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00:00The Rock is exhilarating. Xbox is going to be exhilarating when you play it.
00:05The Rock is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.
00:08Xbox is going to be the most electrifying console, period.
00:11Welcome to Mojo Plays.
00:13And it's hard to believe that it's already been 25 years since Microsoft launched their first console,
00:19which would become one of the big three of the console wars.
00:23Xbox might not be the powerhouse it once was, but man, it was an incredible machine for the time.
00:44Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest
00:49videos.
00:53Frankenstein
01:00In the 90s, Microsoft had no interest in directly entering or competing in the gaming space,
01:07content with their PCs and DirectX handling their video game applications.
01:11However, a small group of DirectX employees decided to send a single rogue email to Bill Gates himself,
01:17requesting Microsoft explore developing their own gaming console.
01:21Surprisingly, Bill Gates was also interested in the prospect and greenlit the team to develop a prototype.
01:27With no real development budget for a prototype,
01:29the team Frankensteined a bunch of laptop parts together into a makeshift console designed to run Windows and DirectX
01:36as a dedicated PC gaming console hybrid.
01:39And because of this demonstration,
01:41Microsoft decided to move forward with plans for a true gaming console.
01:51Unreleasable
02:01With plans and production fully underway for the then-unnamed Xbox console,
02:07the true scope of the project left many within Microsoft, including Bill Gates,
02:12incredibly skeptical about moving from a software developer to hardware and game designer.
02:17As development continued and the project began to take shape,
02:20the team went over budget numerous times and were constantly on the verge of having the entire project cancelled.
02:26Gates also began to believe that if the console failed at launch, it could damage the Microsoft brand.
02:31The console was also delayed to 2001, giving its main competition a full-year head start.
02:37However, the team was incredibly dedicated to the project and refused to give up,
02:42which also motivated the rest of Microsoft to give the new console a chance to prove itself.
02:48Actually, I think there was one other person that was above me.
02:51I mean, hey, it was no big deal.
02:54Oh, I don't think so.
02:55Familiar name.
03:06Designing the console itself was only a fraction of the difficulties the team faced getting it off the ground.
03:12They needed a name that would appeal to customers while also separating it from what was already available.
03:18Initially and internally, the team referred to the console as the Direct Xbox, which marketing immediately hated.
03:25As alternatives, they presented a whopping 35 additional options, all of which were also rightfully dismissed.
03:32Some of these suggestions included MIND, or Microsoft Interactive Network Device,
03:37FACE, which translated to Full Action Center,
03:40R&R, or Reality and Revolution,
03:43and MTG, or Microsoft Total Gaming.
03:47Thankfully, all the acronym-style names were widely hated during audience testing,
03:51and the team finally dropped the Direct from their initial title pitch.
03:55Unsurprisingly, Xbox was the undisputed favorite with focus groups.
04:06Hard drive.
04:07And Cortana.
04:10Let's give our old friend a warm welcome.
04:13I've already begun.
04:14For their first console, the team designing the Xbox were incredibly forward-thinking with their creation.
04:20Not only did the Xbox come with a built-in Ethernet port,
04:23designed specifically for high-speed Internet, rather than the standard dial-up of the time,
04:28but it also had its power supply built into the box, rather than outside.
04:33However, the most impressive feature included in the Xbox was the built-in hard drive.
04:38With the hard drive already built in, players had no need for memory cards to save their games,
04:42and allowed for faster loading times,
04:44which also allowed more complex games like the Elder Scrolls III Morrowind to run on the console.
04:49The inclusion of the hard drive and the Ethernet port were crucial for games like Halo 2,
04:54which both pioneered and revolutionized online gaming with Xbox Live and DLC map packs.
05:01Sure you wouldn't rather take a seat?
05:02We'll be fine.
05:06I still had fingers, they'd be crossed.
05:09Green by accident.
05:11Sure?
05:12Right.
05:13Let's thaw him out.
05:15Okay.
05:16Bringing low-level systems online.
05:18One of the most immediately striking features of the Xbox is the use of green everywhere.
05:23When designing the logo, the decision to make the Xbox logo green
05:27wasn't the result of some crucially detailed and thoroughly tested marketing strategy.
05:32It was purely by chance.
05:34While Xbox and Microsoft would like you to believe green was chosen as a symbol of power for the Xbox
05:38and a futuristic vibe, its origins are surprisingly humble.
05:42As it turns out, just before a major presentation in which the logo needed to be revealed,
05:47Xbox designer Horace Luke simply had no other choice but to go with green.
05:52It seems that out of all the colors in Luke's massive marker set,
05:55green was the only one that hadn't been stolen by the rest of the team.
05:59Happy accidents lead to the best results,
06:01and Xbox's now iconic green hue made it stand out amongst the rest of the console market.
06:07You don't believe me?
06:09Ask him.
06:11Graphical Power.
06:12Now, get moving and stay out of trouble.
06:16The bundled hard drive wasn't the only advantage the Xbox had over its biggest competitor, the PlayStation 2.
06:23In fact, nearly everything about the original Xbox was substantially more powerful than the PS2.
06:29Along with the improved loading times thanks to the hard drive,
06:32the Xbox's GPU was capable of better frame rates and visual effects.
06:36The Xbox's CPU was also twice as fast as the PS2's,
06:41and thanks to the Intel Pentium 3 was three times more powerful than the PS2's Emotion Engine.
06:47Despite the PS2's obvious game library superiority,
06:50many of the cross-platform games ran better and smoother on the Xbox.
06:54I am honored to stand before you again,
06:59and I have a proposal to mark the occasion.
07:03One final round.
07:06A rocky reveal.
07:07This is the Xbox,
07:09and so, for the first time, let me now unveil Xbox.
07:16With the console on track for its eventual 2001 release,
07:21all that was left was to unveil it to the gaming public.
07:23However, whether it was just naivety about the industry
07:27or wanting to make the biggest impression possible,
07:30Microsoft devised the most bizarre way to reveal their brand new console.
07:34As part of Bill Gates' speech at CES,
07:37the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2001,
07:40Bill Gates revealed the Xbox gaming console to the world.
07:44However, what made the reveal so memorable and, well, strange,
07:48was that Gates was joined on stage by Dwayne The Rock Johnson,
07:51complete with an awkward back-and-forth between the two
07:54as they discussed what made the Xbox so special and powerful.
07:58So much cringe, we're still feeling it 25 years later.
08:03That's fascinating.
08:05That's fascinating.
08:06Yeah, I might want to use that sometime, Bill.
08:08X with no box.
08:10Like any console, the Xbox went through several prototypes
08:13and changes during its creation.
08:15One of the earliest concepts that was actually created as an early prototype
08:19took the Xbox name quite literally.
08:22In their desire to create a console that couldn't be compared to their PCs,
08:26they created an initial design that leaned heavily into the name,
08:29just without the box.
08:31The enormous X console was actually debuted at the Game Developers Conference in 2000
08:36and understandably made quite an impression.
08:39This version of the Xbox would have been not only insanely costly to create and distribute,
08:44but also a nightmare for the engineers to put all the Xbox's hardware inside
08:48and make it functional.
08:50I have to commend them with their boldness with the design, though.
08:53Strict deadline.
08:54We don't have the box, but we do have the leather jacket, so we're ready to go.
09:00But we do have one box.
09:01This is our show box.
09:02The turnaround time between the initial conceptual design
09:04and creating the Xbox console was such an incredibly tight window,
09:08it's incredible the team was able to create a working console,
09:11let alone something as powerful and forward-thinking as the original Xbox.
09:16Revealed and announced in 2000, the Xbox released in 2001,
09:21giving the team only roughly 10 months to conceptualize, design,
09:24and build the original Xbox from the ground up
09:27with no real previous game console blueprint to follow.
09:30Given the insanely strict timeline,
09:32it's not only incredible they were able to create anything at all,
09:35but also something far more powerful than their competitors.
09:38That's some truly incredible dedication by the team.
09:41That represents, if you look at our spec,
09:43about a quarter of the Xbox performance.
09:45I wanted to show you something that was easily achievable
09:48on the Xbox architecture.
09:50Game design.
09:50The design resources that we have,
09:52the knowledge of how to create gaming experiences,
09:56we can focus on that on developing on the Xbox
09:59instead of worrying about alternate architecture.
10:01Although Bill Gates and Microsoft essentially expected the Xbox
10:04to be another type of PC,
10:06the creative team behind Xbox set out to make it content and creator-focused.
10:11This design philosophy meant that the original Xbox
10:13was extremely easy to design and code for
10:16and was far more developer-friendly than the PS2.
10:19Microsoft would also personally send engineers and coders
10:23to help developers with any technical or transitional issues they encountered.
10:27Xbox even went so far as to develop a specific tool set to make it easier
10:31for developers to port their games to the Xbox architecture.
10:35Persistent worlds where you combat and the communities are building.
10:39That's really what excites me the most.
10:41Buying power.
10:42We're very enthused about the partnership support we're getting on this box.
10:48Even before fully committing to Xbox,
10:51Bill Gates and Microsoft were interested in gaming.
10:53They dipped their proverbial toes into the gaming space
10:56by designing software for Sega's Dreamcast.
10:58But when the Dreamcast ended up underperforming,
11:01Gates and Microsoft began to look for other alternatives.
11:04Bill Gates reportedly approached Nintendo
11:06with the hopes of partnering with the Big N on their next console,
11:10which would end up being the GameCube.
11:11Nintendo didn't even consider the offer
11:14and promptly turned Gates down and showed him the door.
11:17Although recent rumors have suggested that Microsoft
11:19attempted to buy Nintendo and were left out of the room,
11:22these have been wildly over-exaggerated.
11:25Although Gates did privately contemplate buying Nintendo for $25 billion,
11:30no direct offer was ever made to Nintendo.
11:32I don't know, Seamus.
11:33For a calculator, that's not bad.
11:36No, that's not bad.
11:37Spiteful design.
11:38That certainly excites me a bunch.
11:40And we've been out and talking to a bunch of partners.
11:43And actually, they're very excited about it as well.
11:46And I wanted to share with you some of their reactions to our plan.
11:49Nintendo wasn't the only console that Gates and Microsoft
11:52attempted to partner with either.
11:54Gates reportedly also sought to partner with Sony and PlayStation
11:57on the upcoming PlayStation 2.
11:59But once again, like Nintendo,
12:01Sony wanted no part of any deal with Microsoft.
12:05Despite Gates' best efforts
12:06and what he considered a decent business deal for both parties,
12:09neither of the biggest console and game developers
12:12were interested in partnering.
12:14For some reason, Sony's rejection stung more than Nintendo's
12:17and Gates took it personally.
12:19From there, Gates became heavily invested in the Xbox
12:22with the overall goal to crush Sony and the PlayStation.
12:26Gates was so petty,
12:27he internally named the Xbox console Project Midway,
12:31after the similarly named Midway Battle of World War II
12:34in which the United States decimated the Japanese forces.
12:38So this is a huge milestone for us.
12:41It's a new platform for the industry.
12:43And I'm looking forward to seeing what you're going to be able to do with it.
12:48Business tactics.
12:49That Xbox, like the traditional game console,
12:52will be a stable platform.
12:54That is that over a period of four years,
12:57the Xbox will stay the same.
12:59And so that as you're building games,
13:01you'll know exactly what it is that you're targeting.
13:04During the construction of the original Xbox,
13:06Microsoft originally partnered with AMD for their processors,
13:10and AMD worked closely with Microsoft
13:12throughout the entire development process of the console.
13:15However, two days before Gates and Microsoft unveiled the Xbox to the world,
13:20they canceled their deal with AMD and instead partnered with Intel.
13:24What's worse, AMD didn't find out until the Xbox reveal.
13:28Although AMD's processors were more powerful,
13:31Intel had come in at the last minute and underbid AMD
13:34with an offer that was too good to pass up.
13:37AMD was blindsided and the news shocked the many AMD developers
13:41who had been working with Microsoft on the Xbox.
13:44Business is business, but this was still a raw deal for AMD,
13:48and Xbox's grandfather, Seamus Blackley,
13:51has apologized to AMD for how the series of events occurred all those years ago.
13:55AMD has since become the exclusive partner of Xbox since 2013.
14:00It is truly the future of video games,
14:02and I'm very excited to simply be a part of it
14:05if you smell what the rock is cooking.
14:07Unconventional Mascot
14:09Halo and Master Chief are as synonymous with Xbox as the color green,
14:21but Master Chief almost wasn't even a part of the Xbox legacy,
14:25let alone the face of the entire Xbox brand.
14:28Halo was originally revealed as a tactical real-time strategy game
14:32before evolving into a third-person shooter for Apple,
14:35which Steve Jobs revealed on stage in 1999.
14:38However, Microsoft approached Bungie with a deal to purchase the studio
14:42and give them access to more resources
14:44if they could deliver a launch title for the upcoming Xbox.
14:47Bungie saw the possibilities of the Xbox and instantly accepted the deal,
14:52making Master Chief the undisputed mascot of Xbox
14:55and one of the most influential and successful franchises in all of gaming.
15:00You alright?
15:01Never been better.
15:03You can't imagine the wealth of information.
15:05The knowledge, so much, so fast.
15:07Sabotage.
15:08Well done, lad.
15:09Here's your award for those good deeds.
15:14Well, I think you may have enough there, son.
15:16With the release of the Xbox, Microsoft faced yet another hurdle,
15:20this time something almost completely out of their control.
15:23Slowly, users began to report issues with their consoles scratching their discs,
15:28and Microsoft, having personally overseen every aspect of the console's design,
15:33were understandably confused.
15:35They were left with the belief the console was purposely being sabotaged during manufacturing,
15:39which, given how much the Japanese markets pushed back against the new console launch coming from the West,
15:45wasn't entirely unfounded.
15:47This wasn't the only setback Microsoft faced with the Xbox in Japan either.
15:52Japan reportedly put ridiculous restrictions on Microsoft and Xbox to launch the console in Japan,
15:58such as telling them they couldn't call it the Xbox,
16:00and the console couldn't be black as both were associated with death in Japan.
16:05Mind you, the PlayStation 2 was also a black console.
16:09Look, Sonny, keep your mouth shut about this, right?
16:13Duked.
16:13Design here was driven by spending time with gamers,
16:18and actually putting the control in their hands.
16:20We tried out over a hundred different form factors.
16:23For all the complaints and alleged handicaps put on Microsoft by the Japanese audience,
16:28there was one complaint that was completely valid.
16:31The controller was too big.
16:33Internally, this had already been part of a larger disagreement during the design process,
16:37but it ultimately came down to either making the controller smaller or removing the hard drive.
16:43Although there was still quite a lot of pushback over the size of the controller,
16:47nicknamed the Duke,
16:48Microsoft pushed forward with it anyways,
16:50and naturally encountered quite a lot of resistance from gamers,
16:54particularly in Japan.
16:56Eventually, the Duke was retired,
16:57and Microsoft released a much more manageable Xbox S controller,
17:02which has been the standard for Xbox controllers ever since.
17:05You know, to find what was the most comfortable,
17:07it would give them the best game play.
17:10Financial failure.
17:11Master Chief, defend this station.
17:14Yes, sir.
17:15I need a weapon.
17:17Right this way.
17:17As the new console on the market,
17:20Xbox understandably had an uphill battle against them
17:23with both Nintendo and Sony dominating the market.
17:26Hell, even Sega with their long legacy couldn't survive the 2000s.
17:30With a launch price of $299,
17:33Xbox still managed to sell a respectable 1.5 million units in its first three months.
17:38However, like any new console launch,
17:41every console was sold at a loss to keep the price reasonable.
17:44But, even by those predictable standards,
17:47Microsoft lost an insane amount of money with the original Xbox.
17:51By the time the Xbox 360 launched in 2005,
17:54in just four years,
17:56Microsoft had lost $4 billion in their Xbox investment.
18:00This meant every time Microsoft sold an Xbox console,
18:03it was actually costing them money.
18:05Do this though, and your price for the next round will be zero.
18:10And worse, the crowd will think you're a big loser.
18:14Live Xbox
18:15I will soon experience complete oneness
18:20with an interconnected global community of game warriors.
18:23The Ethernet port on the Xbox would be nothing without Xbox Live,
18:27and arguably, without the introduction of Xbox Live,
18:30Xbox, as a brand, would be nowhere near as impactful as it was.
18:35However, as pivotal as Xbox Live proved to be,
18:38it almost wasn't part of the Xbox architecture.
18:41Originally, there were competing ideas for a new console,
18:44one from the DirectX team within Microsoft,
18:47and another from a recently purchased company called WebEx.
18:51Both teams pitched the idea of an internet-ready console to Gates,
18:54but thankfully, DirectX's team won the deal.
18:57Xbox Live was designed as a core pillar of the Xbox ecosystem from the start,
19:02despite online gaming still being relatively niche
19:05due to the limited internet availability of the time.
19:08However, Xbox Live exploded in popularity
19:11with the release of Halo 2 and the game's suite of multiplayer options
19:15that set the benchmark for the rest of the industry.
19:18It was alright, though. It wasn't like I was all distraught or anything about losing, you know?
19:22Why?
19:24I mean, it would have been nice to have won,
19:26but, uh, hey, you win some, you lose some, right?
19:29Exclusivity
19:29So what does that make you?
19:33Complex. And you?
19:34With the launch quickly approaching,
19:36Microsoft attempted to compete once again with Sony
19:39and the PlayStation's dominance and secure exclusives for the Xbox.
19:42After the demise of the Dreamcast,
19:45Gates attempted to acquire the rights for Sonic the Hedgehog
19:48to be the launch mascot for the Xbox.
19:50But, after the failure of the Dreamcast,
19:52he lost faith that Sonic would be able to carry the Xbox
19:55to the same heights of PlayStation.
19:57Sega did, however, strike a deal with Microsoft
20:00for 11 of their upcoming games to be exclusive to Xbox,
20:03and Microsoft also managed to secure exclusivity for Ninja Gaiden
20:07and Dead or Alive 3 with Tecmo.
20:09However, around the same time,
20:11they ended up fumbling what arguably
20:13could have been their biggest exclusive for the Xbox.
20:16Bestowing an unfathomable strength
20:19on those wicked enough to wield it.
20:21As we speak,
20:23its power is growing.
20:26Resident Suit
20:31Where's everyone going?
20:33Bingo?
20:34Resident Evil had long been synonymous with PlayStation,
20:38but in December of 2000,
20:40Microsoft had a meeting with series creator Shinji Mikami
20:43about obtaining the rights for the then-unannounced Resident Evil 4.
20:47Mikami had become frustrated with Sony
20:50and the architecture of the PlayStation 2,
20:52and was looking to bring the franchise to a new audience and console market.
20:56However, most of the meeting took place in Japanese,
21:00and Microsoft's team was working primarily through the use of a translator,
21:04which led to some obvious miscommunication issues.
21:07When Mikami asked the Microsoft team what video games meant in terms of artistic expression,
21:12the suits of Microsoft were unable to provide an answer for Mikami.
21:16Mikami left the meeting frustrated with Microsoft's non-answer
21:19and signed an exclusivity deal with Nintendo shortly thereafter.
21:23I've been expecting you, my brethren.
21:26No thanks, bro.
21:28Controller Durability
21:30I'm going to kill him.
21:32You have no idea what you're up against, do you?
21:36If he could be killed, I would have done it myself long ago.
21:39The Duke might have been a massive controller,
21:41but along with the eventual Xbox S controller,
21:44they were insanely durable pieces of equipment.
21:47Reportedly, Microsoft did extensive testing on the Duke and S controller,
21:51with it taking roughly 3 million button presses
21:54to wear out the many buttons on the original Xbox controllers.
21:58Naturally, the analog sticks were a bit more finicky,
22:00but during testing would still generally last about 2 million presses
22:04before encountering the dreaded stick drift.
22:06Understandably, these numbers were based on testing estimations
22:10and depend entirely on the game being played,
22:13with more intense games naturally wearing down the controllers faster.
22:16But these are still some impressive numbers, even by today's standards.
22:20Throwing the controller in frustration was not taken into account in the testing phases.
22:26Could we possibly make any more noise?
22:30I guess so.
22:32Timmy!
22:32Even with the meticulous design of the Xbox,
22:35some clever designers managed to hide an easter egg within the console
22:38that went undiscovered for over 20 years
22:41and was only uncovered after one of the devs leaked the secret to outlets.
22:45By inserting a CD into the disk drive and selecting Copy and New Soundtrack,
22:50players then need to name the file Timmy!
22:52with 26 lowercase y's.
22:55After doing this and allowing the system to rip the CD,
22:58then go to Settings and select System Info.
23:00Instead of the usual System Info screen,
23:03the prompts will be replaced by the name of the four core Xbox dashboard designers.
23:08Besides being a fun easter egg,
23:10the file name is also a reference to the character Timmy from South Park.
23:14Without one of the devs tipping fans off,
23:16it's unlikely this hidden secret ever would have been discovered.
23:20Surprise success!
23:31Although Xbox didn't completely decimate Sony and the PlayStation 2 the way Bill Gates had hoped,
23:37the Xbox was still a surprise success for a brand new console entering a market dominated by Sony and Nintendo.
23:43By the end of the Xbox's five-year lifespan,
23:47the new kid on the block had managed to sell a decent 24 million units.
23:51This number still paled in comparison to Sony and the PlayStation 2's staggering 155 million units,
23:58although that system did have an extra two years on the market.
24:01However, the Xbox was deemed enough of a success that Microsoft went ahead with the next iteration of the system.
24:07The Xbox 360, which launched in 2005 and for most of the seventh generation,
24:13far outpaced Sony's PlayStation 3 in sales.
24:16Gonna go home and just crank up the system and just go right at it non-stop.
24:21Probably won't go to sleep till next Saturday.
24:25Background space.
24:30The Xbox dashboard is without question one of the most iconic boot-up menus of all time.
24:36But there's a hidden detail within the menu you can only discover by leaving your Xbox idle for a period
24:42of time.
24:42After a while, some robotic-sounding voices will begin speaking through the Xbox.
24:47Now, this undoubtedly freaked out a few gamers, and especially moms, the first time this happened,
24:53but there's actually a really cool and interesting explanation for this.
24:57For almost two decades, these mysterious communications went unsolved until in 2014,
25:02Major Nelson revealed these voices were really NASA communications with astronauts
25:07that had been tweaked a bit to give them an otherworldly aesthetic.
25:10He didn't explain why this was included in the Xbox in the first place,
25:14but much like the menu itself, it's incredibly memorable.
25:26Nuclear power.
25:34To complement the green motif of the Xbox,
25:37Microsoft included a massive green orb in the middle of the console.
25:41While this immediately made the Xbox eye-catching,
25:43there was another reason for this design.
25:46The developers of the Xbox wanted to give the illusion the Xbox was running on nuclear power.
25:51The belief was that if gamers associated the idea of nuclear power coursing through the console,
25:56it would convey the Xbox's power and capabilities.
25:59Because nothing screams overpowered like nuclear radiation.
26:03This idea was further reinforced by the boot-up screen for the Xbox
26:07as the green orb pulses and explodes with power before the start of every game on the Xbox.
26:17What was your favorite game on the OG Xbox?
26:20Did you pick one up at launch?
26:22Share your memories of the original Xbox in the comments.
26:25Did you enjoy this video?
26:27Check out these other clips from Mojo Plays.
26:29And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
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