Microsoft’s Xbox turns 10 today

It’s been a decade today since Microsft introduced gamers to the first Xbox way back in 2001. With Sony dominating the console scene at the time, this was the first real break for the software giant in the world of consoles, which joined the party almost a year later to compete with the PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast. Before it was shelved in late 2006, Microsoft had sold over 24 million units worldwide and till date, remains the most reliable and easily modifiable console Microsoft has developed.

Happy Birthday Xbox!

The Xbox Live online gaming service launched a year later, which allowed gamers to play online Xbox games with other subscribers and even download new content directly on the console. This also spawned the Halo: Combat Evolved and Project Gotham Racing, two of the best games ever created till date. For their next generation console, Microsoft was determined to get their console out in the market before Sony, but in the race to do that neglected some critical quality control checks, which then led to the dreaded RRoD (Red Ring of Death), which plagued almost every owner of early adopters. This went on for a couple of years during which Microsoft released a bunch of different chipsets for the console hoping to end this nightmare they and the users were facing. These problems somewhat subsided when Microsoft launched the Elite with the Jasper chipset.

The console went from having just Component and Composite connections to HDMI and now, with the latest Xbox 360 S models, Wi-Fi as well. The consoles currently available in the market are slimmed down, quieter and less power hungry. While they still irritatingly use proprietary hard drives and didn’t add Blu-ray support, at least the RRoD is a thing of the past, which is an accomplishment in itself. Even though Microsoft say that the Xbox 360 will continue till 2015, the buzz around the internet suggests a possible 2013 holiday season launch. So, how many of you still have your old Xbox consoles with you?