Xbox 360

Microsoft Xbox 360

Xbox 360 logo
Xbox 360 system and controller
Manufacturer	Microsoft
Type	Video game console
Generation	Seventh generation era
Lifespan	November 22, 2005
Units sold	5 million units expected to be shipped by the end of June (February 27, 2006) .
Media	DVD, CD, (future:HD DVD)
CPU	3.2 GHz PPC Tri-Core "Xenon" (codename)
Online services	Xbox Live
Best-selling game	Call of Duty 2
Predecessor	Xbox

The Xbox 360 ("three-sixty"), known during development as the Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox Next or Nextbox, is the successor to Microsoft's Xbox video game console. Microsoft officially unveiled it on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the prominent Electronic Entertainment Expo. Upon its release on November 22, 2005 in North America, December 2 in Europe, and December 10 in Japan and Mexico, the Xbox 360 became the first console to have a simultaneous launch across the three major regions. It also serves as the first entrant in a new generation of game consoles and will compete against Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

Retail configurations and pricing

Microsoft's current retail strategy involves two different configurations of the Xbox 360 in most countries: the Xbox 360 SKU, frequently referred to as the Xbox 360 Premium Package; and an Xbox 360 Core System SKU. At launch, the Xbox 360 was priced at USD $399. The Core System is not available in Japan, instead Microsoft offers a package identical to the Xbox 360 SKU for JPN ¥37,900. Japanese pricing of the console has drawn some criticism, as customers there are able to purchase the Xbox 360 small package, albeit one region-coded for Japan, for a lower price than in other countries. Additionally in Australia and New Zealand the Xbox Live headset in the Xbox 360 Premium Package was not included . The cost in the UK has been set at GBP £219 for Core, GBP £279 Premium.

BusinessWeek magazine compiled a report that estimates the total cost of components in the "premium" bundle at $525 USD, sans manufacturing costs, meaning that Microsoft is losing money on every Xbox 360 system sold (in the United States, at least). It should be noted that the strategy of selling a console at a loss or near-loss is common in the console games industry, as console makers can usually expect to make up the loss through game licensing. Furthermore, since Microsoft owns the intellectual property rights to the hardware used in the Xbox 360, they can easily switch to new fabrication processes or change suppliers in the future in order to reduce manufacturing costs. This flexibility stands in contrast to the situation faced with the original Xbox, which contained a processor from Intel (a slightly modified Pentium III) and a GPU from NVidia (a modified GeForce 3). Because of the added expense of these chips and the inclusion of a hard drive component, Microsoft was never able to reduce Xbox manufacturing costs below the break-even point. As a result Microsoft's home entertainment division posted a loss through nearly every quarter of the console's lifecycle, including a loss of US$ 38 million during Microsoft's 2005 Q3, at the Xbox 360 launching. Microsoft is predicting that with the Xbox 360, a greater market share and falling hardware costs will eventually make system sales profitable.

Bill Gates stated that by the time the Wii and PlayStation 3 ship in November 2006, nearly 10 million Xbox 360 units should be sold. This was stated at E3 during their press conference. Microsoft has also stated it will ship around five million Xbox 360s its financial year 2005/06, ending 30 June 2006.

	Xbox 360 Premium System	Xbox 360 Core System
Premium chrome finish	Yes	No
Detachable hard drive (20 GB)	Yes	No
Gamepad	2.4 GHz wireless	Wired with a 3 m/(~9 ft) break-away cable
Xbox-Live headset	Yes (most regions)	No
Bonus DVD Remote	At launch only (no longer available)	No
Cables	Component HD-AV cable	Standard AV cable
Xbox Live Silver membership	Yes	Yes
One month trial membership for Xbox Live Gold	Yes	Yes
Ethernet cable	Yes	No

Suggested retail price by region

	Xbox 360	Xbox 360 Core System
Pricing on release
Australia (AUD)	$649.95	$499.95
Canada (CAD)	$499.99	$399.99
Europe (Euro)	€399.99 (€409.99 for Finland, Ireland, and Portugal)	€299.99 (€309.99 for Finland, Ireland, and Portugal)
India (INR)	Not yet known	Rs.19,990
Japan (Yen)	¥39,795	Not available
Latvia (LVL)	Ls320.00	Ls240.00
Mexico (Pesos)	$4999.99	$3999.99
New Zealand (NZD)	$718.95	$549.95
Norway (NOK)	3395,-	2595,-
Singapore (SGD)	$660.00	$535.00
South Korea (Won)	₩419,000	₩339,000
Sweden (SEK)	3995:-	2995:-
Taiwan (TWD)	NT$12980 (originally 13888)	NT$9970 (originally 10888)
United Kingdom (GBP)	£279.99	£209.99
United States (USD)	$399.99	$299.99

Launch

Main article: Xbox 360 launch

The Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005 in United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, December 2 2005 in Europe, December 10 2005 in Japan, February 2, 2006 in Mexico and Colombia, February 24 2006 in South Korea, March 16 2006 in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan and March 23 in Australia and New Zealand after a 3-week delay. Very recently, an official launch for the Philippines was announced. On E3 2006 Microsoft announced the console will be officially launched in eight new countries: South Africa, Chile, India, Brazil, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

Because of a manufacturing bottleneck for having started the massive manufacturing only 69 days before launching, Microsoft was not able to supply enough systems to meet consumer demand in Europe or North America. Many potential customers were not able to procure a console at launch and the lack of availability led to Xbox 360 bundles selling on eBay at grossly inflated prices, with some auctions exceeding US$2000. By year's end Microsoft had sold only 1.5 million units; including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan. Low Japanese sales are partly attributed to the poor selection of launch titles in the region - only six games were initially offered and eagerly anticipated titles like Dead or Alive 4 and Enchant Arm were not released until several weeks after launch.

Although a mediocre launch, the Xbox 360 has a jump start on both of its competition, the Playstation 3 and Wii, and high-end games, such as Gears of War, Too Human and Saints Row are expected to hit shelves this fall and could cause an increase in system sales.

Components and accessories

Controllers

Up to four controllers are supported by the Xbox 360, including wired and wireless gamepads. The wired gamepads may be connected to any of the three (two on the front, one in the rear) USB ports located on the console, or to a USB hub. A USB keyboard is also supported, but only for inputing text and navigating the dashboard.

Gamepad

The black and white buttons have been replaced with the right and left bumpers and an Xbox Guide button has been added to the center. Wired gamepads feature a nine foot (2.74 m) long cord with a break-away feature. They can be used with any USB and Windows equipped computer. Wireless gamepads have a range of about 30 feet (~9 m) and use either two AA batteries or a NiMH rechargeable battery pack. When a gamepad is plugged in, or - in the case of wireless gamepads - turned on, a quadrant of the LED "Ring of Light" around the power button is lit up, indicating connection and ordering (1st player corresponds to the upper-left quadrant, 2nd player to upper-right, etc.) The "Ring of Light" also adorns the Xbox Guide button; it will flash in case of a low battery warning on the wireless gamepad.

As a first for console controllers, the wired version can be used as a PC gamepad out of the box without the use of any converters. Regardless of the green Xbox 360 packaging or the red PC packaging, it is the same controller either way- the only difference being that the PC package comes with a driver disc included, while the standard package requires users to download the PC drivers. The downside is that the Xbox Guide button is currently inoperable, but future driver updates are expected to support it. At E3 06, Microsoft announced a wireless adapter, which would allow wireless gamepads to be used on PCs.

Steering wheel

The "Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel" was introduced by Microsoft at the 2006 E3. Due this fall, the force feedback steering wheel controller will include the standard gamepad buttons and floor-mounted accelerator and brake pedals. Although the wheel is capable of running off the rechargable battery pack, use of the force feedback and active resistance features will require an external AC adaptor.

Faceplates

The default white faceplate can be replaced with a range of custom designs, each sold separately. The prices of these custom designs are around $20 with more to be released by third party manufacturers. Microsoft has also distributed three promotional faceplates, one for those present at the E3 2005 unveiling, one for those at the Zero Hour launch event and one for VIP X05 attendees. While the face plate exists for aesthetic reasons, it still serves several other functional roles like airflow direction, dust and particle deterrence, and protection for the DVD-tray and memory slots.

• • Note** A "one of a kind" Face plate autographed by some members of the Microsoft team was sent to the Launch Pad Game Center (www.launchpadgamecenter.com) in Moab, Utah free of charge. It is belived that this is the only autographed face plate available.

AV connection

Adapters and cables are available for TOSLINK, RCA (audio and video), S-video, Component video, VGA, D-Terminal, and SCART connections, depending on regional standard.

A picture has emerged on the internet which supposedly shows an Xbox 360 motherboard with a HDMI connection. However Microsoft has not released any confirmation on if they are actually implementing a HDMI port into the Xbox 360.[3]

HD DVD Drive

At E3 2006, Microsoft officially announced and presented the external HD DVD drive. The new drive is set to be released later in 2006. The new drive will be able to play the next generation of digital media storage for HD movies, while all the Xbox 360 games are still based on DVD format. The E3 HD DVD shown does not have a HDMI port, and it connects to the Xbox 360 via USB. There is an integrated USB hub with two ports on the rear of the HD DVD drive along with a spot for the Xbox 360 Wireless adaptor to clip on. The second USB port is intended for the Xbox Live Vision Camera.

Bill Gates has confirmed during his keynote speech at CES 2006 that an external HD DVD drive will be released for the 360 during 2006. However, Peter Moore has stated that if HD DVD loses the format war, Microsoft may also release an external Blu-Ray drive. This was later denied by Microsoft. According to Japan's chief of Xbox operations Yoshihiro Maruyama, Microsoft will not release Xbox 360 games in the new disc formats. The Xbox 360 lacks a HDMI port, and will not be able to play HD DVDs at full resolution if the ICT flag is set, although rumours of an updated Xbox 360 motherboard featuring a HDMI port have surfaced.

The price for the Xbox 360 and the HD DVD bundle will apparently be lower than the price of the Premium PlayStation 3.

Microsoft has no plans to include an internal HD DVD player in future Xbox 360 designs.

Other

• Detachable hard drive: An optional detachable SATA 20 GB hard drive is used for the storage of games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos, player preferences, and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace; it may also be used to transfer such content between Xbox 360 units. It is required to play original Xbox games. Only 13 GB of this hard drive are available to the user; the rest is reserved for the system and games. According to J Allard, the chief of Microsoft's Xbox division, Microsoft may sell larger capacity detachable hard drives for the Xbox 360 in the future, and territories outside of North America may have a differently sized hard drive in the retail unit.
• Rechargeable battery pack: This nickel metal hydride battery pack provides up to 30 hours of continuous gaming for the wireless controller. It is recommended in place of disposable AA batteries (which differ slightly in voltage). It also ships as part of the Play & Charge Kit.
• Play and Charge kit: allows the controller to be recharged while playing a game by plugging the wireless controller into one of the USB ports. Also includes the rechargeable battery pack. It should also be noted that the Play and Charge kit allows you to use a wireless controller with the battery pack removed, however it does not allow the wireless pad to be used as a wired controller on a PC.
• Memory Unit: a portable 64 MB device which allows the transfer of saved games, in-game achievements and unique gamer profiles to other Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft also announced a 256 MB version on E3, 2006, which will be available in Q4 2006, price yet unknown.
• Wireless Networking Adapter: The Wi-Fi (802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g) adapter is sold separately for an MSRP of $99.99. There are also many third-party adapters which are connected throught the ethernet port, and recognized by the XBOX360 as a wired connection. Using an official or third-party wireless bridge the console will automatically detect and link up with other Xbox 360 consoles that are within range and form a mesh network.
• Headset: allows gamers to talk to each other when plugged into the controller's expansion port and connected to Xbox Live. Some upcoming Xbox 360 titles may benefit from voice command too. It has an in-line volume control and a mute switch. It is worth noting that you do not need an official headset for your controller, any standard 2.5 mm socket handsfree set from a mobile phone will work as a headset. There are also wireless headsets coming this year.
• Universal Media Remote: assists in the playing of DVD movies and music (although the console can play such media without the remote) , and offers controls for a TV or Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PC. The universal media remote is a bigger version of the media remote that was initially shipped with the premium version of the console (which is no longer available). Both remotes allow basic control of games, along with being able to navigate the dashboard. The remote controls interface with the Xbox 360 via infra-red.
• Quick Charge Kit: Charges your two rechargable battery packs in less time than the Play and Charge Kit. Comes with one new battery pack.

• Live Vision Camera: At E3 2006, the Xbox 360 camera was officially announced for release this fall. At present there is one Live Arcade game which has camera functionality included, named UNO. Texas Hold-Em Poker is scheduled for release in fall. That will also have Digimask technology included, accessed only by the Vision. The ability to create an in-game representation of yourself can be done with this camera. The camera will be released in North America on September 19, 2006. The new dashboard released on June 13, 2006 added an option in the system tab to support its functions.

User interface

Dashboard

A unique feature of the console is its robust graphical user interface, the Xbox 360 Dashboard. This GUI is launched automatically when the console boots up without a game/media disc, or when the disc tray is ejected. A simplified version of it can also be accessed at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. A recent firmware update allows you to specify what the XBox 360 should boot to - the disc or the Dashboard.

The Dashboard utilizes a tabbed interface that features four "Blades", each leading to a different menu.

The dashboard had its first major revision on June 6, 2006 at 2:00 AM PST, which introduced background downloading, a reorganized Xbox Live Marketplace, the option to boot the dashboard or video game first and downloadable TV shows, among other new features.

Other upgrades include:

• New slideshow options have been added for Photo Viewing, which can save folder layout between sessions.
• DVD playback can resume playing from where it was stopped last time.

Dashboard Version Information:

• Current Dashboard Version: 2.0.2858 Release date: 6/13/06
• Base Kernel Version (Retail): 2.0.1888

Blades

• Xbox Live/MarketPlace - Allows the user to connect to Xbox Live. Includes management options for the user's friends list, Xbox Live messages, and Xbox Live Marketplace transactions.
• Games - Allows the user to keep track of played games and earned achievements. Includes access to Xbox Live Arcade and downloaded game trailers and demos.
• Media - Allows user to manage media content and offers Media Extender functionality.
• System - Allows the user to alter the system, privacy, and security console settings.

DirecTV

According to the March 2006 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, a new blade may be added to the dashboard, pursuant to a long-term agreement between Microsoft and DirecTV. The DirecTV Blade would offer the user an opportunity to "download TV episodes in high definition, HD movies on demand, and [use] standard-definition streaming DVR (i.e., TiVo) functions. However, since this news hit the Internet there has been no further proof showing this to be anything more than a rumor."

Media Center Extender

The Media Blade on the Dashboard includes a Media Center Extender feature that allows the user to stream media content from a Windows XP Media Center or, after it launches in 2007, Windows Vista equipped PC. A Windows Media Connect utility allows users to stream various formats of digital music and pictures to their Xbox 360 console (video cannot be streamed with the Windows Media Connect software).

The Xbox 360's Media Center Extender Capabilities also allow users to run other third party applications such as emulators and mapping software such as Google Maps. There is also the ability to browse the web with limited controls.

Xbox 360 Guide

The Xbox 360 Guide is a simple user interface that is accessed by pressing the Guide Button (located in the center of the controller) on any Xbox 360 controller. It offers the following menu selections:

• Xbox Gamer Card
• Xbox Live Messages, Friends, and Recent Players lists
• Xbox Live "Private Chat" with friends
• Xbox Live "Video Chat" with friends (Requires Xbox Live Vision Camera-Coming Soon)
• Personal Settings
• Music controls

Once in the Xbox 360 Guide the user may boot the Dashboard interface by pressing the Y button on the gamepad, switch the current user profile with the X button, and shut down the console or wireless controller by holding down the Guide button.

Xbox Live

Main article: Xbox Live

With the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live went through a major upgrade adding a basic non-subscription service (Silver) to its already established premium subscription-based service (Gold). Xbox Live Silver is free of charge and allows users to create a profile, join on message boards, access Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and talk to other members. Silver members are not allowed to play any games online. Microsoft has also announced there will be trial weekends for Silver members to access the full features of Gold service temporarily. Xbox Live supports the headset for voice communication and the forthcoming Xbox Live webcam that will come out in the Spring of 2006 for video, according to Xbox 360 kiosk stands and Official Xbox Magazine. Xbox Live Gold has the same features as Silver, plus online game playing capabilities. Microsoft has allowed for previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, buddy lists, and games history when they make the transition to Xbox Live Gold. To transition an Xbox Live account to the new system the user needs to link a Microsoft Passport account to their gamer tag on Xbox.com. Then when the user goes to add a Xbox Live enabled profile to their console, the user just needs to provide the console with their passport account information. An Xbox Live Gold account costs $49.99 USD, $59.99 CDN, £39.99 Pounds Sterling, €59.99 per year (or, in the UK, a 3-month Gold membership is available for £11.99).

Xbox Live also runs competitions, which you can usually find out about through the website. These competitions have prizes which range from TVs to entertainment systems. While they usually require the latest games, many times they are free to enter.

Updates coming in September to Xbox live is the camera. This will allow you to video chat with friends as well as put your face on some game characters.

Marketplace and Arcade

Main article: [[:Xbox Live Marketplace, Xbox Live Arcade]]

The Xbox Live Marketplace is Microsoft's online distribution center for priced and promotional content. In order to download priced content (such as Xbox Live Arcade games or Gamertag images) users are required to purchase Microsoft Points for use as scrip.

Current hits on Arcade include Geometry Wars and Uno. Upcoming arcade games include Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Frogger, Small Arms, and Texas Hold Em' Poker.

Software development

Microsoft XNA

Main article: Microsoft XNA

Microsoft XNA is a set of tools and technologies which include XNA Studio which provides versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. These tools are designed to work together to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. John Carmack stated at QuakeCon 2005 that the Xbox 360 had "the best development environment" he has seen for a console. Microsoft XNA also includes other components such as the XNA Framework and XNA Build.

Procedural synthesis

Main article: Procedural synthesis

In traditional video games, all content is statically stored and generally immutable; that is, textures, meshes, and other game content is stored on a storage medium. As complexity in each rises, the demand for storage rises as well. A newer approach to generating content is utilised for Xbox 360 titles, a method referred to by Microsoft as procedural synthesis. Procedural synthesis is an approach to generating game content via algorithms. For example, trees are one of the most complicated objects to render in a game, due to their organic complexity. A game with only one model for a tree will appear odd, as nature is far more random; the game loses some of its immersion as a result. Instead, a general recursive algorithm will generate the tree's model and textures, so that each tree looks different from the next, and do so with high efficiency.

Backward compatibility

Further information: List of Xbox games compatible with Xbox 360

Backward compatibility is achieved through software emulation of the original Xbox hardware. Emulated games offer graphical enhancements because they are rendered in 720p resolution with anti-aliasing enabled rather than the Xbox standard of 480p. Some games also benefit from an improvement in the rendered draw distance, possibly due to the system's greater memory bandwidth. However there are also games that do not perform well in emulation; these often exhibit a lower framerate on the Xbox 360. Some suffer from bad coding, which have random quirks appear in the game (e.g., imprinting of the screen on Halo 2, the constant moving of Star Wars: Battlefront 2).

A hard drive is required to enable backward compatibility. Hard drives purchased separately or as part of the console package include an early version of the emulator that includes emulation profiles for games Halo and Halo 2. Updated emulation profiles can be obtained through Xbox Live, by burning a CD with profiles downloaded from Xbox.com, or by ordering an update disc from Microsoft.

The full list of backward-compatible games is maintained at Xbox.com. Although the current U.S. list includes over 200 games, fewer titles are listed as backward compatible in European and Japanese markets. Microsoft has stated that they intend to release more emulation profiles as they become available, with a goal of making the entire Xbox library playable on the Xbox 360.

Hardware specifications

Specifications are also available at the official Xbox 360 website.

Central processing unit

File:IBMxenon.jpg

Xbox 360 CPU with some thermal paste left on it

The CPU, named Xenon (Microsoft) or Waternoose (IBM) is a custom IBM triple-core PowerPC-based design.

• 90 nm process, 165 million transistors (65 nm process SOI revision in 2007)
• Three symmetrical cores, each one SMT-capable and clocked at 3.2 GHz
• One VMX-128 SIMD unit per core
• 128×128 register file for each VMX unit
• 1 MB L-2 cache (lockable by the GPU) running at half-speed (1.4 GHz) with a 128bit bus
• 34 GB per second of L-2 memory bandwidth (256bit x 100 MHz)
• dot product performance: 9.1 billion per second
• 115 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance
• ROM storing Microsoft private encrypted keys

Graphics processing unit

File:R500gpu.jpg

Xbox 360 GPU; note the smaller eDRAM die to the left of the main Xenos die.

The "Xenos" GPU is a custom chip designed by ATI. (Developed under the name "C1", sometimes "R500") The chip contains two separate silicon dies: the parent GPU and the daughter eDRAM.

• 338 million transistors total (232 million parent shader die+105 million EDRAM daughter die)
• 500 MHz parent GPU (90 nm TSMC process, 232 million transistors)
• 500 MHz 10 MB daughter embedded DRAM framebuffer (90 nm process, 105 million transistors)
  • NEC designed eDRAM die includes additional logic for color, alpha blending, Z/stencil buffering, and anti-aliasing. 105 million transistors according to "ATI engineers" by way of Beyond 3D's Dave Baumann.
  • 8 render output units
• 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically-scheduled shader pipelines
  • Unified shader architecture (each pipeline is capable of running either pixel or vertex shaders)
  • Support for a superset of DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 3.0
  • MEMEXPORT shader function
  • 2 shader ALU operations per pipeline per cycle (1 vec4 and 1 scalar, co-issued)
  • 160 programmable shader operations per cycle (48 ALUs x 2 ops + 16 texture fetch + 32 control flow + 16 vertex fetch)
  • 48 billion shader operations per second
  • 240 GFLOPS programmable
• 16 filtered or unfiltered texture samples per clock
• Maximum polygon performance: 500 million triangles per second
• Texel fillrate: 8 gigatexel per second fillrate (16 textures x 500 MHz)
• Pixel fillrate: 16 gigasamples per second fillrate using 4X multisample anti aliasing (MSAA), or 32 gigasamples using Z-only operation; 4 gigapixels per second without MSAA (8 ROPs x 500 MHz)
• Dot product operations: 24 billion per second or 33.6 billion per second theoretical maximum when summed with CPU operations

Memory

• 512 MB 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM (Total system memory is shared with the GPU via the unified memory architecture) produced by Samsung or Infineon Technologies.

System bandwidth

Xbox 360 Bandwidth Diagram

The system bandwidth comprises:

• 256 GB/s eDRAM internal logic to eDRAM internal memory bandwidth
• 32 GB/s GPU to eDRAM bandwidth (2 GHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle on a 64 bit DDR bus)
• 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth (700 MHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) on a 128 bit bus)
• 21.6 GB/s front side bus (aggregated 10.8 GB/s upstream and downstream)
• 1 GB/s southbridge bandwidth (aggregated 500 MB/s upstream and downstream)

Audio

• All games must support at least six channel (5.1) Dolby Digital surround sound using optical output
• Support for 48 kHz 16-bit audio
• 320 independent decompression channels
• 32 bit processing
• 256+ audio channels
• No voice echo to game players on the same Xbox console; voice goes only to remote consoles
• Voice communication is handled by the console, not by the game code. This allows players to communicate online even if they are playing different games.
• Uses XMA codec (based on WMA Pro)

Video

Although all games were once required to support a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a HD resolution of 720p with 2x full scene anti-aliasing enabled as a minimum, those requirements seem to have been dropped. An anonymous developer was quoted as saying that "even 2xMSAA is not required by Microsoft anymore," and Project Gotham Racing 3 has been shown to be internally rendered at a resolution of 1024x600. The GPU can cross convert the native game resolution to other display resolutions (480i SDTV, 480p, 720p, and 1080i) depending on the native resolution of the display it's connected to, and dynamically crop or scale 16:9 to fit 4:3 screens.

Supported resolutions

Resolution	Aspect Ratio	Megapixels	Standard	Output (RGB via VGA connector or SCART)
640x480 Interlaced	4:3	0.31 interlaced	480i	Composite video / S-Video / Component video / RGBHV / RGB-SCART
640x480	4:3	0.31	VGA / 480p	Component video / RGBHV
848x480	16:9	0.41	WVGA / Widescreen 480p	RGBHV
1024x768	4:3	0.79	XGA	RGBHV
1280x720	16:9	0.92	720p	Component video / RGBHV
1280x768	5:3	0.98	WXGA	RGBHV
1366x768	16:9	1.04	WXGA	RGBHV
1280x1024	5:4	1.31	SXGA	RGBHV
1920x1080 Interlaced	16:9	2.07 interlaced	1080i	Component video

Supported codecs

• VC-1 at non-HD NTSC and PAL resolutions
• VC-1 or WMV will be used for streaming video
• VC-1 or WMV HD supports DVD quality and high definition quality video
• Bink Video is licensed for games like Project Gotham Racing 3
• Additional MPEG2 decoder for DVD video playback

DVD drive

A 12X DVD-ROM SATA drive, capable of reading DVD+R/DVD+RW discs and DVD-R/RW, is part of the console, with game titles shipping on single or dual-layer DVDs. Only 7GiB of the 7.95GiB capacity of a dual-layered DVD is available for developers to use for game content. The disc drive also supports the CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, WMA-CD, MP3-CD, and JPEG Photo CD formats as well as DVD movies. There are three known suppliers of these drives for the Xbox 360: Hitachi-LG, Toshiba-Samsung, and Philips. The Hitachi-LG drive is considerably noisy, so the Toshiba-Samsung drive had replaced it and is reasonably quiet. Philips drives were only used in pre-release development xbox 360s.

Cooling

Both the GPU and CPU of the console have heatsinks. The CPU's heatsink uses heatpipe technology, to efficiently conduct heat from the CPU to the fins of the heatsink. The heatsinks are actively cooled by a pair of 60 mm exhaust fans that push the air out of the case (negative case pressure). Active cooling makes the Xbox 360 considerably louder than a passively cooled console would be, although much of the noise produced by the 360 is actually a product of the DVD-ROM drive rather than the thermally controlled fans. There have been third-party modifications that watercool the console. Pelican has released an usb-powered cooling device called the Fan Stand which attaches to the bottom of the console when it is position vertically. It helps cool the console down by sucking air into it. Nyko has also released a similar device called the Intercooler, a large fan accessory that attaches to the back of the console via the AC adaptor input, and feeds power directly from the system's own power source. Both the Fan Stand and the Intercooler produce additional fan noise which may be distracting to some users.

Physical characteristics

Console

• Weight 3.5 kg (7.7 lb)
• 29.5 cm(length) (30.9 cm w/HDD), 25.8 cm(Width), 8.3 cm(Height) or (12.16 x 10.15 x 3.27 in)

Power supply

• 21.3 cm(Length), 7.6 cm(Width), 5.7 cm(Height) or (8.4 x 3 x 2.25 in)

Miscellaneous

• The option to apply a regional lockout to games is available to publishers. See List of Xbox 360 games without region encoding. DVD region codes are always enforced.
• An external A/C adapter supplies power to the console and its connected accessories, it is the largest power supply to ever accompany a gaming console. The North American adapter is rated at 5 amps / 100-120V A/C input and has a D/C output of 203W.
• 3 USB 2.0 input ports, 1 RJ45 ethernet port for 100BASE-TX (100 Mbit/s).

Technical difficulties

Diagnosing errors and troubleshooting

File:Xbox360 bsod 02.jpg

Photo of the Xbox 360 error screen on a Wal-Mart kiosk

The Xbox 360 will display a "Screen of Death" if the system experiences a serious error. In such instances the user is prompted to contact Xbox customer support.

In the case of certain specific errors the Xbox 360 system will display a diagnostic pattern of red lighting in place of the standard green "Ring of Light" around the power button. These patterns indicate the following:

Quadrants lit in red	Indicated error	Troubleshooting
4	The A/V cable is either not properly connected to the Xbox 360 system, or is not being detected.	Check cable and connector.
3	Console is experiencing a hardware failure	Contact Xbox customer support
2, left	Console is overheating	Turn console off, unplug power supply
1, bottom left	General hardware failure	Contact Xbox customer support

System errors may also occur without any indication or error messages.

Overheating

Because of its high power consumption, the Xbox 360 console poses a moderate risk of overheating if users do not follow the guidelines prescribed by the user manual. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in crashing or hardware failure. Some Xbox 360 owners have even installed custom cooling solutions in their consoles to prevent this from happening.

Microsoft has been working with a Singapore-based company, Chartered Semiconductor, to create new 65-nanometer chips. These new chips will have reduced power consumption and in turn, will run cooler. They will also be cheaper to manufacture than the current 90-nanometer chips. Because the logic design and clock speed will remain unchanged, performance will not be affected.

Disc scratching

When a user moves the Xbox 360 from a vertical position to a horizontal position, or vice-versa, while the system is on, the inserted disc may brush against the drive's pickup-assembly and incur scratches to its reflective coating. The Xbox 360 owner's manual specifically warns against moving the system while it is powered on. However, some users also reported that their disc got scratched without moving their consoles. Microsoft does not replace scratched game discs, by simply replacing the media, because they do not own the rights to some games. However they do offer a free copy of a Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360 title as a replacement for scratched disks. Note: Consoles equipped with the Toshiba-Samsung manufactured drive may experience dislodging of the disc when the console is tilted with a game inserted. This could damage your disc as well as your drive. Users with drives manufactured by Hitachi-LG have only reported damaged discs. The most sensible advice is to not risk it and simply not move the console while it is in a powered-up state, or with a disc inserted.

Disc drive noise

Compared to previous generation game consoles the Xbox 360 is quite loud. Much of this noise is produced by the disc drive when it reads a game disc. Because games can be played both with and without the detachable hard drive, the drive spins close to its maximum 12X speed to reduce game load times. The drive generates less noise while reading video DVDs, audio CDs, or other non-game discs since these do not require as high a transfer rate and are not spun as quickly (lower scanning velocity, see also constant linear velocity).

With the third production run of the Xbox 360, the original Hitachi-LG DVD drive (model GDR-3120L) was replaced with a slightly quieter Toshiba/Samsung DVD drive (model TS-H943). The Hitachi-LG DVD drive model has been known to read burnt DVD+R DL discs better than the newer Toshiba/Samsung drives, and is much less picky about DVD Burner/Media compatibility. Phillips drives were only used in pre-release development Xbox 360s.

Sales data

Total number of Xbox 360s shipped:

• Total: 3.2 million units (March 2006)
• Quarterly Data
  • Q4 2005, 1.5 million units
  • Q1 2006, 1.7 million units

See also

• List of Xbox 360 games
• List of Xbox 360 games without region encoding
• List of multiplayer features in Xbox 360 games
• Xbox

External links

• Official Xbox/Xbox 360 Website
• Xbox 360 at Onthexbox.com - Xbox 360 Games, Screenshots & Movies
• Xbox Development Team Blog
• Xbox 360 at GameSpot
• Xbox 360 at IGN
• Xbox 360 High-Definition Videos at Microsoft
• Xbox 360 at About.com
• TeamXbox - Regularly updated site detailing latest Xbox 360 news
• Game Ratio - Xbox 360 Game Ratings, Reviews & Previews

Articles

• The contents of the box
• The Xbox Reloaded - Wired Magazine, June, 2005
• NTSC-uk's hands on 360 Hardware feature
• Rejected Xbox 360 designs
• Release dates for Xbox360 Games
• Asia to get Xbox 360 by March, Microsoft says
• Dean Takahashi's "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked" book