Microsoft's first video game console, the Xbox, has sold more than 20 million units worldwide since its introduction in 2001. Despite the Xbox's impressive power, the list of big-name video game titles to support it and the success of the Xbox's online component, Xbox LIVE, Sony's PlayStation 2 still outsold it.
As the game industry moved into the next generation of video game technology, Microsoft was determined to dethrone Sony's PlayStation. Enter the Xbox 360.
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Microsoft rebuilt the Xbox from the ground up. From the name to the look to hardware and features, the Xbox 360 is a radically different and more powerful machine than its predecessor. Far more than a video game console, the Xbox 360 is a total media center that allows users to play, network, rip, stream and download all types of media, including high-definition movies, music, digital pictures and game content.
In this article, we will learn about the hardware and features that make the Xbox 360 a leap forward into the next generation of gaming consoles.
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The Xbox 360, like all video game consoles, is just a computer with hardware and software dedicated to the function of running video game software. The original Xbox was essentially a Windows PC with a modified Pentium III processor, some relatively powerful graphics and audio hardware and a modified version of the Microsoft operating system Windows 2000, all packaged in that distinctive black box. The Xbox 360 is also a specially packaged computer, but once you look inside, you realize that this console has quite a bit under the hood:
- Custom IBM Power PC-based CPU with three 3.2 GHz cores
- Custom ATI graphics processor with 10 MB embedded DRAM
- 512 MB 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM
- Detachable and upgradeable hard drive -- all models except the Core system
- 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
- Support for up to four wireless game controllers
- Three USB 2.0 ports
- Two memory unit slots Souce:http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/xbox-three-sixty.htm