How Microsoft Changed The Gaming Industry
When the original Xbox was released in 2001 it wasn’t exactly the most popular game system on the market. The PlayStation 2 was what most would consider the dominate console with the Game Cube not too far behind. However looking back on things it is very clear that Microsoft started changing the gaming market even before the Xbox 360 was released.
Online Gaming
The biggest thing that Microsoft did with the original Xbox was have one of the best online gaming services to ever grace the console gaming market. Many will argue that the Dreamcast had online gaming first, which it did, however Xbox Live was successful while the Dreamcast was an epic failure. One of the biggest reasons why Xbox Live was so successful was because it utilized high speed internet connections which allowed for lag free gaming. Not only did it support high speed internet it was also ready to go online right out of the box providing you had an extra Ethernet cable laying around. With the PlayStation 2 which was also able to go online, you had to shell out an extra $30 or $40 to buy the adapter to go online, until the newer slim PS2 was released anyway. Of course today every new game console can go online in some form or another.
Hard Drive Included
While Sony has a much better idea with their PS3 and letting its users use any hard drive they like. However the Xbox was the first console to use a hard drive which let its owners save game files without the need for a memory card. This was the first time console gamers could do this, and it was beyond convenient not having to plug in a memory card to the console, or having to worry about buying an extra memory card just so you could save your games progress. Today the Xbox 360 and PS3 both utilize hard drives.
Achievements
While Microsoft didn’t rock the gaming community with their Xbox 360 they did add one very nice feature to all of their games, achievements. Before gamers could get achievements for playing their games they didn’t have much of a way to show off to their friends and often times wouldn’t go out and do the extra things that developers added to their games. With the addition of achievements, gamers can now show off how many points they have as well as the difficult things they had to do to get them. With the not so recent update Sony gave our PS3′s for Trophy support it just goes to show how important Achievements are.
With the upcoming release of the Kinect this November I am sure that Microsoft will once again change the video game industry. Have an opinion? Let me (and my readers) know about in the comments section below.
22 Comments
Great but brief article, the Xbox has done a lot more for the industry, including the xbox live arcade and marketplace which started up (not as good as it is now though) But it started it.
You could also discuss the Halo effect and Halo 2′s matchmaking is set the standard for all games to follow, in fact its even better than most games these days.
Very good points however Bungie was responsible for Halo 2′s matchmaking, Microsoft was responsible for funding the games production.
Wireless controllers.
Gamer Tags with quick load profiles.
XNA the software tool that makes it a lot easier to program games.
Indie Access, currently only publish inside the US.
Downloadable demos, no need to buy a magazine.
Oh wait a minute silly me, Microsoft doesn’t innovate so that must all be wrong.
One problem, how was Xbox first at having a hard drive? PS2 had one for online play.
Well if I remember correctly the Xbox was released in 2001. Final Fantasy XI wasn’t released until later on in the generation which is when the hard drive was added as an option.
Wireless controllers have existed since before the Xbox 360.
No one really uses the gamertags except for the Xbox 360.
Actually the Sega Saturn had a built in hard drive. It was no where as big as what the original xbox had. But you could easly save your game saves without a memory card.
Sorry but I couldn’t find anything to back up your claim that the Sega Saturn had a built in hard drive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn
I would figure the wikipedia page would have it.
32 KB SRAM with battery back-up for data retention.
I’ll give you a crash course in computer hardware. RAM is known as Random Access Memory which is a form of memory which can hold information/data on it while it has power to it. Once the power is gone it is off thus it doesn’t fall into the “storage” section of a computer. SRAM is the same thing.
A Hard Drive is known as “Storage” which allows data/information to be stored even if the power is off. There is a major difference between RAM and a Hard Drive and the Sega Saturn did not have a Hard Drive it had SRAM which is a sad attempt at a storage solution since RAM is not intended for files to be stored on when the system is off. RAM is simply there so your computer doesn’t have to access the Hard Drive over and over again (which would cause for a slow system)
True, but it doesn’t change the fact that was their idea of a hard drive for the Saturn, plus I think they wanted you to go buy the Back Up cart to keep any files.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2_Expansion_Bay
July 19, 2001 for PS2 hard drive but Japan, seeing how you didn’t say US only, Sony did do it maybe before Microsoft.
Well I just look at Xbox’s date it came out Vs PS2′s Japan Hard Drive and Sony had it first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox < Oh yeah Sega saturn is listed as one of the systems that had a hard drive.
That doesn’t matter. The Sega Saturn was a failure a system and that included it’s half assed storage system.
SRAM = Memory
Hard Drive = Storage
Memory is for running applications and files while the computer is on.
Storage is for storing that information when the computer powers down.
See my above reply about the difference between RAM and a Hard Drive.
Also in very large letters it clearly says “Hard Drive Included” and when the PS2 was launched it did not have a Hard Drive included. It was something extra you had to buy with the console, which is the same thing as shelling out money for a memory card.
I understand where you are coming from, the Saturn did have a form of memory built in. However it was prone to failure, no one in their right mind would want to hold important data in RAM because when the power is gone it is erased.
Oh but the point wasn’t about if it did good or not, the point was Saturn did it and Xbox wasn’t the first, their is a list of other systems that had the samething.
I said that the Xbox had the first built in hard drive included with the console.
RAM does not equal a hard drive.
RAM = Volatile Memory
Hard Drive = Nonvolatile Storage
If you have a source that shows that RAM is suddenly the same thing as a hard drive please post it. However make sure it is more than a wikipedia page, something credible.
Oh? If have a Saturn so why do I need to look up something that I know? You seem to be pretty lazy about finding info, but you cry about when someone uses Wiki but you use it to.
I am lazy? Your unable to read I clearly have as one of the headlines in this post that the Xbox was the first console to have a hard drive included with it. So far your argument has been “Sony had it first” which great they had an option to buy a hard drive in japan but it didn’t come with the console. In fact the PS3 was the first console from Sony bundled with a hard drive.
Next you said that the Saturn had a hard drive which it did not. Here is an example of a hard drive used most commonly today: http://www.pctechguide.com/images/31HardDrive.jpg
There are other types of hard drives out there that do not use platters to store data these are known as solid state drives utilize flash memory to store their data much like a sd card in a camera.
The Sega Saturn used SRAM here is an example of what RAM looks like: http://microtechmall.com/images/uploads/computer-memory-ram.jpg
SRAM is known as Static Random Access Memory which is a type of VOLATILE MEMORY that loses it’s data when there isn’t a signal going to it.
A hard drive as the book “PC Hardware Essentials” by David Groth and Don Gilster states on page 237 of their book, is a type of NONVOLATILE STORAGE which means that I can turn off my computer/game console and it will retain it’s data. Not only that but I could take the hard drive out, put it in a storage box for 10 years and providing it wasn’t damaged it will still have my data on it when I power it on.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that in PC Hardware Essentials Memory (RAM) is covered in chapter 5 while Hard Drives are covered in chapter 7. Obviously there is a big enough difference between RAM and a Hard Drive to warrant the authors to put them in different chapters.
So in reality you are the one who is being lazy and are unable to realize that you are incorrect on what you are saying. I am providing you with lengthy explanations as to why what I’m saying is correct and what you are saying is incorrect. With that said this will be the last reply I give to you as I feel I have explained this well enough so even if you still disagree with me, other people reading this will probably realize that you are incorrect. Hopefully though, you realize how a hard drive is different from RAM and also hopefully you will scroll up to the article and realize that I said “Hard Drive Included” in the headline, which again a hard drive is different from RAM. Saturn used internal storage however it wasn’t a hard drive it was a poor way to use internal storage as well. However if I was going to say “was the first to offer internal storage” I may use Sega Saturn or one of the other consoles that used it before Microsoft released their Xbox with a hard drive built in that had a Nonvolatile Storage solution known as a Hard Drive.
I hope you enjoyed my 520+ word reply from a lazy person.
Oh but wouldn’t using the word hard drive be the same as the old NES and Genesis games that had memory build into the game? No matter how many words you type that doesn’t change the fact that you are to lazy to look up anything yourself.
Let’s try your kind of response.
No it wouldn’t.