Xbox 360 Turns 10; Former Product Officer Marc Whitten On Its Legacy, RRoD & More
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 turned 10 overnight, and former Xbox chief product officer Marc Whitten, has shared his enthusiasm for the console that launched back in 2005.
Whitten left Microsoft back in 2014 to join wireless speaker company Sonos. “I have had the extreme pleasure over the last 14 years to work on the greatest product with the greatest team and for the greatest community,” said Whitten back in March of 2014.
In the US, the Xbox 360 launched on November 22, 2015. Other country’s followed some weeks later, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, where it was released in March of 2006. The 360 was the successor to Microsoft’s original Xbox, and has sold incredibly well – even outselling the Playstation 3 for a very long time. The console is considered being one of the best consoles of all time.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Xbox 360, and former chief product officer Whitten has taken to Twitter to share his enthusiasm and some facts about the console.
Although biased, Whitten writes to be so proud of the Xbox 360’s legacy, and points out how important the console has been in the history of game consoles
1/ So proud of the legacy of Xbox 360. The system built with a service inside turns 10. Congrats to the team & the fans that made it.
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
2/ I’m biased, but its one of the most important consoles in history. The road from horse armor to Halo World Championship was bumpy but fun
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
According Whitten, the Microsoft team got players to expect regular system updates – something that was new to console gaming. The former product officer adds that what the 360 still does today, it far beyond his imagination. For instance, Whitten refers to the fact how great the console has aged since 2005.
3/ The team got players to expect consistent updates, and what he system does today is far beyond our imagination in 2005!
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
4/ Go and fire up your laptop from 2005 and see if it has aged as well 🙂 HEY @RareLtd guys, get us a Kameo sequel for One, btw.
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
The console has been important enough in the history of game consoles, that both Sony & Xbox teams are calling their ‘boxes’ the most 360 ++.
5/its important enough of a console that both playstation and xbox teams are making the argument that there boxes are the most “xbox 360++”
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
Whitten also mentions a random fact about the 360’s controller. According Whitten, the wireless protocol for the controller was released before Bluetooth was ready. It was built on top of an old cordless phone standard.
6/ random fact: The wireless protocol for the controllers came out before BT was ready. We built it on top of an old cordless phone standard
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
7/Thank god we are done with that. When we put kiosks in Walmart at launch, SteveB got a call from the CEO, we’d taken down their wireless!
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
The Red Ring Of Death (RROD), became a huge issue for Microsoft’s console, and up to 54% of all 360 consoles seem to have experienced hardware issues.
8/ We had problems like the RROD and the team learned so much. It was the mutual love of our gamers and our team that got Xbox through it.
— Marc Whitten (@notwen) November 21, 2015
According Whitten, the Xbox team has learnt so much from this. Whitten adds that the mutual love for gamers and the team got Xbox through it.
Happy birthday Xbox 360! What are your experiences with this amazing console? What was your best moment? Your favorite game? Hit the comments.
