Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first true foray into the console gaming market, previously through partnerships with SEGA, Microsoft worked on the Dreamcast. The console competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, and Nintendo's GameCube, and to a certain extent the SEGA Dreamcast.

The Xbox console came with the Xbox Live service which allowed players to compete with other players all over the world. This was not the first console to do broadband gaming on a console, Microsoft had also experimented with online gaming with the SEGA Dreamcast which was the first gaming console to do ethernet gaming. Due to broadband penetration being relatively low during the Dreamcast's lifespan, Microsoft wanted the Xbox Live service to succeed where the Dreamcast failed.

The Xbox was first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. The Xbox was discontinued in late 2006, the latest Xbox game to be released was Madden NFL 09 which was released in August 2008. Support for Xbox consoles out of warrant was discontinued on March 2, 2009, although in-warranty repairs will still be done. A successor, the Xbox 360 was released in 2005.