Hardware news Microsoft released its first game console in the US 20 years ago: the Xbox
At 12:01 am on November 15, 2001, Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft) held up an Xbox and sold it to the first buyer who came to him, a certain Edward Glucksman. There is a buzz in the aisles of the Toys “R” Us store in New York. Hundreds of people with numbered armbands come to get the console at the big “X” and try to defeat the famous billionaire in Fuzion Frenzy, a party game developed by Blitz Games. In an America healing the wounds of the 9/11 attacks, Master Chief becomes an icon of a generation.
From Jurassic Park à Guilty Spark
If we want to go back to the origins of the Xbox project, we have to put on our explorer hat and go deep into the jungle of Isla Sorna. In the late 1990s, a talented developer convinced Steven Spielberg to adapt The Lost World: Jurassic Park as a video game. That man is Seamus Blackley, a tall guy six feet four for almost ninety pounds. He assures us that he will be able to create a universe that is so real and relies on a revolutionary physics engine that players will scream in fear when they discover a dinosaur. When the title was released in 1998 under the name Jurassic Park: Trespasser, it was unfortunately just mocking laughter. The trade press. Intruder wasn’t the initially promised experience. The software is lynched full of bugs in the artificial intelligence and inconsistencies in the physics engine. Today, YouTubers are restarting it when they want to make their community laugh. While DreamWorks hoped to sell a million, only sixty thousand Trespasser copies found buyers. Ashamed, Blackley feels rejected by the video game world he loves so much. He left Hollywood and DreamWorks and then moved to Redmond. In February 1999 he was hired at Microsoft as head of graphics programming. The behemoth, who lost $ 5.6 million to his former employer, arrives at Bill Gates’ company through the back door
Meanwhile, in early 1999, Sony did Notice that a new PlayStation will be released soon. According to Sony experts, it should be overwhelmed thanks to its processor. “Emotion engine“. Some people at Microsoft are thinking about what the Redmond company could do. In reality, Bill Gates’ group is starting to be scared of Sony’s ambitions. In fact, the Japanese company could be walking around Microsoft’s flower beds with its PlayStation 2. At that time, Blackley’s supervisor asked him to do a comparative study of the graphics on the PlayStation 2 and those of a PC. If you think about all of this on a flight, Seamus has an enlightenment: Why shouldn’t Microsoft make its own console? A machine for developers that uses the tools the company already has. And above all, one piece of hardware that is the same for everyone and would not be burdened with the problems of the PC and its different configurations. As a former game developer who had many twists and turns with Trespasser, Blackley knows what could help developers avoid mistakes again. When he returns to Redmond, he shares his idea with other colleagues who confess to him that they have already considered the possibility. Ted Hase, Kevin Bachus, Otto Berks all want Microsoft to enter the world of game consoles. This is how the project came about “DirectX box“A game console that is both powerful and easy to program. Eighteen months later, the console will be at home in record time for hundreds of thousands of Americans with just one word: Halo.
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However, it took a long time to convince Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (President of Microsoft) of the merits of the Xbox project. But the fact that Sony refuses to use the programming tools developed by Microsoft for its future PlayStation turns the Japanese company from a potential customer into an opponent in the eyes of Gates. After a long struggle against another project of the American giant to establish itself in living rooms, WebTV, the Xbox project is in full swing. In the course of the presentations, new managers are convinced of the idea
Because if there’s one point that everyone agrees with this Xbox, it’s that it needs games. Lots of games of different genres produced by different developers. While Blackley presents the prototype of the machine and promises a system on which programs can be developed easily, Kevin Bachus, in contrast to the PlayStation 2, concludes publishing contracts with third-party developers. After several endless meetings, one of which wasValentine’s Day massacre“Because of its February 14, 2000 date, and its content that calls into question any strategic decision, the Xbox was officially announced by Bill Gates at the Game Developer Conference 2000. At the conference, Afro Thunder of Ready 2 Rumble Boxing is pushing it all the end.” the good things he thinks about the Xbox. A Video which almost never aired because the Bill Gates crews feared the public would give it a racist undertone. Developers around the world are now officially aware of Xbox’s intentions: to fight the competition
The time trial continues for the Redmond company. She absolutely had to secure a launch line-up for autumn 2001. She managed to seduce Lorne Lanning, Abe’s daddy, and then in June 2000 she bought Bungie, the studio behind the future Halo. In Japan, Blackley and his team manage to negotiate the exclusivity of Dead or Alive 3. In England, Bizarre Creations promises the delivery of Project Gotham Racing and DICE in Sweden developed RalliSport Challenge. At the end of 2000, between 75 and 150 third-party vendors confirmed they were working on the Xbox. Below that we find names like Konami, Activision, Capcom, Eidos, Infogrames, Midway or even THQ.
“The secret of success? Halo and Xbox Live “
When the Xbox was released in the US on November 15, 2001, it offered gamers the opportunity to join Abe in Munch’s Oddysee, race in Project Gotham Racing, fight in Dead or Alive, have fun together in Fuzion. and above all to shoot the alien in Halo: Combat Evolved. A total of 19 titles accompany the release of the console across the Atlantic. Over a million consoles are shipped to stores across the continent, which is almost a wonder considering the machine’s production delays. His great controller “duke“Will be replaced a few months later by the famous Controller S, which was originally intended for the Japanese market. Xbox Live will be officially launched in November 2002 and will be a huge success.. “When people ask why Xbox is successful, I always answer two things: Halo and Xbox Live. Without these two elements, I think the console likely would not have survived and the brand would not have been built.“That said Robbie Bach, recently the former head of the wholesale brand”x“.
In April 2002, the manufacturer proudly announced that the Bungie FPS has sold one million units in North America., and that six copies have been distributed every minute since the day it was published, November 15, 2001. Jet Set Radio Future, Star Wars KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, Psychonauts, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Dead or Alive 3, Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, Morrowind, Midtown Madness 3, Top Spin or even Crimson Skies. After the dreamcast, it was able to democratize online gaming on consoles and demonstrate the importance of the serial hard drive. In total, the first Xbox sold 25 million times. While we wait for the later release planned by Microsoft to celebrate the event, we wish the first Redmond console a happy birthday!
