Microsoft's Xbox 360 turns five years old

Jos

Jos

Posts: 3,073   +97
Staff

Microsoft's Xbox 360 celebrated it's fifth birthday this week, having originally gone on sale all the way back in November 2005 when motion-controlled gaming still felt like a distant dream. The console has been the subject of great praise and also harsh criticism. But despite being plagued with a very high rate of failures due to overheating, Microsoft stepped up its game with a billion-dollar, three-year warranty program to replace any console that got the dreaded RRoD.

Eventually they sorted out these problems with new, more efficient hardware revisions and got away from the controversy almost unhurt. Today, Microsoft is still selling hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360s each month, its console has become a centralized entertainment hub offering far much than just gaming, and with the recent launch of Kinect it still has some years left before retiring to make way for the next round of consoles.

CNet has posted a photo gallery looking back on five years of the Xbox 360. For me it’s been a bumpy ride, having to deal with two RRoD problems, which fortunately got covered by the console’s extended warranty program. How about you, did you stick with the Xbox all the way through these years? Any launch units still alive out there?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/41258-microsofts-xbox-360-turns-five-years-old.html

 
I stuck with my Xbox 360 until it died after the warranty was not ineffect, been meaning to get a replacement but it just never happened and honestly since it died I've grown bored with video games in particular.
 
I never owned an Xbox but I have a usb controller and guitar controller for my PC as well as a number of games that got a game for windows port. I have several friends who own xboxes and each of them have gone through about 2 over the years.
 
I was the first person in line at a local wal*mart to pick up the xbox 360 pro at midnight on launch day. I stuck with that 360 for 4 and a half years. She went through 2 RRoD which were kindly fixed by Microsoft speedily and free. I just retired her and traded her in for a new xbox 360 slim at the local Gamers this summer. But the old one was a great console. I only upgraded because of a small HD and lack of wireless. fixed RRoD and silent slim design where just a plus.
 
Ooo, who cares =P

I had one that had the 3 red lights twice, second time couldn't repair it and microsoft wanted £50 for a used replacement =/

I have a elite now(had it as a Christmas gift last year) but I only used it once until Gold subsscription expired and it's been packed up in the box for many months now, if it wasn't a gift(maybe if I won it or something) I would have sold it right after my gold expired.

I hate the completely cheap unreliable build quality of 360's and it's taken them 5 years to re design it(the slim) and it still shuts down if it detects too much heat hahaha pathetic.
 
It's usually right about now that we hear about the successor isn't it?

But I've had my Xbox 360 since Halo 3 in '07. Got the special edition and never a problem, and still use it daily. It's mostly for Rock Band now, but I'm experimenting with Xbox Kinect. I think this console, as a franchise, still has a lot of life left in it. Graphics are good and games are solid.
 
I know people who have a few dead ones in their closet with a new one under the tv...

my cousin is on his 3rd, and his first was repaired twice...

I know the PS3 can fail too, but I have a friend still using their launch 60GB, my 80GB is still going strong since nov 07, and another friends newer 80GB is still working (of course theirs isnt quite as old as mine)

I do periodically take mine outside and blow compressed air (lightly) through all the ports and always get a significant amount of dust out each time... but I know neither of my friends do with theirs, so maybe I am just wasting my time.
 
I still have my original Pro model I bought in 2006. I have never had it red ring on me though to be honest I didn't play it for more than 5 hours a day. Even though it still works I replaced it a year ago with an Elite model (for hdmi and a larger hd) that I found at best buy for a really good price ($229CAN).
 
I still have one of the original models and though it never RROD'd on me, the CD drive eventually gave up the ghost and I bought an Elite.

My ESIV disc has a ring around it from so much use in that old console (back before the patch to install). Ah, those were the days.

My Elite hasn't seen nearly as much use - could be because games these days aren't all that interesting.
 
Hard to argue with Microsoft's marketing strategy that makes people buy 2 or 3 of the same thing. ;)
 
I don't think they really planned it that way. When they released their main competition was the Ps2 which only had one game that even used a hard drive (and I bet 3/4 of ps2 owners can't even name it). The elite machines were in response to games growing up and taking up more space. They positioned themselves well to compete with the Ps3 without needing to make major upgrades that would have thrown them prematurely into the "next gen".
 
I have not yet jumped on the Console train / bandwagon / thing, and glad I have not, the PS3 is a fairly good platform from what I have heard, but it is still fairly expensive. The XBox 360 RROD's left and right, some unfortunate people have gone through half a dozen in the last 5 years, and most have had aleast one RROD at some point.
I am sticking with PC games for the moment, although the PC gaming environment is not doing to well, especially with all the DRM and developers switching games over to consoles exclusively, so maybe consoles will eventually be a have-to-buy if all games are made exclusively for consoles. I guess only time will tell.
 
Yeah, usually they just change the UI and give it a different number and people buy it over and over and over...

At least since NT all their OS's are built on that base.
Before that all their OS's were built on top of DOS.
 
How much you want to bet Techspot isn't going to do the same thing for the PS3's fifth birthday? :p
 
IMO the 360 is one of the worst console hardware ever produced. The original Xbox had it right with better hardware from the getgo.

But to be fair it does have a good library of games and XBL is a cornerstone in gaming. It pushed online gaming to the masses and eventually Playstation had to follow with PSN.

Overall I think if the 360 was built the way the 360 Slims are now, I would probably own more than one.
 
Didn't get a 360 until Halo 3 launched in 2007 as my original Xbox played everything I needed including Halo 1 & 2 just fine. Got myself the special edition console which I still use today especially for Netflix, it did RROD once in 2009 but that only took about a week to fix. While I am a PC gamer at heart, I do enjoy console gaming from time to time and hopefully I can add a PS3 to my collection in the future.
 
5 Years... I remember June 2006 when I bougt it on Laughlin, Nevada just in the arizona-nevada border, in gameStop.. $430 with Taxes applied. good time those, but now im into my PC. 5 years old hardware means less quality to "Fit" the needs.

But Still nice times, and no matter What I do With PC, I think X360 is a good platform.
 
5?...Damn it's flown by aint it?...I went down the PS3 road myself. That red ring of death scared me right off.
 
It gets five years old...and it just keeps getting older :D
The only xBox that I have ever had (the old original) was a big disappointment, laggggg like hell :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Daniel Sims
Game developers think most Xbox exclusive games are going multi-platform soon
Replies
3
Views
104
Jeff Schmidt
Jeff Schmidt
Daniel Sims
Microsoft expected to continue making Xbox consoles, major announcement coming Thursday
Replies
7
Views
174
yukka
Y
Daniel Sims
Don't update Minecraft through the Xbox app for now, it could erase your worlds
Replies
3
Views
180
erickmendes
erickmendes

Latest posts

Back