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00:00We knew the PlayStation 3 was coming along, so it was critical to get to a competitive advantage
00:05on price and timing. What can emojo plays in the best Xbox console of all time still has some
00:09secrets to find, but you know, grain of salt and all that. I'm a Sony fanboy, so anything about
00:14Xbox is news to me. These are 25 things you didn't know about the Xbox 360. Let's go.
00:20Before we continue, we publish content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:25the bell to get notified of our latest videos. Cross console.
00:36Here's a weird little crossover you probably didn't expect. Your Sony PSP could actually
00:41help customize your Xbox 360. Yep, it's a real Romeo and Juliet story. If you plugged your
00:47PSP into the console and switched it to USB mode, the 360 would treat it like a storage
00:51device and let you scroll through all your saved photos. Find something you like and just
00:56hit the button and boom, instant custom wallpaper. The connection transcended console wars.
01:02Oh, I've got some fan fiction to write.
01:03Kick it down to MTV2's Shim Shearer for a look at the phenomenon that is the digital revolution.
01:15If you ever felt like dipping into the Japanese side of Xbox Live, whether it's for region-exclusive
01:20games like Galgan, no judgment, maybe a little judgment, or just deflect some rare achievements,
01:25it's surprisingly easy to set up. All you really had to do was make a new Microsoft account and set
01:30the region to Japan during sign-up. Fill in the details and boom, you've got access. The only catch is
01:35that everything shows up in Japanese, which can feel like you've accidentally changed the difficulty
01:39setting. I know I ask this a lot, but is that joke racist?
01:47Dual output.
01:48This is Lord of War, a new world order.
01:50If you ever tried doing local multiplayer on one screen, you'll know it turns into four people
01:54fighting over three pixels. The Xbox 360 actually had a sneaky workaround just for that. With the
02:00right AV cable, the one with both component and composite outputs, you could flip a little switch
02:05to standard definition mode and plug the console into two TVs at the same time. One set of cables
02:10to each screen. Easy. Sure, the picture quality takes a small hit, but certainly everyone's got
02:15more space and you're not squinting at split-screen like you've got your glasses.
02:19I'm going to put some batteries in the controller. This is a two-in-one instructional video.
02:23Chatpad.
02:23If we look inside the box, you'll see that there are several instruction manuals written in various
02:27languages.
02:28Trying to type anything with a controller is basically a test of patience.
02:32You're slowly nudging across letters like you're writing a novel with a joystick and somehow it
02:36never gets easier. The PS4 tried to help with the touchpad. It didn't. But the Xbox 360 had a
02:42much smarter solution sitting right under your nose. That little port at the bottom of the controller,
02:46it's not just for headsets. You can snap in a chatpad, which is basically a mini keyboard
02:51attached to your controller. Never saw a single friend with a chatpad though, making me think
02:56this little device was underutilized or under known.
02:59This happens, just apply a little more pressure on the loose side and you'll hear it click
03:01into place. Here's what my controller looks like, complete with the chatpad.
03:05Easy leaks. The Xbox 360 is no stranger to hacking.
03:09Here's a behind-the-scenes quirk from the early Xbox 360 days that sounds completely insane in
03:13hindsight. Developers using Microsoft's PartnerNet service could actually see other studio beta
03:18builds once they were uploaded for certification. Yeah, not exactly ideal if you like keeping secrets.
03:23It basically meant the second a game build got sent off, it was sitting there in a space other
03:28devs could access, which is about as secure as leaving your front door wide open. Unsurprisingly,
03:32things started leaking and Microsoft quickly realized this was a terrible idea. They removed
03:37this rule three years after release. If you remember any substantial leaks from early 360 days,
03:42it was probably because of this. But the leaks still occurred. Many high-profile
03:46game announcements were spoiled due to leaks. Poor Australia.
03:53Today, it's far more common for gaming things to release in Japan first than if it's a game
03:58released online. Australia is getting access hours before the UK and USA. The rollout for
04:02Xbox 360 followed a different strategy. Microsoft kicked things off in North America first,
04:08launching in the US and Canada before moving across to Europe not long after. Japan came next,
04:13which was a big deal considering how tough that market has always been for Xbox. After that,
04:17the console gradually made its way into other regions around the world, including us Aussies.
04:24One less problem without you.
04:28When the Xbox 360 first hit shelves, the launch lineup was decent, but not exactly overflowing.
04:35In North America, players got 15 games ready to go day one, which at least gave you a few options
04:39beyond just staring at the dashboard. Over in Europe though, it was slightly slimmer with 14 titles
04:45available at launch. Not a massive difference, but still enough to make you wonder which game
04:48got left behind at the airport. It was Ridge Racer 6, don't ask why.
04:56Hidden Avatar Hair Color
04:57And I'm here to show you a tutorial on how to get wacky hair colours for your avatar.
05:02When Xbox Avatars first showed up, the internet had a full-on identity crisis.
05:07Some people loved making their little digital selves, others acted like it was the end of gaming
05:11as we know it. Primer queens. Customisation felt a bit basic, like everyone shopped at the same
05:16virtual store, but there was a weird little trick to spice things up. If you went into My Features
05:21on the menu and just waited for about a minute, yes really, the hairstyle options would refresh
05:27and suddenly unlock extra colours. Not sure why, but it worked.
05:31So you have like, the different shades of red, different shades of blue.
05:36Navigate the system from your phone.
05:38It's gonna work, it's gonna be easy.
05:40This was one of those features that sounded super cool on paper, but somehow flew under
05:44the radar for a lot of people. If you downloaded the Smart Glass app, your phone basically turned
05:49into a second screen, the Xbox 360. You could use it like a remote, pause stuff, skip scenes,
05:54scroll through menus without even touching your controller. Some games even had extra info
05:58or bonus content that showed up on your phone while you played, which felt pretty futuristic
06:03at the time. It wasn't essential by any means, but great for a quick navigation to YouTube.
06:08Yo, did work for you, makes a drop a like.
06:10Awards Season.
06:11Welcome to the 2007 Video Game Awards in Vegas!
06:16Back in 2007, the Xbox 360 was having a bit of a moment. At the Game Critics Awards, it was
06:22absolutely flooding the nominations list, racking up 38 nods across different categories. That's not
06:28just doing well, that's showing up everywhere whether people liked it or not. And it didn't just
06:32make up the numbers either. It walked away with 11 wins. Not a clean sweep, sure, but still a pretty
06:38strong showing that cemented it as one of the big players at the time. You throw in a couple of
06:43kids
06:43and DWI, you're Britney Spears. Play your own music.
06:53Backward compatibility on the Xbox 360 was really, really solid. You could boot up a decent chunk of
06:58original Xbox games and relive the glory days without digging out old hardware. But there was
07:03one weird limitation. Normally, 360 games let you play your own music in the background, which was
07:08great for turning everything into your personal montage. Original Xbox titles though? No. That
07:14option just wasn't there. For whatever reason, it didn't carry over. But players found a sneaky
07:19workaround. If you started your playlist before launching the game, the music would keep playing
07:24once it loaded. Sneaky.
07:32Modbox. Today, I'm going to show you how to do it with this one simple USB.
07:36Quick heads up before you think about this, messing with your Xbox 360 will absolutely void your warranty,
07:41so don't go crying to support afterwards. Or me. Please don't sue me. That said, if your console is already
07:46old and you're feeling a bit adventurous, people have figured out ways to modify the system's
07:50software to unlock extra features. It's not just a quick job. You're following guides,
07:54double-checking steps, and hoping you don't accidentally turn your console into a very
07:58expensive paperweight. You want to run on and download that. Use a keyboard.
08:02So I already have my mouse and keyboard connected.
08:08Alright, if the little chat pad still feels like typing with Lego, here's the upgrade path. Just use a
08:14normal keyboard. Seriously, the Xbox 360 doesn't make this complicated at all. There's no secret
08:19setup, no digging through menus like you're diffusing a bomb. Step one, grab any USB keyboard,
08:25the same you'd use on a PC, and step two, plug it straight into the console. That's it. Step three,
08:30tippity tappity type. You're done. Instantly, you've gone from painfully pecking out letters with a
08:34joystick to typing like a normal human being. Now you can actually type out, why don't you get good,
08:40you absolute scrub lord, instead of get good scrub. Play games online without Xbox Live.
08:56This one definitely falls into the Microsoft probably wouldn't love this category. Back in the
09:00day, if you were trying to jump into Halo Online without paying for Xbox Live, there was a bit of
09:05cheeky workaround. By running a program like X-Link Kai on a PC connected to your network,
09:11you could basically fool your Xbox 360 into thinking it was just playing a local LAN match.
09:15In reality, you were connecting to other people doing the exact same thing. It worked surprisingly
09:20well too, no subscription needed. The downside, your connection was tied to how close other players
09:25were. So if nobody nearby was on, your ping was a poo.
09:39Connect without an official adapter. In this video, I'm going to be showing you guys how to set up
09:44the Xbox 360 Wi-Fi adapter. Nothing annoys people faster than when a company says you need our special
09:50accessory, especially when you absolutely don't need their special accessory. The Xbox 360 wireless
09:56adapter definitely fell into that category. Handy, sure, but also way more expensive than it needed
10:01to be. The workaround? Use a laptop as the middle man. With a bit of setup, you could share your
10:06laptop's internet connection and turn it into a bridge. Then just run an ethernet cable straight
10:10into your 360 and you're done. Internet access without the annoying Xbox 360 dongle. Actually,
10:16the dongle might just be easier.
10:17You come to your Xbox, oh fuck, what else do? Oh, my HDMI fail.
10:22Order pizza with the Connect. Okay, so our first discovery was that they don't actually deliver
10:26to the Revision 3 offices, so we do have to go pick it up. So we selected the carry out
10:30option
10:31from our local Pizza Hut. For a brief moment, the Connect made it feel like we jumped straight
10:35into some weird sci-fi future. You could literally stand in your living room and order Pizza Hut on your
10:40Xbox 360 using nothing but voice commands and dramatic hand waving like you were casting a pizza spell.
10:46Build your pizza, confirm your order, and you're done. No controller, no phones, just vibes. Of course,
10:51this was Connect, so it didn't always go smoothly. If your room was too small or your movements were
10:55a bit off, you might accidentally order a non-stuffed crust, and who wants that?
10:59All right, so the person with the pork poo is going to have some onions.
11:03Average gamers.
11:08Here's an interesting, simple fact. Stats suggested the average Xbox 360 owner picked up around 7.5 games
11:15each. On paper, that might sound a bit low, but there's a bit of context behind it. The console had
11:20a
11:20massive user base, plenty of casual players, and a long lifespan, so not everyone was constantly
11:26buying new releases. It also didn't help that the system became well known for being modified by some
11:31users, which obviously affected overall sales numbers. Still, it's a fun stat to know. How many
11:36games did you have? Do you feel greedy now?
11:43Red Ring Results
11:44The infamous Red Ring of Death is no hidden secret. Every gaming fan knows about the infamous console
11:55busting light that plagued homes in the early days of the 360. But it wasn't just a nightmare for
12:00players. It hit Microsoft hard as well. Did you know it cost Microsoft around $1.15 billion to deal
12:08with the fallout, which is an absolutely brutal price tag for a hardware issue. Consoles were failing
12:15left and right, and it became such a widespread problem that Microsoft had to step in with a
12:20major fix. They extended the warranty from one year to three, which was pretty big and showed just
12:25how serious things had gotten.
12:32Gears of Profit
12:33What are you doing here?
12:37Back in 2006, Gears of War basically became the reason to own an Xbox 360. It didn't just launch,
12:43it went into orbit, quickly racking up around 3 million copies sold and becoming the console's biggest
12:49hit at the time. For a brand new system, that kind of success was huge. I mean, The Last of
12:55Us is
12:55why I bought a PS3. Great console exclusives work, people. Gears showed off what the 360 could actually
13:01do, and 3 million copies. There's no small feat.
13:04What is Phoenix? The one who fought at Aspio Fields?
13:07Yep.
13:08Wow. Cool.
13:10Custom Face
13:16The Xbox 360 tried to give players a bit of personality right out of the box, and one of the
13:21easiest ways to
13:22do this was with its swappable faceplate. That's right, the PS5 didn't start this idea. Instead of
13:27being stuck with the same look forever, you could just pop the front panel off and replace it with
13:32something new. Custom design, special editions, or whatever matched your vibe. No tools, no stress,
13:37just a quick click, and suddenly your console felt a bit more you. It was a simple idea, but a
13:42pretty cool one.
13:44Xbox 2
13:45These are real concepts of what the Xbox 360 could've looked like.
13:51Before Microsoft landed on the name Xbox 360, they were clearly throwing ideas at the wall to see
13:56what stuck. Some of the early contenders sounded like they came straight out of a brainstorming
14:00session that went on a little bit too long. Names like Nextbox, Xbox Next, Xenon, and even the very
14:06straightforward Xbox 2 were all in the mix. You can kind of see the logic, but none of them really
14:11hit
14:11with that. This feels like a new era vibe. In the end, the Xbox 360 was meant to represent a
14:17full
14:17circle entertainment experience.
14:20Development on the Xbox 360 began in early 2003. Multiple versions.
14:25From ones that you can buy, to promotional consoles, all the way to ones that are worth
14:29way too much money nowadays in 2025. The Xbox 360 didn't just stick to one version and call it a
14:34day.
14:35Microsoft kept remixing it like it was dropping new editions every few years.
14:39I had no idea just how many versions of the Xbox 360 there were. You had the barebones core,
14:45Xbox 360 core model, the arcade version, Xbox 360 arcade for more casual players,
14:49and the premium if you wanted something a bit more complete. Guess what it was called? Yep,
14:54Xbox 360 Premium. Then came the Elite, which basically said,
14:57what if we just made it cooler and black? Later on, things got sleeker with the slim,
15:02and finally the Xbox 360 E. It could get a bit confusing keeping track of them all,
15:06but hey, at least there was an option for everyone. My option was the PS3. Imagine my disappointment.
15:13Console. Then later on, when Modern Warfare 3 released, they had the slim model of the 360
15:17to work with, so it was better and it had more storage. Not keen on green.
15:23Anyone here? The iconic green of the Xbox brand didn't come from some deep marketing strategy or
15:28hours of color theory. It was basically a happy accident. The story goes that when the original logo was
15:34being sketched out, the designer reached for a marker and the only one left was this bright
15:38leftover green nobody else had wanted. Instead of overthinking it, they just rolled with it.
15:43Somehow it stuck. Now it's one of the most recognizable color schemes in gaming.
15:50Halo Expectations
15:55When the original Halo was gearing up to release alongside the Xbox, you'd be shocked to know
16:00that Microsoft didn't exactly expect it to become a defining franchise. It was just one of several
16:05launch titles, not the guaranteed system seller we now think of. But then players got their hands on
16:09it and everything changed. Suddenly this sci-fi shooter with a guy in green armor was the reason
16:14to own the console. It completely blew past expectations and may single-handedly be the reason
16:19why the Xbox 360 exists. A big risk.
16:32We knew the PlayStation 3 was coming along so it was critical to get to a competitive advantage on price
16:37and timing. All right, technically this isn't about the Xbox 360 but it is about Peter Moore,
16:43the man who single-handedly created the console wars. So we're going to stretch the rules because we
16:48have to mention this. Back in the wild west days of gaming marketing, Peter Moore
16:53pulled one of the boldest stunts ever. He literally tattooed the release date of Halo 2
16:57onto his arm to announce it. No teaser trailer, no vague coming soon, just permanent ink. Absolute
17:04confidence. It worked too because it instantly got people talking. Apart looking at how often games
17:08get delayed these days, you have to wonder who'd be brave enough to try that. I can't think of a
17:13title
17:13in the last 10 years I was excited for that didn't get delayed. My arm would have run out of
17:18room.
17:18Sneaker wars to the console wars, but I joined Reebok 1992. Previously, I was selling Patrick
17:26football boots. Anybody remember Patrick's? Hands up, please. Thank you. It's an old crowd.
17:32Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from MojoPlays. Be sure to subscribe
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