Retronauts Episode 416: The Xbox Launch and Legacy
For Microsoft, X truly marked the spot
Arcade games are 50 years old, the Famicom is pushing 40, and the PlayStation is nearly 30. Yet today marks 20 years since Microsoft forced their sizable foot into the door and delivered the original Xbox to the already crowded video game landscape. Love it or hate it, the console made a name for itself (literally) and many of the design and philosophical principles it embodied have now become standard for the medium. A hard drive in every system? Built-in internet connectivity? Xbox launched with them at a time when others did not.
Joining Jeremy this week to recall how Microsoft impacted the world of video games are regular guests Ray Barnholt, Axe of the Blood God's Kat Bailey, and Stuart Gipp. All of them had their own personal Xbox journey, and everyone chimes in with pointed observations about how much has changed since 2001.
Description: Jeremy Parish, Kat Bailey, Ray Barnholt, and Stuart Gipp turn back the hands of time two decades once again, this time with a too-huge-to-hold-comfortably episode commemorating Microsoft's entrance into the first-party realm with Xbox.
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Artwork for this episode by Nick Wanserski and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.
