Ooooh is it retro?  :104:

For now I'd like to talk a little about the Classic Xbox by Microsoft.

[/align:30zet8qj]

Released in 2001 (NA) / 2002 (JP/EU) it was Microsoft's first ever console and is definately a console developed by a manufacturer experienced in the PC market - its virtually a keyboard free PC with a lot of custom software for gaming.

MS heavily promoted the console with a celebrity launch and lots of acquisitions of software companies, 2 notables being Rare and Bungie; and it also had some of the best television adverts created for a console - remember the 'life is short' ad - which rivaled anything Sony was putting out.

The Xbox console also included as standard a high speed modem (broadband only) and a hard drive, it also had some crossover elements from the previous generation such as memory cards which are not seen on modern consoles.

Although the console could be considered a success, it never sold in huge numbers in Japan and in all territories was in an almost constant state of catch up to the PS2.

Gamewise it had many exclusive or quasi exclusives which it shared with the PC only, with perhaps its most famous being Halo:Combat Evolved.

Its legacy is it is perhaps best known for its capabilities once modded, which outside the obvious reason of game piracy presented users with the opportunity to create very capable media centres (XBMC started on this) and open the doors to a level of game mods not seen before (or since?) on a home console.

Nice FAQ here: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/microsoft/xbox/xbox-101-a-beginners-guide-to-microsofts-original-console

************************[/align:30zet8qj]

So, is it retro?

Well I don't want to dwell on this as the main focus, but it needs covering - for me though yes it is is retro.

Its been discontinued by the manufacturer, its online services (official) no longer function and games are no longer released (officially) for the console. So seeing as (some) of its games are also now emulated on its successor the 360 all in I think its retro

************************[/align:30zet8qj]

:8:

My love for the big black box started in around 2000 when the first rather mental pictures of 'The X Box' as it was known appeared:

[/align:30zet8qj]

I had started the 2000s on a PS2 (for GT3) and had some classic games on that console such as GT3 or Red Faction, but a visit to my local game store sometime in '02 changed all that when I saw the Xbox and Halo.

Halo was my obvious main game to start with but I also enjoyed a lot of other games such as the Burnout series, Black, Midnight Club series, Driv3r (hey I liked it lol) and a lot of GTA:SA. For a couple of years I almost exclusively played Halo 2 but am working hard now to catch up!

I did mod my 'box and enjoyed the benefits  of that, I also like to play games only available on a PC such as Doom 3, Half Life 2 or enjoyed arguably the best versions of games on that generation such as GTA:SA or Burnout.

Although I kept my PS2 I only bought 1 or 2 games for it after I got a Xbox, and I actually swapped my Gamecube for a graphics card to play Bf2 but thats another story lol.

Most of my friends also bought Xbox's, in fact looking back apart from 2d fighters which we kept our PS2's for we mostly stuck to the Xbox for a long time. Mine was in use for about 6 years on a weekly (daily?) basis which was by far the longest I stuck to a single console/computer. BTW I know other consoles lasted longer, this is just my story lol

There were some other services on the Xbox, not official, that I'd like to mention:

XLink Kai - was a tunneling service thats still active that allowed you to play System Link games over the internet, this was a incredible service and I made so many good friends on that. For a time I would be online (mostly Halo 2) every night in this.

Project Mimesis - something very unique it was developed as a homebrew Xbox Live like content delivery system. Never widely popular outside of (even for consoles) a rather hardcore group I loved this as I got several very well made levels for Halo 2.

XBMC - Xbox Media Centre, incredible software I felt for the time. Although 'home media' systems are now released that are as simplistic as a USB stick for your TV, this was the original IMO and I knew people that got a Xbox purely to mod it and use as a home media centre. "So popular even Bill Gates uses it" was its tagline although I don't know how true that is!

So....What next?

I'm starting over on some games I either didn't finish, or didn't play, and some I want to play again so first up is Project Snowblind - a FPS that's not well remembered but has some nice features.