The birth of the Xbox brought with it many icons we revere to this day: Master Chief; the chainsaw from Gears of War; and arguably the most comfortable controller on the market.
13 years on – that’s right, the original Xbox was released in 2001 – and the console brand is still going strong thanks to the Xbox One.
Microsoft’s concept for the Xbox was simple – take a console, put DirectX on it, make it play 3D games. They took that concept further during development and added on Xbox Live, which was groundbreaking at the time.
The ability to connect to the Internet with your console opened up options for DLC, online multiplayer, system updates, and the features we take for granted today.
In honour of the Xbox, let’s take a look at some of its highlights over the years.
Best of the Xbox
The Xbox sold over 24 million units worldwide during its life-cycle – 1.53 million of those units during its launch week, which made its release more successful than the Xbox 360.
The last game to be released for the Xbox was Madden NFL 09 on 12 August 2008. The console ceased production on 11 March 2007, two years after the 360 was launched.
Here are the titles that made the console great.
Highest rated Xbox games
*Scores based on Metacritic aggregation.
- Halo: Combat Evolved – 97
- Grand Theft Auto Double Pack – 96
- Halo 2 – 95
- Ninja Gaiden Black – 94
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – 94
- Burnout 3: Takedown – 94
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – 94
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow – 93
- Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 – 93
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – 93
Best-selling Xbox games
Although the console launched in 2001, its was not until 2004 that its game sales hit the big time.
- Halo 2 – 8 million copies
- Fable – 3 million copies
- Counter Strike – 1.5 million copies
- Madden NFL 2005 – 1.42 million
- ESPN NFL 2005 -1.38 million copies
The Classics
When we think of the Xbox, we think of these games.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Fable
Madden NFL 2005
Stars Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Halo 2
Tell us of your favourite Xbox memories, in the comments and forum.
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I can remember going to my friends seeing Halo for the first time and just thinking “Man this game rocks”. Playing 4 player splitscreen co-op games like Brute Force, Conflict desert storm with my friends was the best way to blow of steam after a tired day at work.