Wed, Mar 14, 2012 | 21:46 GMT

Xbox turns 10 in EU, VG247 releases The Xbox Story ebook

The original Xbox was released in Europe ten years ago today, marking the start of a Microsoft mission that changed gaming forever.

Xbox is ten in Europe. The original machine released on March 14, 2002 in Europe, having released in the US on November 15, 2001 and Japan on February 22, 2002.

With launch titles including Halo: Combat Evolved, Jet Set Radio Future, Max Payne, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, Project Gotham Racing and more, Xbox released in the at an event at London’s Virgin Megastore attended by Richard Branson and others. Widespread cynicism at Microsoft releasing a console failed to stop what is now one of video gaming’s major forces, but nothing was certain in the launch period. Many thought Microsoft doomed to failure.

We took an extensive look at the story behind Xbox last year for the US birthday, detailing Microsoft’s motivation for ever getting into the console business and the Herculean obstacles the team faced in getting Xbox to market.

To mark the European anniversary, we’ve released The Xbox Story for Kindle, so you can now buy it for reading off-computer. There’s a huge amount of information in it, including interviews with original Xbox team members and an account of Microsoft’s development process from the first internal email mentioning a console to Ed Fries’s trials and tribulations with the Rare buyout. It costs less than £2.

You can, of course, revisit the feature for free on VG247. In fact, you should. Then buy the ebook and read it again. Doing this will make you a better person, and may well secure your place in heaven. And we all want to go to heaven, don’t we?

14 comment-trail-alt Posted in: Microsoft, Xbox
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14 comments

#1

Chockster
14/03/12, 9:04 am

Bought. I like the sound of Heaven, and was surely not on my way there so far.

#2

Patrick Garratt
14/03/12, 9:05 am

Hero. Thanks. You are literally guaranteed to sit in Heaven for all eternity as a result. Promise.

#3

OrbitMonkey
14/03/12, 9:30 am

Thank goodness it’s a ebook. The spittle from all the MS arse-kissing would have left a paperback unreadable!!

Arf!! :-P

Any plans for more ebooks if this does well Pat? You could do a yearly omnibus ;-)

#4

Karooo
14/03/12, 9:34 am

I shared all the 4 parts with my Xbox MVP group long time ago; everyone liked it so much. Will buy the ebook as well!

#5

Patrick Garratt
14/03/12, 9:36 am

@3 – :-D

This is a test, really. Just getting used to the publishing process, and so on. There will be more, yep.

#6

Patrick Garratt
14/03/12, 9:36 am

@4 – I love you very much. Seriously, I love you.

#7

Gurdil
14/03/12, 10:33 am

I’ll buy it but I don’t want my place in heaven. Anyone interested?

#8

StolenGlory
14/03/12, 10:36 am

Bought and pimped among my Twitterati and FB acquaintances.

Yeah baby :)

#9

Colin Gallacher
14/03/12, 11:11 am

Excellent idea! I remember really enjoying all the pieces last year :D

#10

ManuOtaku
14/03/12, 11:37 am

Reading this i remember just how good the launch tittles were for this console, and i did like the controller a lot, but i know is not for everybody tastes.

#11

Patrick Garratt
14/03/12, 1:57 pm

Me talking about this to the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2012/mar/14/xbox-turns-10-in-europe?CMP=twt_gu

#12

Ben
14/03/12, 2:05 pm

Whilst you should of course buy Pat’s book (!), if you’re after a good account of the inception of the original Xbox this is very good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opening-XBox-Dean-Takahashi/dp/0761537082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331733613&sr=8-1

There’s a follow-up for the 360, as well (not sure how good it is): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xbox-360-Uncloaked-Microsofts-Next-Generation/dp/0977784215/ref=pd_sim_b_1

@Pat: I haven’t read your account yet, but did you utilise any of these two?

#13

Patrick Garratt
14/03/12, 2:51 pm

@12 – I used the first one for research, yeah. It’s head-fuckingly detailed. I can’t recommend it enough, to be honest. If you have a serious interest in the console business it’s absolutely essential.

#14

fearmonkey
14/03/12, 6:39 pm

I love this site and appreciate all the work that Pat and others put into making this one of my daily stops. I bought the ebook, the US link is here

http://www.amazon.com/The-Xbox-Story-VG247-ebook/dp/B007JMTSNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331749980&sr=1-1

Thank you Pat and company :) I wanted to show my support, and I look forward to reading the ebook!!

I loved the original Xbox very much, and I even liked the Duke controller.
I remember when I bought mine. The Dreamcast launch in 1999 was packed, but when I got my xbox in 2001 there was no midnight launch. I was there first thing in the morning at my local EB games, there was one guy in front of me and he wasn’t buying an Xbox, there was no one behind me. When I went to pick it up the clerks told me that they wouldnt purchase one if they were me, and suggested I get a PS2 instead. How different the 360 launch was, when I had mine preordered months in advance and couldnt get my launch console till a month or so later.

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