This page will contain images about Xbox, as they become available.XboxThe Xbox is Microsoft's game console, released on November 15, 2001. 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. The price is currently 149 USD, 149 EUR, 99 GBP, 200 CAD, 249 AUD, 290 NZD and 1200 NOK. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and Project Gotham Racing. HistoryThe Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small crew including Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. 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 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. In much of Europe, the Xbox is currently slightly ahead of the GameCube, but is still far behind the PlayStation 2. 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. 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. This online service only works with broadband. The milestone of 1 million subscribers was announced in July 2004. 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). HardwareMicrosoft built the Xbox around industry-standard PC hardware, unlike the traditionally proprietary design of nearly all other gaming consoles. However, it still uses standard console architecture. 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. Custom Soundtracks are often supported in non-cinematic games (e.g. racing/driving games) where the music is inconsequential to what is happening in the game. 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. 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. The Xbox is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries, and shipped with an unusually large controller. This is largely due to the large, tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. 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. 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. 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. 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. Detailed specifications
Official Xbox accessoriesAudio/video connectors
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. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. Networking
Multimedia
Controllers and removable storage
ScreenshotsXbox and DirectXMicrosoft'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"). The API was developed jointly between Microsoft and NVIDIA, whose chips power the Xbox graphics. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. Modding the XboxXbox and a Controller SThe 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). 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. However, there are many reputable sites in the UK (where overall, it is still technically legal) selling pre-loaded modchipped Xboxes. Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. 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 is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it. The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. Then Xbox games can be copied from the DVD to the hard disk and then played directly from the hard drive. 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. 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. A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. Modding an Xbox may require opening the Xbox case, and would certainly void the Xbox's warranty. 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. But as of November 2004, Microsoft has been taking new actions for banning Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service. There has been several theories on how banning in this new method is done. 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. 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. Price historyNorth America
Europe
Oceania
Of note is the high European launch price. 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. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. 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"). Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. 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. Future Xbox
Microsoft is expected to release a new generation of Xbox hardware, the Xbox 360, in 2005. 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. [1] (http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/12/afx2024549.html) This page about Xbox includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about Xbox News stories about Xbox External links for Xbox Videos for Xbox Wikis about Xbox Discussion Groups about Xbox Blogs about Xbox Images of Xbox |
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[1] (http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/12/afx2024549.html). The baby girl was named Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray. 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. On January 23, 2005, Rowling's second child with Dr. Murray was born, fulfilling Rowling's lifelong wish to have three children. Microsoft is expected to release a new generation of Xbox hardware, the Xbox 360, in 2005. On March 23, 2003, Rowling gave birth to her second child, a boy called David Gordon Rowling Murray, at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. 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. Neil Murray (an anaesthetist) in a private ceremony at her home in the Perthshire village of Aberfeldy. Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) some scant months after launch. On December 26, 2001, Rowling married Dr. 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"). The man claimed he was unaware he was supposed to wait until that Saturday. Obviously, ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in the way gives the impression of a 100% mark-up for Europe. However, the story complicated futher when it was revealed that the paper had purchased the book from a health store whose owner recieved the novels wholesale and decided to place them in the window. 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. An accompanying image even reveled two pages from the book with legible text. Of note is the high European launch price. The novel was due for release on Saturday, June 21st, but the newspaper published a plot summary and short quotes on the previous wednesday (the 18th). Oceania. On June 19th, 2003, Rowling and her publisher Scholastic announced that they would sue the New York Daily News for $100 million because the newspaper had printed information on her work Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before the book's official release date. Europe. STOUFFER (http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm). North America. The 2002 judgement can be found here: ROWLING v. 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. A report of the judgement can be found at Entertainment Law Digest (http://www.entlawdigest.com/story.cfm?storyID=3094). 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. Stouffer was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal. There has been several theories on how banning in this new method is done. Accordingly, the District Court correctly dismissed Stouffer's trademark claims.. But as of November 2004, Microsoft has been taking new actions for banning Xboxes with hard drive modifications from the Xbox Live service. Further, the Harry Potter books are novel-length works and whose primary customers are older children and adults whereas Stouffer's booklets appeal to young children. 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. Rowling's use of the term "Muggles" describes ordinary humans with no magical powers while Stouffer's "Muggles" are tiny, hairless creatures with elongated heads. Modding an Xbox may require opening the Xbox case, and would certainly void the Xbox's warranty. Stouffer's and Plaintiffs' marks are used in two very different ways. A modded Xbox can even be configured into a computer running Linux or Microsoft Windows CE operating systems. The Court explained:. 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. The appeals court agreed that Stouffer's claims were properly dismissed because "no reasonable juror could find a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the two parties' works". 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. In January 2004, it was reported that Stouffer's appeal against the judgement had been rejected. Then Xbox games can be copied from the DVD to the hard disk and then played directly from the hard drive. Stouffer was fined US$50,000 and ordered to pay part (but not all) of the plaintiffs' costs. The original hard drive can be replaced with a larger one. In September 2002, the court found in Rowling's favour, stating that Stouffer had lied to the court and falsified and forged documents to support her case. This is especially attractive as the Xbox is designed to output to TVs, and high-quality controllers and arcade sticks are available for it. Rowling and her colitigants argued that much of the evidence that Stouffer presented was fraudulent, and asked for sanctions and attorneys' fees as punishment. 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. Stouffer, who had not previously sued, then filed counterclaims alleging such infringement. Software modding is much less intrusive, and only involves running software exploits to trick the Xbox into running unsigned program code. (the producer of the film adaptations) sued Stouffer, asking the court to judge that there was no infringement of Stouffer's trademarks or copyright. However, there are many reputable sites in the UK (where overall, it is still technically legal) selling pre-loaded modchipped Xboxes. In 2001, Rowling, Scholastic Press (the American publisher of her books), and Warner Bros. 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. In the late 1990s, Nancy Stouffer, an author of children's books published in the 1980s, began to publicly charge that Rowling's books were based on her books, including The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly. 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). Rowling has been involved in a lawsuit over the Harry Potter series, and other litigation has been suggested or rumoured. The Xbox API is similar to DirectX version 8.1, but is non-updateable just like other console technologies. She has also said that she has told Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane certain secrets about their characters that are not yet revealed. The API was developed jointly between Microsoft and NVIDIA, whose chips power the Xbox graphics. She says she has told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. 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"). Rowling assists Steve Kloves in writing the scripts for the films, ensuring that his scripts do not contradict future books in the series. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port. Rowling's insistence on British actors for the main roles resulted in Steven Spielberg passing on the opportunity to direct the 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. only. 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. She only reluctantly went along with changing Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone, and limited it to the U.S. 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. Rowling resisted suggestions by the filmmakers that the movies should be filmed in the United States or cast with American actors (only one American appears in the first film). 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. Rowling, who was a fan of Cuarón's work prior to the third film, has stated that the third film is her personal favorite. 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. A darker atmosphere was adopted in the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, attributed to the new director, Alfonso Cuarón. This is largely due to the large, tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5" hard drive. A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in late 2001 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. The Xbox is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries, and shipped with an unusually large controller. This death has heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling. 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. She has contributed money and support to many other charitable causes, especially research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. 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. All proceeds from them go to the UK Comic Relief charity. racing/driving games) where the music is inconsequential to what is happening in the game. They are complete with handwritten annotations and scribblings in the margins, and include introductions by Albus Dumbledore. Custom Soundtracks are often supported in non-cinematic games (e.g. The last two purport to be facsimiles of books mentioned in the novels. Fantastic Beasts is a textbook, while Quidditch is probably the most popular book in the Hogwarts library. 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. Rowling has also made a guest appearance as herself on the American cartoon show The Simpsons, on a special British-themed episode entitled "The Regina Monologues". However, it still uses standard console architecture. On December 20, 2004, she announced that the sixth Harry Potter book would be released on July 16, 2005. Microsoft built the Xbox around industry-standard PC hardware, unlike the traditionally proprietary design of nearly all other gaming consoles. Although she was "amused by the suggestion", she turned the offer down, as she was busy working on the next novel in the Potter series. 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). Davies to contribute an episode to the British television science-fiction series Doctor Who. The milestone of 1 million subscribers was announced in July 2004. In late 2003, she was approached by television producer Russell T. This online service only works with broadband. The fifth book was released on June 21, 2003. 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. After forcing her publishers to drop her deadline, she enjoyed three years of quiet writing, commenting that she spent some time working on something else that she might return to when she is finished with the Harry Potter series. 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. She said that at one point, she had considered breaking her arm to get out of writing, because the pressure on her was too much. In much of Europe, the Xbox is currently slightly ahead of the GameCube, but is still far behind the PlayStation 2. Rowling took some time off from writing at this point, because during the process of writing the fourth book, she felt her workload was too heavy. 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. The fifth book, titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was delayed by an unsuccessful plagiarism suit directed towards her by rival author Nancy Stouffer (see below). 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. Five of these have already been published. The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small crew including Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. The Harry Potter series is expected to run to seven volumes, one for each year Harry spends in school. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, and Project Gotham Racing. Neil Murray, on December 26, 2001. The price is currently 149 USD, 149 EUR, 99 GBP, 200 CAD, 249 AUD, 290 NZD and 1200 NOK. The sales made her a multi-millionaire, and in 2001, she purchased a luxurious 19th century mansion, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay in Perthshire, Scotland, where she married her second husband, Dr. 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. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a huge success, and she has thus far published four sequels. The Xbox is Microsoft's game console, released on November 15, 2001. Rowling chose to adopt her grandmother's middle name, Kathleen. NZ$249 (2004 Q4,2005). Rowling's publisher, Bloomsbury, wanted to use initials on the cover of the Harry Potter books, suggesting that if they used an obviously female name, the target group of young boys might be reluctant to buy them. NZ$299 (2004 Q2). Unemployed and living on welfare, she completed the novel, doing some of the work in an Edinburgh cafe as there was no heating in her home. AU$249 (2004,2005). On her divorce she came to Edinburgh with her daughter, planning to live near her sister. NZ$349 (2004). They had one child, a daughter named Jessica Rowling Arantes (born July 27, 1993), before their divorce in 1995. AU$299 (2004). While there she married Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes on October 16, 1992. NZ$399 (2003). Rowling then moved to Oporto, Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. AU$349 (2003). She began working on the story during her lunch hours. NZ$499 NZD (3 October, 2002, Launch Price). According to her, by the time she reached her destination, she had the characters and a good part of the plot for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in her head. AU$399 AUD. It was during this period that she had the idea for a story about a young boy who attends a school of wizardry, during a four-hour train trip between King's Cross, London and Scotland. AU$699 AUD (26 April 2002, Launch Price) (Quickly dropped to $399 to compete with launch of Nintendo Gamecube). After college she moved to London to work for Amnesty International as a researcher and bilingual secretary. £99 (August 27, 2004). She studied French at Exeter University, spending a year in Paris as part of her studies. €149 (August 27, 2004). She attended secondary school at Wyedean Comprehensive, where she told stories to her fellow students. £130 (2003). Joanne's family moved twice as she was growing up, first to Winterbourne in Bristol and then to Tutshill near Chepstow. €199 (2003). Rowling also has a sister, Di, two years younger than she, who is now a lawyer. €249 (August 30, 2002). Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Rowling was 15; she died in the early 1990s. €299 (Launch Price (Rest of Europe) and Ireland April 26, 2002). Rowling's parents met on a train, coincidentally from King's Cross station to Scotland. £299 GBP (Launch Price March 14, 2002),. dollars, by writing books; Rowling is also the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom, well ahead of even Queen Elizabeth II [1] (http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html) [2] (http://www.forbes.com/lists/results.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&searchParameter1=unset&searchParameter2=unset&resultsHowMany=25&resultsSortProperties=%2Bstringfield11%2C-numberfield3&resultsSortCategoryName=Country&fromColumnClick=&bktDisplayField=&bktDisplayFieldLength=&category1=category&category2=category&passKeyword=&resultsStart=301). €479 (Launch Price (Ireland) 14 March, 2002),. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated her fortune as £576 million, making her the first person to become a billionaire, in terms of U.S. CAD$199 (March 29, 2004). Rowling's books have gained international attention and have won multiple awards. US$149 (March 29, 2004). Rowling is most famous for being the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. US$179 (2003). Rowling (pronunciation: role-ing as in rolling stone), is a British fiction writer. US$199 (2002). Joanne Rowling, OBE, (born July 31, 1965 in Yate), commonly known as J.K. US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001). Approved by Microsoft for wireless gameplay with Xbox. Quidditch Through the Ages (2001). Logitech 2.4 Ghz wireless controller. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 16, 2005). Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003). Note that some recent games (e.g. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000). 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. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999). The white and black buttons are located below the ABXY buttons, and the Back/Select buttons are similarly placed below the left thumbstick. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998). 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. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States). Controller S: A smaller, lighter Xbox controller. 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. It is considered to be bulky. 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. 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/). Provides a music player with 2D/3D visualizations as well as basic karaoke functions. 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. 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. By selling a DVD remote separately, Microsoft was able to bundle the cost of the DVD licensing fee with it. 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. DVD Playback Kit: Required in order to play DVD movies, the kit includes an infrared remote control and receiver. It can also be used for DVD playback. 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. This functionality is similar to Sega's DirectLink for Sega Saturn. System Link Cable: A Cat 5 crossover cable for connecting together two to four consoles, for up to 16 total players. 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. 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. While the official Wireless Adapter guarantees compatbility with the Xbox, almost any wireless bridge can be used. 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. 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). As Europe has no HDTV standard, no High Definition cable is currently provided in those markets. 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. 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)
AC3 (Dolby Digital) Encoded Game Audio: Yes (via TOSLINK). MIDI DLS2 Support: Yes. 3D Audio Support: Yes. Audio Channels: 64 3D channels (up to 256 stereo voices). I/O: 2-5x DVD, 8 GB/10 GB hard disk, 8 MB memory card. Storage Medium: 2-5x DVD, 8 gigabyte hard disk, optional 8 MB memory card. Micro Polygon Support: Yes. Full Scene Anti-Alias: Yes. Compressed Textures: Yes (6:1). Pixel Fill Rate - 1 Texture: 4.0 G/s anti-aliased. Pixel Fill Rate - No Texture: 4.0 G/s (anti-aliased). Simultaneous Textures: 4. Particle Performance: 125 M/s. Micropolygons/particles per second: 125 M/s. Sustained Polygon Performance: 100+ M/s (transformed and lit polygons per second). Some critics assert that the Xbox's polygon-per-second number is exaggerated by unrealistic testing conditions.). (Microsoft figure. Polygon Performance: 125 million flat-shaded polys/second
Graphics Processor: 250 MHz custom chip named the NV2x, developed by Microsoft and nVIDIA (comparable to a low-end GeForce 4 Ti card). CPU: 733 MHz Intel Pentium III processor, with a 133 MHz Front Side Bus. |