The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed
in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Its Xbox Live service allows players to compete online
and download content such as arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, and movies. The Xbox 360
is the successor to the
Xbox, and competes with Sony's
PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's
Wii as part of the seventh generation of video
game consoles.br>
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 (E3). It is the first console to provide
a near-simultaneous launch across three major sales regions (Europe, Japan and United States).
The console sold out completely at release (with the exception of Japan) and, as of January 3, 2008,
17.7 million units have been sold to retailers worldwide. The Xbox 360 comes in three different versions,
the "Arcade" console, the "Premium" console, and the "Elite" console, each having its own set of included
accessories and features.
Known during development as Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS, Xbox Next or NextBox,
the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003. In February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform
began, and was headed by Microsoft vice president J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400
developers in Bellevue, Washington, to recruit support for the system. Also that month, Peter Moore,
former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12, 2003, ATI signed on to produce the
graphic processing unit for the new console, a deal which was publicly announced two days later.
The following month, IBM agreed to develop the triple-core CPU for the console. Before the launch of
the Xbox 360, several alpha development kits were spotted using Apple's Power Mac G5 hardware.
This was due to the system's PowerPC 970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox
360 would eventually run under IBM's Xenon processor.
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