The Xbox 360 sold out completely at release and by the end of September 2006 had sold 6 million worldwide.
Its Xbox Live service allows players to compete online as well as download games and additional content.
In February of 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsoft VP J Allard.
The end of OurColony came on May 12, 2005, with the release of a video where J Allard of Microsoft showed off the Xbox 360 console.
On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced Xbox Live Video, an exclusive video store accessible through the console. Launched on November 22, 2006, the first anniversary of the Xbox 360 launch, the service allows users to download high-definition and standard-definition television shows and movies through Xbox Live onto an Xbox 360 console for viewing.
Microsoft XNA also includes other components such as the XNA Framework and XNA Build. Anyone can develop a game using XNA Game Studio Express, an IDE for homebrew developers, which was initially released in beta form on August 30, 2006.
Backward compatibility is achieved through software emulation of the original Xbox.
Updated emulation profiles can be obtained through Xbox Live, by burning a CD with profiles downloaded from Xbox.com, or by ordering an update disc from Microsoft.
Only six games were initially offered in Japan, and eagerly anticipated titles like Dead or Alive 4 were not released until several weeks after launch.
The Xbox 360 takes a new approach to hardware compared to its predecessor. The CPU, named Xenon-CPU (or XCPU) at Microsoft and "Waternoose" at IBM, is a custom triple-core PowerPC-based design by IBM.
The Xbox CPU also contains ROM storing Microsoft private encrypted keys, used to decrypt game data.
Xenos contains 48 unified shader units, which are capable of both vertex and pixel shading operations. This is in contrast to older graphics processor designs which utilize separate specialized units for these tasks.
Up to four controllers are supported by the Xbox 360, in the wireless form. However, there is a maximum of three wired controllers, as the Xbox 360 only has 3 USB slots.
