The Xbox 360 is a seventh generation console, it is also the second console produced by Microsoft and is the successor to the Xbox. The console was officially unveiled on May 12,2005 on MTV with more information being released at E3 later the same month. The Xbox 360 launched in Australia and New Zealand on March 23, 2006 with great success, selling 30,000 consoles within the first four days of its release, losing out against the Nintendo Wii by approximately 2,000 sales.

The Xbox 360 launched with 18 titles, the most successful 3rd party developed game released at the time was Call of Duty 2 which had an attachment rate of 77%, it was closely followed by Madden NFL 06 and Need for Speed Most Wanted. With the most popular 1st party game being at time of release being Perfect Dark Zero. As of 9/12/2010 the Xbox 360 has 112 exclusives and 74 console exclusive games. This is out of the 795 games that have been released for the console.

The original console featured a 60gb HDD, 3 USB ports and a tri-core processor that was called Xenon, the processor had a clock frequency of 3.2ghz. Microsoft have since then redesigned the Xbox 360, releasing a slimed down version of the original console while featuring improved cooling, 2 more USB slots, integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and optical audio output. The physical eject and power buttons were also replaced with touch sensitive buttons. They also replaced the external hard disk drive connector with a internal bay in the back of the console.

The Xbox 360 hasn’t been without its problems with many of the old consoles having problems with RRoD, the E74 error code and problems with disks being scratched. Microsoft proceeded to offer 3 year warranty on any RRoD or E74 errors, and citing that the disk scratches are only caused by moving the console while the console is running, which is stated on a sticker on the disc drive not to move the console while in operation. How ever Microsoft have removed the 3 year warranty for the newly designed slim consoles due to the redesign of the console.

Microsoft’s life expectancy of the Xbox 360 is until 2015 after the release of the redesign of the Xbox 360 and the release of the 100% hands free controller Kinect. Kinect uses range camera technology from an Israeli developer Primesense, the camera interprets 3D scene information from a continually-projected infrared structured light. The software that Kinect uses was developed internally by Rare, who are a subsidiary of Microsoft Games Studio.