Xbox was first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe.
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.
The Xbox 360 sold out completely at release and by the end of September 2006 had sold 6 million worldwide.
Due to its early launch, the Xbox 360 has a one-year lead on both of its competitors, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.
Microsoft is predicting that with the Xbox 360, a greater market share, yearly revenue through their Xbox Live service, and falling hardware costs will eventually make system sales profitable.
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.
The full list of backward-compatible games is maintained at Xbox.com.
E3 2006 was the first large-scale show after the console's launch and there, the first trailer for Halo 3, the third game in the flagship Xbox series of shooters, was premiered. Fable 2, a sequel to the Xbox's best-selling RPG, was also shown, along with Alan Wake, Mass Effect and Too Human. Bill Gates spoke of plans to integrate several Microsoft services into one entity with Live Anywhere.
