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00:00Bill Gates, you never cease to amaze the rock.
00:03Never cease to amaze the rock, you're right again.
00:05Today isn't about you, it's about the new Xbox.
00:08And quite frankly, I couldn't be more excited.
00:10Welcome to Mojo Plays and welcome to part four of our journey through gaming time.
00:14Over the coming weeks, we're going to be looking at the complete history of console gaming
00:18and after our breakdown of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s in part one, two and three,
00:22we're ready to jump straight into the 2000s.
00:25No time to catch everybody up, so if you missed the other parts,
00:27make sure to check them out, links in the description below.
00:30If I miss anything important, let me know in the comments.
00:32Before we continue, we publish content all week long,
00:35so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified of our latest videos.
00:41I'm here for the PlayStation 2.
00:45The best entertainment system to hit the world.
00:49By the end of the 1990s, gaming barely resembled what it had been 10 years earlier.
00:543D graphics were the norm, CDs had replaced cartridges for most systems,
00:58stories were deeper, characters were more realistic,
01:00the medium had grown up alongside its audience.
01:03And then in the year 2000, Sony dropped the PlayStation 2.
01:16Look, I don't care if you're an Xbox gamer, an Nintendo gamer or a PC gamer,
01:22you cannot deny the importance and the brilliance of the Sony PlayStation 2.
01:27This console would go on to sell over 155 million units,
01:31making it the best-selling console of all time,
01:33with no other home console getting even within 40 million of its record until 17 years later.
01:39It didn't hurt that it also played DVDs,
01:41which turned it into an entertainment powerhouse in living rooms everywhere.
01:45So it was easier for parents to justify.
01:47They would say to themselves,
01:48I could spend a few hundred bucks on a DVD player,
01:50or I could spend a few hundred on a PS2,
01:52pretend it was a selfless gift for the kids.
01:54Ah, Steven, you've done it again.
01:57My dad's name was Steven.
01:58Sega had one last push with the console I mentioned in the previous video,
02:02the Dreamcast.
02:03It was bold, built-in modem, online play, creative games,
02:07arguably ahead of its time.
02:09Unfortunately, it was released a year before the PS2,
02:12and by 2001, Sega pulled the plug and exited the console race for good,
02:17becoming a third-party publisher instead.
02:19It was a dark day for Sega, but a fatality that needed to happen.
02:23A new era had begun,
02:24and in 2001, a new competitor came to the arena.
02:28Just as the smoke faded on Sega,
02:30a large glowing X could be seen through the fog.
02:34What is that?
02:35It's green.
02:36It's glowing with power.
02:37It's almost alien.
02:38Oh, God.
02:39Microsoft entered the gaming arena with the Xbox.
02:43And as a Sony fanboy,
02:45I don't say this lightly,
02:46the Xbox packed some serious hardware.
02:49For the first time, let me now unveil Xbox.
02:58It included a built-in hard drive and launched with Halo Combat Evolved,
03:02a title that instantly made the system relevant.
03:05Suddenly, the console war had three major players,
03:08Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
03:10And Microsoft seemed like they'd been there from the start.
03:13They were confident,
03:14and they'd earned that confidence.
03:16But still, each console at the time had its own benefits.
03:19Sony's PS2 led with a massive library.
03:22Microsoft targeted hardcore gamers,
03:25and Nintendo launched the GameCube in 2001.
03:32The GameCube was compact, affordable,
03:34and powered by exclusives like Super Smash Bros. Melee
03:37and The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker.
03:39It didn't outsell its rivals,
03:41but it kept Nintendo firmly in the fight,
03:43cementing it for the cozy gamer,
03:45and marketing it to younger players, families,
03:48and to the then-silent but dedicated fanbase,
03:51the gamer girl.
03:52Just unboxing the GameCube and holding it in my hands again,
03:55that is something that has given me
03:57the most nostalgic, cozy vibes ever.
04:00But one of the biggest game changers of the 2000s,
04:03online play on consoles.
04:05In 2002, Microsoft introduced Xbox Live,
04:08bringing structured online multiplayer,
04:10complete with voice chat, to living rooms.
04:12It worked.
04:13Halo 2 became a multiplayer phenomenon,
04:15and Sony and Nintendo soon followed
04:17with their own online services,
04:19though never to the level of Xbox.
04:21Xbox changed one important thing,
04:23and taught all three studios that moving forward,
04:26online gaming wasn't just a bonus feature,
04:28it was expected.
04:30And with that knowledge,
04:31we enter the era of high definition.
04:38The seventh console generation
04:39was when gaming started to look like
04:41what we recognize today.
04:43Wireless controllers became standard,
04:45digital downloads grew,
04:46motion controls went mainstream,
04:48and unless you owned a Wii,
04:50high definition graphics were front and center.
04:52That's not a slam on Nintendo,
04:53it's just an observation.
04:55People were starting to comment
04:56on how games were looking like real life,
04:58and my Mii guy didn't have fingers,
04:59so it was hard not to notice the difference.
05:01Microsoft kicked things off in 2005
05:03with the Xbox 360,
05:05beating Sony and Nintendo to market
05:06by a full year.
05:08It was powerful, sleek,
05:09and clearly built to blur the line
05:12between consoles and PC.
05:13Early titles like Call of Duty 2
05:15and Project Gotham Racing 3
05:16showed off crisp HD visuals
05:18that made previous consoles look ancient.
05:20And for many players with new flat screen TVs,
05:23the leap in graphics was impossible to ignore.
05:26I have a weird core memory
05:27of my best mate's dad calling us in
05:29to look at what he'd been installing all day,
05:31and it was a cabinet unit against a wall,
05:33and when he pressed a button,
05:34a TV and Xbox 360 would rise out of it.
05:37I want to say he was a douche,
05:39but it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.
05:40The Xbox 360 converted a lot of gamers fast.
05:44Sony fanboys like myself
05:45started losing friends to the enemy.
05:47Defectors went by the boatload,
05:49and PS2 fans were starting to feel left out.
05:52But for Xbox, that power came with problems.
05:55Early hardware failures were widespread,
05:57most notoriously,
05:58the dreaded Red Ring of Death,
06:00a title given due to the lights of the Xbox
06:02looking like, well, a red ring.
06:04When this appeared,
06:05this almost always meant the console
06:07was useless until serviced,
06:08and for a reliable console,
06:10it actually appeared a whole bunch.
06:12Nobody alive has a friend
06:13who didn't see the infamous ring.
06:15It became famous enough
06:16to earn its own acronym.
06:17RUROD.
06:18Crap acronym.
06:19Microsoft eventually fixed the issue,
06:21but the damage to its reputation lingered.
06:23And while these consoles were being repaired,
06:25Sony players were still playing
06:27Final Fantasy X and loving it.
06:28Nintendo, meanwhile,
06:30took a completely different path.
06:31Instead of competing on raw specs,
06:33it released the Wii in 2006.
06:35It wasn't HD,
06:36it wasn't the most powerful machine,
06:38but it had motion controls,
06:40and that changed everything.
06:41Wii Sports, bundled with the console,
06:43was instantly accessible.
06:45You didn't need to learn complex button layouts,
06:48you just swung your arm like a tennis racket,
06:50and suddenly non-gamers were playing.
06:52Families were playing,
06:53grandparents were bowling in their living rooms,
06:55and the Wii became a cultural sensation,
06:57outselling both competitors by a wide margin.
07:00It was literally called Wii,
07:02a name that should have tanked it in the West,
07:03and somehow it only suffered a few weeks of giggles.
07:06And now,
07:07we all seem to collectively ignore
07:08that the console name
07:09was just another word for piss.
07:10It ignored competitive gaming
07:12and brought games simply
07:13from the house to the home,
07:15prioritizing group enjoyment
07:16rather than solo aggression.
07:18But with the sweet,
07:20you always need the salty.
07:21With the pee,
07:22you always need the poo.
07:23And the Wii's lower hardware power
07:24meant many big third-party titles
07:27skipped the platform entirely.
07:28It thrived on accessibility,
07:30not multi-platform muscle.
07:38Sony's PlayStation 3 launched in 2006
07:41and had a bit of a tougher road.
07:43It followed two of the best-selling consoles ever made,
07:46and its high price,
07:47which was driven by Blu-ray support
07:49and the complex cell processor,
07:51slowed early momentum.
07:52The price did make sense,
07:53but the difference between it and Xbox
07:55wasn't noticeable enough
07:56for the average consumer
07:58to justify that price difference.
07:59Many multi-platform games
08:01were built with the more developer-friendly
08:02Xbox 360 in mind
08:04and then ported to the PS3,
08:06so even if Sony wanted to flex
08:07their hardware advantage,
08:08they didn't really have anything to flex with.
08:10Over time,
08:11Sony found its footing.
08:12A price drop helped,
08:14and more importantly,
08:15strong exclusives did some heavy lifting.
08:17Titles like Uncharted and The Last of Us
08:19proved what the PS3 could really do.
08:22Sony clawed back,
08:23even if the PS3 never quite matched
08:25the runaway success of its predecessors.
08:27I had everything under control
08:29until they blew off the boat.
08:30By the end of the era,
08:32each system was clearly defined.
08:34Microsoft delivered power
08:36and online dominance.
08:37Sony leaned into premium hardware
08:39and cinematic exclusives.
08:42Nintendo changed how people played.
08:44Gaming had changed,
08:45and gamers now came in all shapes and sizes.
08:49And with the eighth generation
08:50just around the corner,
08:51we were about to see every company
08:53go in total different directions,
08:55cementing themselves for better,
08:56and for some, worse.
08:58And that is the end of part four.
09:00Next time,
09:01we're going to dive into 2012 and onwards,
09:03and see how Sony managed to claw their way back
09:05and around the dominating Xbox 360.
09:08Make sure you're subscribed if you're not already,
09:10and I'll see you very soon.
09:15Did you enjoy this video?
09:17Check out these other clips from Mojo Plays,
09:19be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
09:21to be notified of our latest videos.
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