhole and later travel to Kingdom Hearts itself, facing Ansem in a climactic final battle. This quickly became the most sought-after Xbox to date. They flee Hollow Bastion in face of the immense number of Heartless pouring through the pathway to Kingdom Hearts. 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. Knowing that it was truly Sora, Kairi's light pulled him from the infinite darkness and restores Sora.

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. Now a Heartless, Sora scampered to Kairi's protection. The system had a limited manufacturing run of 50,000 units, and originally retailed for ¥35'800 yen. However, the pathway to Kingdom Hearts was opened. In 2001, a Clear Black Limited Edition Xbox was released in Japan to commemorate the Xbox's Japanese release. In order to free Kairi's heart, Sora impales himself on Ansem's Keyblade, losing his own heart while restoring Kairi and freeing the other Princesses' hearts, as the Keyblade was composed of their hearts. Manufacturing photos can be found here.. Sora and Ansem battle, with Sora as the victor.

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. Kairi is revealed to be a Princess of Heart, and her heart was trapped in Sora's body ever since they got separated. 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). Ansem desires to become part of what he believes to be the primordial phase of existence, the darkness that he believes to compose Kingdom Hearts. 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. Only, this time, it is not truly Riku; it is actually Ansem, the scientist who was researching Heartless, occupying Riku's body. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. Sora confronts Riku again.

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands. Sora's party meets and exceeds the challenge, destroying Maleficent. 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. This transformed Maleficent into a dragon that reflected the darkness in her heart. 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. Sora and his teammates face and defeat Maleficent, allowing a strangely-behaved Riku to strike her with a unique type of Keyblade, one that opened hearts. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. Riku impulsively accepts.

The Xbox itself is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. It is during this time that a mysterious being offers him greater power with which he could use to defeat Sora. 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. Unfettered by the loss of his weapon, Sora puts his faith into his friends and wins back the Keyblade, sending Riku to run off and lick his wounds. Therefore if the Xbox crashes, the only way to recover is to reboot the console as there is no multitasking support on Real Mode. Finally reaching Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's headquarters, Sora confronts Riku directly, ending with the revelation that Riku is also a Keyblade master and with the loss of Sora's own Keyblade. That is why Xbox is running on Real Mode and not Protected Mode as seen on Windows 2000. The goal of Maleficent and her group is to collect seven maidens of the purest heart, the "Princesses of Heart", in order to open the pathway to Kingdom Hearts, which is supposedly a repository of power and knowledge Maleficent intends to use in her plan to rule all worlds.

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. Seeing Sora as apathetic towards Kairi's fate, Riku has taken reponsibility into his hands and struck a deal with Maleficent, in order to help Kairi regain her sense of self. 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. Standing in their way, however, is a cabal of Disney villains, with Maleficent as their leader and Riku as her apprentice. Some games support "Custom soundtracks," another particularly unusual feature allowed by the hard drive. Along their way, they lock "keyholes" to the heart of those worlds, preventing the Heartless from consuming their worlds. Most of the games also use it as a disk cache, for faster game loading times. In their adventure, the trio explore many Disney-themed worlds, including Aladdin's Agrabah and The Little Mermaid's Atlantica.

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. From the Destiny Islands, Sora lands in Traverse Town, where he joins Goofy and Donald Duck in their quest to find King Mickey Mouse and defeat the Heartless. Nonetheless, most of these features were not fully exploited in its first year of launch, notably the lack of Xbox Live online multiplayer. After the battle, Sora receives his weapon, the mystical Keyblade, and sets out to defeat the Heartless and be reunited with his friends. 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). When Sora finds Riku surrounded by darkness, Riku disappears and Sora has to fight the Heartless, who are being used to tear down the walls between worlds. At the time of its introduction, the Xbox was the only game console to do so. The three friends are separated.

The Xbox was designed to take advantage of a slowdown in the saturated PC gaming market and incorporates a built-in Ethernet adapter. The night before the voyage, a storm sweeps through the island, and evil shadow-creatures called the Heartless appear. 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]. The three children wish to leave the island that they have been confined to all their life, so they build a raft to escape. Microsoft predicted that it would not make a profit on the Xbox for at least three years. Kingdom Hearts begins on the lush, tropical islands called "Destiny Islands", home to the main characters Sora, Riku, and Kairi. The losses deepened when sales of the Xbox increased and when the price was reduced successive times to compete with PlayStation 2 [13]. .

[12] In particular, the Xbox hardware itself is a loss leader, since the console was sold at a loss even at its debut price. The game features real-time rendered backgrounds and scenery. Internal documents show that the Xbox division had invested $4 billion from 2000 to 2005. Although the game's primary plotlines follow characters who were created specifically for Kingdom Hearts, characters from both companies play major roles in the game and its storyline. The large size of the hardware itself did not endear itself to the size-sensitive Japanese consumers. The game combines characters and settings from Disney's animated features and films with those from Square's Final Fantasy RPG series. The Xbox has sold poorly in Japan mainly because Microsoft was unable to enlist enough local developers to cater to Japanese interests. Kingdom Hearts (Japanese: キングダムハーツ Kingudamu Hātsu) is a hybrid action/RPG that was released in 2002, which is notable for being the result of a collaboration between the video game developer and publisher Square and Disney.

In Europe, the Xbox's market share is currently ahead of the GameCube, but is still behind the PlayStation 2. as Mickey Mouse. 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]. Yakashi Aoyagi .. 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 Piglet. According to company documents, Microsoft has shipped 25 million consoles to retailers worldwide at the end of 2005[8]. Kiyoshi Komiyama ..

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 Tigger. Some critics were initially concerned that the Xbox would allow Microsoft to extend its dominance of the PC software market to consoles. Tesshō Genda .. In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live reached 1 million subscribers, and announced in July 2005 that Live had reached 2 million. as Winnie the Pooh. 250,000 subscribers had signed on in 2 months since Live was launched [7]. Shun Yashiro ..

This online service works exclusively with broadband. as Wendy. 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. Yuriko Fuchisaki .. In 2005, the long-awaited Xbox-exclusive Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Far Cry Instincts were released. Smee. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal which would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live. as Mr.

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. Kazuo Kumakura .. 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. as Captain Hook. 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. Chikao Ohtsuka .. 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. as Peter Pan.

The Xbox Live online service was launched with a strong lineup including MotoGP, MechAssault and Ghost Recon. Mitsuo Iwata .. In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. as Barrel. 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. Shigeo Matsuzawa .. 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. as Lock.

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. Shintaro Sono'oka .. Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing[2] and Dead or Alive 3 [3]). as Oogie Boogie. Halo still remains the console's standout title. Hiroshi Hatanaka .. 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. Finklestein.

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. as Dr. 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. Yuji Mitsuya .. The Xbox also presented a standardized alternative to the near-endless variety of end-user configurations on the PC. as the Mayor. 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. Toru Ohira ..

The authors concluded that the Xbox project as a direct response to the upcoming PlayStation 2. as Jack Skellington. 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. Masachika Ichimura .. The growing video game market seemed to threaten the PC market which Microsoft had dominated and relied upon for most of its revenues. as Flotsam and Jetsam. According to the book Smartbomb, by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, the remarkable success of the upstart Sony PlayStation worried Microsoft in late 1990s. Shuichiro Moriyama ..

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 Ursula. In May 2000 the "Xbox Project" was officially confirmed by Microsoft. Kujira .. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. as King Triton. The rumors of a video game console being developed by Microsoft first emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Taro Ishida ..

The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. as Geppetto. . Kazuo Kumakura .. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and Project Gotham Racing. as Pinocchio, Flounder. 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. Yuki Tokiwa ..

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. as Iago. Xbox: Part Deux (Xbox XGPU Basics)" by Dave Salvator, ExtremeTech.Com, November 30, 2001, retrieved January 30, 2006. Akira Kamiya .. "GameCube vs. as Jafar. NZ$249 (2004 Q4, 2005). Akira Takarada ..

NZ$299 (2004 Q2). as Jasmine. AU$249 (2004, 2005). Kaori Aso .. NZ$349 (2004). as Aladdin. AU$299 (2004). Shinichiro Miki ..

NZ$399 (2003). as Terk, Sally, Shock. AU$349 (2003). Yuko Doi .. NZ$499 NZD (3 October, 2002, Launch Price). as Jane Porter, Ariel. AU$299 AUD (2005). Mayumi Suzuki ..

AU$399 AUD (2004). as Clayton. AU$699 AUD (26 April, 2002, Launch Price) (Quickly dropped to $399 to compete with launch of Nintendo GameCube). Banjō Ginga .. €99 (Spain, January 2006 promotional price). as Tarzan. €99 (Ireland; Christmas 2005 promotional price). Juurouta Kosugi ..

£99 (August 27, 2004). as Hades. €149 (August 27, 2004). Kyusaku Shimada .. £130 (2003). as Philoctetes (Phil). €199 (2003). Ichiro Nagai ..

€249 (August 30, 2002). as Hercules. €299 (Launch Price (Rest of Europe) and Ireland April 26, 2002). Yasunori Matsumoto .. £299 GBP (Launch Price March 14, 2002),. as the Doorknob. €479 (Launch Price (Ireland) 14 March, 2002),. Takehiro Koyama ..

US$179 (February 6, 2006, Bundled with Forza). as the Queen Of Hearts. CAD$199 (March 29, 2004). Sumie Ozawa .. US$149 (March 29, 2004). as the White Rabbit. US$179 (May 14, (2003). Shigeru Ushiyama ..

US$199 (May 15, (2002). as Daisy Duck and Alice. US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price). Mika Doi .. Approved by Microsoft for wireless gameplay with Xbox. as Minnie Mouse. Logitech 2.4 GHz wireless controller. Yuko Mizutani ..

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. as Wakka. Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure. Kazuya Nakai .. Note that some recent games (e.g. as Tidus. 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. Masakazu Morita ..

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. as Aerith Gainsborough. Later, as the price of the Xbox dropped, the DVD remote was bundled. Maaya Sakamoto .. 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. as Yuffie Kisaragi. By selling a DVD remote separately, Microsoft was able to bundle the cost of the DVD licensing fee with it. Yumi Kakazu ..

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. as Squall Leonhart (Leon). DVD Playback Kit: Required in order to play DVD movies, the kit includes an infrared remote control and receiver. Hideo Ishikawa .. It can also be used for DVD playback. as Jiminy Cricket. 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. Kaneta Kimotsuki ..

This functionality is similar to Sega's DirectLink for Sega Saturn. as Maleficent. 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. Toshiko Sawada .. 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. as Ansem. 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. Akio Otsuka ..

While the official Wireless Adapter guarantees compatibility with the Xbox, almost any wireless bridge can be used. as Kairi. 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. Risa Uchida .. 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 Riku. Ethernet (Xbox Live) Cable: A Cat 5 cable for connecting the Xbox to a broadband modem or router. Mamoru Miyano ..

As Europe has no HDTV standard, no High Definition cable is currently provided in those markets. as Goofy. 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. Yutaka Shimaka .. Also provides analog RCA and digital TOSLINK audio outputs. as Donald Duck, Genie, Mushu, Beast, Sebastian. High Definition AV Pack: A breakout box, intended for HDTVs, that provides a YPrPb component video signal over three RCA connectors. Koichi Yamadera ..

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 Sora. RF Adapter: Provides a combined audio and video signal on an RF connector. Miyu Irino .. European systems come with a RCA jack to SCART converter block in addition to the cable. as Mickey Mouse. Comes with the system. Wayne Allwine ..

Standard AV Cable: Provides composite video and monaural or stereo audio to TVs equipped with RCA inputs. as Mushu. Dimensions: 320 × 100 × 260 mm (12.5 × 4 × 10.5 inches). Mark Moseley .. Weight: 3.86 kg. as Beast. Controller Ports: 4 proprietary USB ports. Robby Benson ..

EDTV and HDTV Support: 480p/720p/1080i (see game boxes for supported resolutions). as Piglet. PAL TV's have less than 600 horizontal lines. John Fiedler .. Note: NTSC (Non-HD) TV's have less than 500 horizontal lines. as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Maximum Resolution (2x32bpp frame buffers +Z): 1920(vert.)x1080(horiz)