Its Xbox Live service allows players to compete online as well as download games and additional content.
The promotional campaign for Xbox 360 began on March 14, 2005, with the opening of an alternate reality game called OurColony.
At launch, the Xbox 360 was priced at US$399 and the Core System was priced at US$299.
An Xbox Live Silver account does not generally support multiplayer gaming; however, some games that feature their own subscription service can be played with a Silver account.
Xbox Live Gold has the same features as Silver, plus online game playing capabilities.
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools and technologies that includes XNA Studio, which provides versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists.
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.
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.