Thu, Dec 02, 2010 | 09:22 GMT

Xbox 360 turns five in Europe

360 wave

Party hats on again, chaps.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Xbox 360 going on sale in Europe and the UK: the console went on sale on December 2, 2005.

It only celebrated its US launch last week, with Japan celebrating – or maybe not – its release next Friday, December 10.

The console, which was unveiled in an MTV special before E3 in 2005, launched in 20Gb and a HD-less Arcade SKU forms. It was Microsoft’s second home console following the launch of the original Xbox in March 2002 in Europe.

Launch titles for 360 in Europe included two Rare titles in Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo as well as Call of Duty 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ridge Racer 6, to name a few.

In the subsequent years, it’s seen three Halo titles including Halo 3 itself. The latest release, Reach, launched in September.

360′s biggest new IP, however, has been Gears of War. Following launches in 2006 and 2008 of Gears 1 and 2 repsectively, the final game in the main series will release next fall.

In November, Microsoft launched motion camera Kinect, something that the company hopes will significantly extend the life-cycle of the console.

Red-rings? What red-rings? We bow to you, 360. Happy birthday.

83 comments

Older Comments

#51

G1GAHURTZ
02/12/10, 1:55 pm

I’m back on XBL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#52

Erthazus
02/12/10, 1:56 pm

“I honestly think Party Chat has added more to gaming this gen than most of the other advances.”

and Halo 1 was the first FPS ever.

#53

Blerk
02/12/10, 1:56 pm

Your keyboard appears to be broken.

#54

Hunam
02/12/10, 1:59 pm

@52

Doesn’t matter who did what first, it’s who does it best and how it’s picked up. Most nights a week my group of friends will just end up in party chat, either playing together or playing different games and just chatting socially. It’s the new sitting on a couch and chatting except everyone can play their games. As the xbox gives everyone a headset, it’s no problem getting people into chats.

Also, was that some sort of anti-console sarcasm, because you keep forgetting I’m a dyed in the wool pc fanboy.

#55

Kuwabara
02/12/10, 2:02 pm

what a low class console. I wouldn’t buy it for a $1

#56

daytripper
02/12/10, 2:03 pm

i never join party chat if i’m playing a single player game like a rpg or something like enslaved/castlevainia, i just want to play and not talk to people.

its a great choice to have for online games tho and joining matches with your mates, it also comes into its own for amusement when someone joins the party looking for a “heated debate”.

#57

Blerk
02/12/10, 2:04 pm

You’re an idiot if you wouldn’t buy it for $1. You’d get at least $150 for it on eBay.

#58

Erthazus
02/12/10, 2:04 pm

@Hunam, voice chat existed long time ago and was did right first with systems like Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, inSpeak Communicator or Windows Live Messenger.

and still Skype beats the crap out of Steam or XBL Party chat and you know what?

“with people playing other games is useless and totally ruins the gaming experience. It’s like talking on the phone while watching a show on tv.” (с) Ge0force

#59

G1GAHURTZ
02/12/10, 2:06 pm

I finally managed to get hold of a Slim.

I had to buy the Kinect bundle to get it, though. I still haven’t taken the sensor bar out of the box, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever even bother…

XBL has changed gaming for me since I first got my 360. Playing offline is old hat.

I’ve had my 360 for about 4 and a half of those 5 years, and until recently, I’d been on XBL almost every day.

I remember E3 2005 and Sony’s Killzone 2 trailer and the NVIDIA demo, which made me desperate to get my hands on a PS3.

I remember the pathetic looking Frame City Killer 360 demo and thinking that the 360 would crash and burn into a bajillion sad little pieces as soon as the PS3 came out.

I only got my 360 as an impulse buy, not expecting too much.

Things have changed a lot since then.

I wonder how the next 5 years will turn out…

#60

Erthazus
02/12/10, 2:06 pm

“Alan Wake, Blue Dragon, Crackdown, Gears of War, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect? Wikipedia has a great big list, that’s just a few.”

Oh thanks Blerk. Great list. I should buy an Xbox 360 just now (pff, i’m going to buy it when Gears Of war 3 will be released anyway XD)
Gears Of war is the best thing there (and one of the best games this generation)
while Mass Effect and Alan Wake are worth playing for a few nights.
Everything else is made of crap.

#61

spiderLAW
02/12/10, 2:07 pm

Congrats microsoft. Although i agree with those complaining of the disasters that xbox360 brought, i still enjoy the machine. It has good games and feels good while playing it. It was my first next gen console and it brought me lots of fun gameplay while i waited for PS3 to pick up the pace. Now, i dont play xbox ( will in a week or so once my new one comes in ) very often because of the leaps PS3 has finally taken BUT i cannot deny its influence on my gaming life. I <3 u Xbox360 and may your child (720?) bring as much joy to my life as you have.

PS3 FTW though muahahaha i had to throw that in.

#62

Hunam
02/12/10, 2:16 pm

@58

Who the fuck is Ge0force and why should I care about their opinion?

Yes, those thing did it first and it worked, I never said they didn’t, they are good for chatting. But seeing as most of my friends spend their evenings on XBL playing online, party chat adds so much more for us as we know we’ll all be on it. None of my friends have skype or skype enabled hardware, no one uses yahoo messenger or even MSN anymore, let alone AOL. We don’t have to buy extra things as everything we need comes with the xbox. And we can invite each other as a group easily into games and get started with no fuss, skype can’t do that.

#63

daytripper
02/12/10, 2:17 pm

“PS3 FTW though muahahaha i had to throw that in”

people are going to be furious, now off to n4g you go please before more people get major furious….

#64

spiderLAW
02/12/10, 2:30 pm

@ DT
Thats the whole fun of it aint it?

PS3 rules all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#65

Erthazus
02/12/10, 2:30 pm

@62, “Who the fuck is Ge0force and why should I care about their opinion?”

He have a point.

“other as a group easily into games and get started with no fuss, skype can’t do that.”

“Skype can’t do that”

Skype can’t do that? WHAT?
Have you ever played Steam and used it’s voice chat? I mean seriously.
There is so much “wrong” stuff in your post.

#66

Hunam
02/12/10, 2:34 pm

How so, can skype magically pull everyone into my CoD party?

#67

Ge0force
02/12/10, 2:38 pm

“Alan Wake, Blue Dragon, Crackdown, Gears of War, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect? Wikipedia has a great big list, that’s just a few.”

Most games on that list are also available for pc (yes, that’s a gaming platform too ) or are avarage at best. Alan Wake is one of the only x360 exclusives with a Metacritic score >80% that isn’t a sequel. And it was meant for pc in the first place until MS cancelled it, how sad is that.

@62 Be nice to me m8. :p Now look me straight in the eyes, and tell me you enjoy Alan Wake while talking to your friends about cats and dogs…

#68

Erthazus
02/12/10, 2:42 pm

“How so, can skype magically pull everyone into my CoD party?”

Steam is doing it without any magic. But if you want a better sound quality with your buddies without Skype it’s inevitable.
When i play on PC with my buddies with co-op i never use Steam Voice chat and it’s best on the market (much better than XBL considering how great headsets with microphones from Logitech). I always connect with my friends via Steam and call them via Skype and i don’t even wear something on my head. I have a microphone that is attached to my PC Monitor or something else if i want and they hear everything by 100% better than if i wear a headset with big microphone and using Steam voice chat.

Sound quality on XBL Voice chat is horrible for me and you are saying that it changed something dramatically this gen? Halt!

#69

Hunam
02/12/10, 2:51 pm

Of course it did, me and all my friends speak a lot more now because we can easily do it. No fuss.

#70

Blerk
02/12/10, 2:53 pm

@67, actually only two of those games are available for the PC, if we’re nitpicking.

I’m not saying that Sony hasn’t created a bigger, more-varied line-up of first-party stuff, because it has. But the whole “Xbox has no exclusives and everything it does have is a shooter” argument is a nonsense, just like the “PS3 has no games” one was.

#71

daytripper
02/12/10, 2:55 pm

at the end of the day who cares, as long as you yourself enjoy what you play or what game console its on it shouldnt matter what anybody else thinks.

#72

spiderLAW
02/12/10, 2:59 pm

@71
Exactly!!!

PS3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Xbox360 *to me*
I wuvoo Xbox360 but my mistress PS3 has the better body and smile.

#73

Crysis
02/12/10, 3:23 pm

I only use one game on my 360, Halo Reach, XBL has a much better interface, but the subscription is the very thing preventing me from purchasing multiplat games on it, as soon as my Gold runs out i’m going to leave it alone for a while.
PS3 all the way now, countless exclusives are on the way, my 320gb hdd makes it an awesome media player, and the most important factor, i don’t have to pay to play online
I truley despise how MS charges for Gold, yes it’s interface is better than PSN (you would be a fool to argue), but that’s definately not worth paying for, & any other of XBL advantages over PSN all cost yet another subscription, we already pay for the internet, the conole & the games, isn’t that enough?
Was playing Red Dead & was trying to invite my mate, but it wouldn’t allow me to do it through the XMB, to invite him i had to press select, go to player & press triangle to send invites, i admit that it took me 5mins to work that out.