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| Bill Gates unveiling the Xbox at CES (2001) |
The following is a history of the original Xbox and important moments along the way.
Original Xbox History
A look back at Microsoft's first gaming console
2001: The begging of Microsoft's new gaming console
March 31, 2001 - The Sega Dreamcast is discontinued. This is mentioned because it was the first video game console released for the 6th gaming generation.
May 2001 - The original Xbox's price ($299) and release date are revealed to the public by Microsoft at E3 2001.
November 15, 2001 - The original Xbox is launched in retail stores in North America for $299 USD with the following launch titles:
- 4x4 Evo 2
- Airforce Delta Storm
- Arctic Thunder
- Cel Damage
- Dark Summit
- Dead or Alive 3
- Fuzion Frenzy
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Mad Dash Racing
- Madden NFL 2002
- Nascar Heat 2002
- Nascar Thunder 2002
- NFL Fever 2002
- NHL Hitz 2002
- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
- Project Gotham Racing
- Shrek
- Test Drive Off-Road: Wide Open
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2x
- TransWorld Surf
2002: The Xbox is available worldwide
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| Xbox Duke controller (left) replaced by controller S (right) |
February 22, 2002 - The original Xbox is launched in retail stores in Japan with the following launch titles:
- AirForce Delta Storm
- Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
- Dead or Alive 3
- ESPN International Winter Sports 2002
- ESPN Winter X-Games Snowboarding 2002
- Genma Onimusha
- Jet Set Radio Future
- Nobunaga no Yabou: Ranseiki
- Project Gotham Racing
- Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
- Sneakers
- Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
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| JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future - Japan Cover |
March 14, 2002 - The original Xbox is launched in retail stores in Europe and Australia with the following launch titles:
- Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
- Batman: Vengeance
- Blood Wake
- Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
- Dead or Alive 3
- Fuzion Frenzy
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Jet Set Radio Future
- Mad Dash Racing
- Max Payne
- NBA Live 2002
- NHL 2002
- NHL Hitz 20-02
- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
- Project Gotham Racing
- Rallisport Challenge
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
- TransWorld Surf
- Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
May 2002 - Michael Steil initiates the Xbox Linux Project on to the original Xbox.
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| Shenmue II - North American Cover |
August 2002 - Xbox Live beta testers get to test the original Xbox Live service for the first time. The Xbox Live starter kit included 2 to 3 months of free Xbox Live service added to the 12 month subscription. The Xbox Live Beta testers also received a black and orange carrying bag including a lanyard key chain, headset and an orange Xbox memory unit.
October 28, 2002 - Shenmue II is released exclusively to the original Xbox in North America. This original Xbox is the only version of Shenmue II available in North America.
November 15, 2002 - The original Xbox's Xbox Live online service is launched.
2003: Hacking the Xbox
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| Original Xbox taken apart |
2003 - EA decides to remove its video games from being accessible to Xbox Live for original Xbox.
March 21, 2003 - Shenmue II is released to the original Xbox in Europe.
May 2003 - The original Xbox takes a price cut from $199 to $179 (-$20) in North America.
2004: Xbox Live is a success
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| Original Xbox Live Logo |
March 2, 2004 - Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden is released on the original Xbox game. The Ninja Gaiden series was reintroduced and had not released a game since 1991 and was an original Xbox exclusive.
March 2004 - The original Xbox takes a price cut from $179 to $149 (-$30) in North America.
May 2004 - The original Xbox is announced by Microsoft to have 1 million subscribers to their Xbox Live service.
June 29, 2004 - The first stable release of XBMC (Xbox Media Center) is released.
November 9, 2004 - Halo 2, the best selling original Xbox game is launched as well as the Xbox Live update dashboard 5960. Halo 2's release caused 2.5 million Xbox units to sell within the first 24 hours that the game was available.
2005: The Xbox 360 takes the lime light
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| Microsoft Xbox 360 |
November 11, 2005 - 279 original Xbox games are revealed to be backwards compatible with the Xbox 360.
November 22, 2005 - The original Xbox successor, Xbox 360 is launched to retail stores in North America.
2006: The fall of the Xbox in Japan
June 4, 2006 - The original Xbox is discontinued in Japan.
2007: The fall of the original Xbox
May 27, 2007 - XBMC4Xbox is branched out from the (XBMC) Xbox Media Center project into its own media player software release.
July 2007 - The original Xbox has 3 million subscribers to their Xbox Live service.
November 27, 2007 - The last update to the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility of original Xbox games is announced, raising to the total number of backward compatible games to 461 in North America and 476 in Europe.
November 28, 2007 - The last update to the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility to original Xbox games is announced in Japan, raising to the total number of backward compatible games to 122.
August 12, 2008 - The last original Xbox game is released, Madden NFL 09.
February 9, 2009 - The original Xbox is no longer accepted as a trade in at Gamestop which included trades of original Xbox accessories, games and systems.
March 2, 2009 - The original Xbox support for out-of-warranty consoles is discontinued.
April 15, 2010 - The original Xbox's Xbox Live online service is discontinued.
June 22, 2015 - GameStop begins to take in retro game trade ins (online only). This includes the original Xbox and its games.
Original Xbox Fun Facts
- First assembled Xbox prototypes using parts of Dell laptops.
- Was original going to be called Direct-Xbox; inspired by the Direct X.
- The backwards compatibility with Sega Dreamcast games almost happened.
- Original Xbox modding community made way for inspiration for the Xbox 360.
- Microsoft's first attempt at home console was Windows CE on the Sega Dreamcast.
- The Duke controller hold the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest video game controller.
- The original Xbox did not sell well in Japan (only 2 million units, compared to the 16 million sold in North America).
- Sega had exclusive video games for the original Xbox.
- In the 6th gen Xbox was the most powerful console from a technical point of view compared to the Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.
