Information AboutXbox 360 |
The Xbox 360, known during development as the '''Xenon''', '''Xbox 2''', or the '''Xbox Next''', is the successor to Microsoft 's original Xbox Video Game Console . The Xbox 360 console was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12 , 2005 , with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the prominent Electronic Entertainment Expo . Upon its release on November 22 , 2005 in North America , December 2 in Europe , and December 10 in Japan , the Xbox 360 became the first console to have a simultaneous launch across the three major regions. It also serves as the first entrant in a New Generation Of Game Consoles and will compete against the forthcoming PlayStation 3 and Wii . RETAIL CONFIGURATIONS AND PRICING Microsoft's current retail strategy involves two different configurations of the Xbox 360 in most countries: the ''Xbox 360'' SKU , frequently referred to as the "Xbox 360 Premium Package"; and an ''Xbox 360 Core System'' SKU. The ''Core System'' is not available in Japan, instead Microsoft offers a package identical to the ''Xbox 360'' SKU for ¥37,900. Japanese pricing of the console has drawn some criticism, as customers there are able to purchase the Xbox 360 full package, albeit one region-coded for Japan, for a lower price than in other countries. Additionally in Australia and New Zealand the Xbox-Live Headset in the Xbox 360 "Premium Package" was not included. and falling hardware costs will eventually make system sales profitable. To date Microsoft has sold 3.2 million units of Xbox 360 worldwide. 1.8 million in the United States, 1.1 million in Europe and 300,000 elsewhere. {Link without Title} LAUNCH See Also: Xbox 360 launch The Xbox 360 was released on November 22 , 2005 in United States , Canada and Puerto Rico , December 2 2005 in Europe, December 10 2005 in Japan , February 2 , 2006 in Mexico and Colombia , February 24 2006 in South Korea , March 16 2006 in Hong Kong , Singapore , and Taiwan and March 23 in Australia and New Zealand after a 3-week delay. Because of a manufacturing bottleneck Microsoft was not able to supply enough systems to meet consumer demand in Europe or the United States. "Xbox 360 sells out within hours" , BBC, '' and '' Enchant Arm '' were not released until several weeks after launch. COMPONENTS AND ACCESSORIES Controllers Up to four controllers are supported by the Xbox 360, including wired and wireless Gamepad s. The wired gamepads may be connected to any of the three USB ports located on the console, or to a USB hub. A USB keyboard is also supported, but only for inputting text. Gamepad The Xbox 360 gamepad design is similar to the Type-S gamepad from the original Xbox. Unlike the Type-S, the Xbox 360 gamepad features only two analog (pressure sensitive) buttons - the left and right triggers. Also the black and white buttons have been replaced with the right and left bumpers and an Xbox Guide button has been added to the center. Wired gamepads feature a nine foot (2.74 m) long cord with a break-away feature. They can be used with any USB and Windows equipped computer. Wireless gamepads have a range of about 30 feet (~9 m) and use either two AA Batteries or a NiMH rechargeable battery pack. When a gamepad is plugged in, or - in the case of wireless gamepads - turned on, a quadrant of the LED "Ring of Light" around the power button is lit up, indicating connection and ordering (1st player corresponds to the upper-left quadrant, 2nd player to upper-right, etc.). The "Ring of Light" also adorns the Xbox Guide button; it will flash in case of a low battery warning on the wireless gamepad. As a first for console controllers, the wired version can be used as a PC gamepad out of the box without the use of any converters. Regardless of the green XBox 360 packaging or the red PC packaging, it is the same controller either way. The downside is that the XBox Guide button is currently inoperable, but future driver updates are excepted to support it, and the wireless controller is said to be supported too by USB plugin, but there is no word on a release date for that accessory. Faceplates The default white faceplate can be replaced with a range of custom designs, each to be sold separately. Microsoft has also distributed two promotional faceplates, one for those present at the E3 2005 unveiling and one for VIP X05 attendees. The prices of these custom designs are around $20 with more to be released by third party manufacturers. AV connection Adapters and cables are available for TOSLINK , RCA (audio and video), S-video , Component Video , VGA , D-Terminal , and SCART connections, depending on regional standard. Other
USER INTERFACE Dashboard A unique feature of the console is its robust Graphical User Interface , the ''Xbox 360 Dashboard''. This GUI is launched automatically when the console Boots Up without a game/media disc, or when the disc tray is ejected. A simplified version of it can also be accessed at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. The Dashboard utilizes a Tabbed Interface that features four "Blades", each leading to a different menu. Blades
=DirecTV According to the March 2006 issue of the 2006 Media Center Extender The Media Blade on the Dashboard includes a Media Center Extender feature that allows the user to -encoded content which requires a third party solution.1 The Xbox 360's Media Center Extender Capabilities also allow users to run other third party applications such as emulators2 and mapping software such as Google Maps "Use Google Maps your XBox 360 using MediaCenter" , Colin's Blog 26 March 2006 . There is also the ability to browse the web with limited controls.3 Xbox 360 Guide The Xbox 360 Guide is a simple user interface that is accessed by pressing the Guide Button (located in the centre of the controller) on any Xbox 360 controller. It offers the following menu selections:
Once in the Xbox 360 Guide the user may boot the Dashboard interface by pressing the Y button on the gamepad, switch the current user profile with the X button, and shut down the console or wireless controller by holding down the Guide button. XBOX LIVE See Also: Xbox Live With the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live went through a major upgrade adding a basic non-subscription service (Silver) to its already established premium subscription-based service (Gold). Xbox Live Silver is free of charge and allows users to create a profile, join on message boards, access Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and talk to other members. Silver members are not allowed to play any games online. Microsoft has also announced there will be trial weekends for Silver members to access the full features of Gold service temporarily. Xbox Live supports the headset for voice communication and the forthcoming Xbox Live webcam that will come out in the Spring of 2006 for video, according to Xbox 360 kiosk stands and Official Xbox Magazine. Xbox Live Gold has the same features as Silver plus online game playing capabilities. Microsoft has allowed for previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, buddy lists, and games history when they make the transition to Xbox Live Gold. To transition an Xbox Live account to the new system the user needs to link a Microsoft Passport account to their gamer tag on Xbox.com. Then when the user goes to add a Xbox Live enabled profile to their console, the user just needs to provide the console with their passport account information. An Xbox Live Gold account costs $49.99 USD, £39.99 Pounds Sterling, €59.99 per year (or, in the UK, a 3-month Gold membership is available for £11.99). Marketplace and Arcade The Xbox Live Marketplace is Microsoft's online distribution center for priced and promotional content. In order to download priced content (such as Xbox Live Arcade games or Gamertag Images ) users are required to purchase ''Microsoft Points'' for use as Scrip . SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Microsoft XNA See Also: Microsoft XNA Microsoft XNA is a set of tools and technologies which include XNA Studio which provides versions of key production tools such as Asset Management , Defect Tracking , project automation and work lists. These tools are designed to work together to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. John Carmack stated at QuakeCon 2005 that the Xbox 360 had "the best development environment" he has seen for a console. Microsoft XNA also includes other components such as the XNA Framework and XNA Build. Procedural synthesis See Also: Procedural synthesis In traditional video games, all content is statically stored and generally immutable; that is, textures, meshes, and other game content is stored on a storage medium. As complexity in each rises, the demand for storage rises as well. A newer approach to generating content is utilised for Xbox 360 titles, a method referred to by Microsoft as ''procedural synthesis''. Procedural synthesis is an approach to generating game content via 2005 Backward compatibility 2006 . Some suffer from bad coding, which have random quirks appear in the game. (e.g., Imprinting of the screen on Halo 2, the constant moving of Star Wars: Battlefront 2.) A hard drive is required to enable backward compatibility. Hard drives purchased separately or as part of the console package include an early version of the emulator that includes emulation profiles for games '' 2006 The full list of backward-compatible games is maintained at Xbox.com . Although the current U.S. list includes over 200 games, fewer titles are listed as backward compatible in European and Japanese markets. "Backward Compatibility Games List" , Microsoft Japan Microsoft has stated that they intend to release more emulation profiles as they become available, with a goal of making the entire Xbox library playable on the Xbox 360. "Q & A: Backward Compatibility" , xbox.com HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS Specifications are also available at the official Xbox 360 website. "XBOX 360 - Feel the Power" , Microsoft Central processing unit The Central Processing Unit (CPU), named Xenon (Microsoft) or '''Waternoose''' (IBM) is a custom IBM triple-core PowerPC -based design. "Application-customized CPU design" , Brown, Jeffery, IBM developerWorks, 2005
Graphics processing unit to the left of the main Xenos die.]] The "Xenos" Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a custom chip designed by ATI . (Developed under the name "C1", sometimes "R500")4 The chip contains two separate silicon dies: the parent GPU and the daughter eDRAM.
Memory
System bandwidth The System Bandwidth comprises:
Audio
Video All games are required to support a 16:9 Aspect Ratio , and a HD resolution of 720p with 2x full-screen anti-aliasing enabled. The GPU can crossconvert the native 1280x720p to other display resolutions (including 480i SDTV and 480p ) and dynamically crop or scale 16:9 to fit 4:3 screens. Some games will optionally support 1080i and 480p native rendering, instead of rendering at a fixed 720p resolution and then crossconverting. Supported resolutions Supported codecs
DVD drive A 12X DVD-ROM SATA drive, capable of reading DVD+R / DVD+RW discs and DVD-R / RW , is part of the console, with game titles shipping on single or Dual-layer DVDs. Due to storage restrictions imposed by the dual layer DVD format and increased memory requirements of high resolution Full Motion Videos and Textures , future Xbox 360 games may span multiple discs. The disc drive also supports the CD-DA , CD-ROM , CD-R / RW , WMA -CD, MP3 -CD, and JPEG Photo CD formats as well as DVD movies. 2005 Cooling Both the GPU and CPU of the console have Heatsink s. The CPU's heatsink uses Heatpipe technology, where a hollow copper pipe containing a substance with a low vaporization point transfers heat from one end to the other very efficiently "Xbox 360 cooling hardware images" . The heatsinks are actively cooled by a pair of 60 mm exhaust fans that push the air out of the case (negative case pressure). Active cooling makes the Xbox 360 considerably louder than the original Xbox. There have been third party modifications that watercool the console. "Xbox 360 WaterCooling Project" Physical characteristics Console
Power supply
Miscellaneous
TECHNICAL ISSUES Diagnosing errors and troubleshooting kiosk]] The Xbox 360 will display a " Screen Of Death " if the system experiences a serious error. In such instances the user is prompted to contact Xbox customer support . In the case of certain specific errors the Xbox 360 system will display a diagnostic pattern of red lighting in place of the standard green "Ring of Light" around the power button. These patterns indicate the following: System errors may also occur without any indication or error messages. Overheating Because of its high power consumption and limited capacity to dissipate heat, the Xbox 360 console poses a substantial risk of overheating if users do not follow the guidelines prescribed by the user manual. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in Crashing or hardware failure. Some Xbox 360 owners have even installed custom cooling solutions in their consoles as a preventative measure. Microsoft has been working with a Singapore-based company, Chartered Semiconductor, to create new 65-nanometer chips. These new chips will be cooler, have higher energy efficiency, and be cheaper to make than the old 90 nanometer chips, while not reducing performance. Xbox Live Connection Failure When you are booted out of Xbox Live and testing the connection shows an MTU failure, there is nothing wrong with your Xbox 360. You will receive this error message anytime the Xbox Live service is down for maintenance. Disc scratching When a user moves the Xbox 360 from its vertical position to its horizontal position and vice-versa while the system is reading from a disc, the Angular Momentum of the disc causes it to brush against the drive's pickup-assembly and results in scratches. The manual that comes with the Xbox 360 specifically warns against moving the system while it is powered on. Microsoft cannot replace scratched discs, by simply replacing the media, because they do not own the rights to the games. However they do offer a free copy of a Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360 title as a replacement for scratched disks. "Microsoft Xbox 360 refuses to replace scratched discs" , gameshout.com, 1 December 2005 . Disc drive noise Compared to previous generation game consoles the Xbox 360 is quite loud, much of this noise is produced by the disc drive when it reads a game disc. Due to the fact that games can be played both with and without the detachable hard disc the drive spins close to its maximum 12X speed to reduce load times. The drive generates less noise while reading video DVDs, audio CDs, or other non-game discs since these do not require as high of a transfer rate and are not spun as quickly (lower Scanning Velocity , see also Constant Linear Velocity ). With the third, and most recent, production run of the Xbox 360, the original Hitachi DVD drive (model GDR-3120L) was replaced with a slightly quieter Toshiba/Samsung DVD drive (model TS-H943). The Toshiba/Samsung model uses the same laser unit as the old LG/Hitachi drive, so the reading capabilities remain identical between the drives. Xbox 360 DVD Drive Comparison (URL accessed on April 1 2006 ) SALES DATA Total number of shipped Xboxes from Microsoft:
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