The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Known during development as Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox Next or NextBox, the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003.
Microsoft's retail strategy involves two different configurations of the Xbox 360: the Xbox 360 SKU, frequently referred to as the Xbox 360 Premium Package and an Xbox 360 Core System SKU.
Since Microsoft owns the intellectual property rights to the hardware used in the Xbox 360, they can easily switch to new fabrication processes or change suppliers in the future to reduce costs.
Xbox Live supports voice communication along with video communication, a feature possible with the Xbox Live Vision.
The Xbox CPU also contains ROM storing Microsoft private encrypted keys, used to decrypt game data.
The console features 512 MB of 700 megahertz GDDR3 RAM on a 128-bit bus.
The Xbox 360 controller is significantly different from the original Xbox controllers, the Duke and the S models. The black and white buttons have been replaced by bumper buttons, which are on the shoulder of the controller, right before the triggers. It is noticeably smoother, has a white-gray theme, and is very small and ergonomically built.
