Microsoft Xbox Consoles, Games, Controllers, Gear & More | The American Video Game Console

Xbox’s very first version was not well-formed, beyond budget, and almost canceled. But here is a storyline on how the Microsoft Xbox Consoles team took fast fast-track route and changed the whole industry, or rather we would say reshaped the whole gaming console industry.

A team of Microsoft was spending time racking their brains about the idea of building a console. As it happens inside big companies, the project got sparked at an executive retreat.

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Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console team has spent almost two years with lots of competing visions, infighting, various focus groups, and almost cancellation of the product.

But a team of Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console delivered a product that was unveiled by Bill Gates, along with a famous pro wrestler to the bewildered people of Las Vegas. That was the point from where the face of the gaming console was changed forever.

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A box looking like a VCR and an oddly looking controller was what Xbox looked like at its birth. But Xbox clicked and Microsoft has got its only successful video game console brand in America. Microsoft’s entry into this market has changed the face of shooting games and online play forever.

Many big giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have tried to enter this segment, but they have not reached anywhere close to Microsoft. It is said that video games account for approx. $12 B for Microsoft earnings and they have put Xbox as a premier brand.

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Before the Birth of the Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console

Last year it has been two decades since the launch of Xbox. Back in 2001, the only earning revenue for Microsoft was Windows and Office Software. That was the time when Sony Corp was ruling every living room with its PlayStation console.

Microsoft was craving for a space in the living room and that is the point when the idea clicked that Microsoft should also enter this segment. In those days this segment of online play or games was dominated by Japanese companies.

That’s what leads them to Nintendo’s boardroom. It was an hour-long meeting to be laughed at by Nintendo’s board members. They laughed off their asses at Microsoft’s offer of taking over Nintendo. This was not the only attempt made by Microsoft.

It tried to acquire Electronic Arts, then Square Enix and Midway Games. But all the efforts were futile. Bungie went on to make Halo exclusively for XBOX, which led to a successful console.

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Then CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer said, “Microsoft needs to enter the living room of every house. Xbox might have been an impossible dream for many.

But for me and the team working on it to make it live always believed in the concept. It is their efforts which have got Microsoft the best console ever.”

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Birth of the Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console

Sony had announced PSP2 which made everyone in Microsoft go head over heels as PSP2 had advertised that the product has Linux in it and it is going to be a competitor for the computer.

When PSP2 was launched, Bill Gates and his top executives were in some resort on the Canadian border.

The discussion was all about the integration of cable companies, internet providers, and game consoles. Microsoft was having a big discussion if they should go for a game console or not.

Many competitive groups started approaching Bill with crazy demos threatening each other.

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The team, known as Direct X, which was working on Xbox, was led by Blackley and Bachus along with some teammates.

The concept of Xbox was a simple PC application. Before Xbox, it was known as Windows Entertainment Platform.

The idea which impressed everyone was that it was going to be a PC that would pretend to be a game console. That was the pitch made to Bill Gates. Direct X could directly put other teams off strategy in Microsoft terms and the project kick-started.

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Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console: The Massacre Day

It was the evening of Valentine’s Day, and everyone had plans for dinners with their partners. Everyone thought it to be a routine meeting and would be off for the meeting. But the meeting mood was different.

It became evident from the bosses that no one was convinced to pour that amount of money into the console which would not have Windows software. Things were worsening as the team had forgotten to carry out the pre-meeting ritual.

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They would do something that we ended up calling “pre-disaster.” That’s where it would let slip on the court that there’s some kind of bad news coming up. For whatever reason, the pre-disaster didn’t happen.

Bill came pissed off at the meeting and said that you all are screwing Windows. He felt it was an insult to everything he had achieved in this company.

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Microsoft’s intentions and rapid decline of the Japanese console maker Sega

With Microsoft’s intentions known to the world, the team needed to secure some games to play on the new system.

The rapid decline of the Japanese console maker Sega allowed luring game makers to the Xbox, and the biggest target was Electronic Arts, the publisher of Madden and FIFA. 

PlayStation launch veteran Booth, one of the few women in key roles on the team, offered critical advice on winning over developers.

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Best Acquisition Made

An unexpected opportunity arose with a little-known computer game developer, Bungie, who was working on a shooter called Halo. The studio grew up very independent, and we embraced that kind of underdog mentality.

The culture was a kind of anti-establishment, not deliberately anti-Microsoft, but the culture was very different.

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Putting Xbox & Microsoft Together

Meanwhile, the hardware team needed to figure out how to turn the prototype Bill Gates teased at GDC, a big silver X, into a product they could mass produce. A month later, Thompson resigned, citing concerns about the project’s costs.

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The Unveiling of Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console

On Jan. 6, 2001, Gates formally unveiled the Xbox as we know it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Joining him onstage was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, dressed a bit like an agent from the Matrix.

Everyone was busy discussing how they were going to unveil the box. IT was put in a glass container with a cover.

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Xbox: Release Day

On Nov. 15, 2001, the Xbox went on sale in stores across the U.S. Microsoft held a glitzy event in New York City with Gates to mark the occasion.

The Xbox was launched at Toys R Us. The Xbox was very similar to the PSP, and it indicated that they were creating a new market somewhere between Mario and PC gaming.

Now the industry has been validated so many times, that it’s the largest form of entertainment on the planet. But back then, it wasn’t that obvious.

The early Xbox days were a splendid example, and a group of people knew that gaming would be huge. Microsoft Team had a role to play, even though it would mean starting something completely new.

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Microsoft Xbox Video Game Console: FAQ

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