The Xbox is a well-known gaming console that has been around since the 2000s and has undergone several changes over the years. However, how much do people know about its history and how it became so popular?
Xbox and its origins
In 1999, when Sony announced the PlayStation 2, it was considered the main entertainment for gaming, also for watching video DVDs and playing music CDs. Microsoft wanted to make a console that could compete against Sony’s PlayStation, and on November 15, 2001, Microsoft released the new gaming/entertainment console that would compete with Sony for many years to come, naming it the “Xbox”.
Xbox
The Xbox or the “OG” Xbox sold over 24 units worldwide in its time period, but it didn’t beat Sony’s PlayStation 2. Nonetheless, it was a good console that offered tons of games, such as Halo: Combat Evolved, which was one of the first games released on the console and was an Xbox exclusive. From there, Halo 2 became the most popular/best-selling video game on the Xbox console of all time with over 8.46 million copies sold. This was the starting point for the Xbox console for a couple of years until November 22, 2005, when a new Xbox console was released.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the best-selling console for Microsoft, with over 84 million units sold worldwide, with its most popular games being Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Halo 3. The Xbox 360 includes many accessories, such as a media remote, a wireless racing wheel, and the most popular accessory, the Kinect. The Kinect allowed players to play certain video games without a controller and only allowed the user to use their body to interact with the Xbox 360. A new feature that the console offered was achievements and avatars, which were a huge deal with the Xbox 360, as it rewarded the player for doing certain tasks in the game, and sometimes gave the player a reward so that they could customize their Xbox Avatars. You could also play certain games with Xbox Avatars, which gives the player a much more enjoyable experience, allowing them to be the character in the game. There is so much more that I can talk about the Xbox 360 and how it made a huge impact on the gaming industry. This was when gaming and Microsoft were at their PEAK. The Xbox 360 is a huge part of my childhood, and it’ll remain to me as the best console ever.
Xbox One
The Xbox One was released on November 22, 2013, and sold over 58 million units, with its best-selling games being Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Roblox, and Call of Duty Titles. It had a rocky start in the beginning, but it redeemed itself throughout the year with its amazing gaming library, online multiplayer, and backwards compatibility. This console was a bit controversial since it needed a constant internet connection, with the potential for games to be unplayable after being offline for 24 hours, it had restrictions on used games, which made it difficult or impossible to play them, and it had a higher price since it included an accessory that many buyers didn’t want. It was still a good console overall, but Microsoft can do better.
Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X was released on November 10, 2020, and as of today, the console has sold over 33.5 million units. As of today, the most popular games on the console right now are Battlefield 6, Madden NFL 26, NBA 2K26, and EA SPORTS College Football 26. The Xbox Series X is a powerful and fast console with excellent graphics, quick load times, and a useful feature called “Quick Resume”. It’s a good console that offers a lot to the player, but it also has some cons, such as it’s a large console which isn’t really portable, an expensive game pass, and a very expensive console at $649.99.
My friend’s reasoning on the Xbox
I asked a friend of mine, Dominick Martinez, about the reason why they own an Xbox. Dominick replied, “The reason I have an Xbox is because my dad owned one, and we played all the time ever since that day. I loved it until now. I got one for myself for my own games and especially my dad’s favorite (Call of Duty Black Ops)”.
Conclusion
Xbox has been around for a very long time and has gone through some changes with each console, and this will continue as the years go by. What do you think about every Xbox console that has been released? How long will Xbox be a thing until Microsoft stops releasing the consoles?
