Bizarre Creations

The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. It was Microsoft's first independent venture into the console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console. Notable launch titles for the console include Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Halo: Combat EvolvedIncluding:

• Xbox - History
• Xbox - Development
• Xbox - Software
• Xbox - Xbox Live
• Xbox - Market share
• Xbox - Hardware
• Xbox - Detailed specifications
• Xbox - Special Limited Editions
• Xbox - Official Xbox accessories
• Xbox - Audio/video connectors
• Xbox - Networking
• Xbox - Multimedia
• Xbox - Controllers and removable storage
• Xbox - Screenshots
• Xbox - Xbox and DirectX
• Xbox - Modding the Xbox
• Xbox - Price history
• Xbox - Xbox 360
• Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia - Xbox

Gameplay in MSR is centred around the single-player mode, with tracks and cars in the multiplayer mode being unlocked at the same time as in the single-player game. The premise is that, as a street racer, you have to impress other drivers with quick but stylish driving in a series of challenges. These challenges are in sets of ten (called Chapters - there are 25 in total), with completion of all challenges opening the next chapter (assuming you have enough Kudos, see below) and unlocking a new car. Each challenge is on a different track, and unlocking a challenge unlocks ...

See also:

Metropolis Street Racer, Metropolis Street Racer - Gameplay, Metropolis Street Racer - Challenges, Metropolis Street Racer - Kudos, Metropolis Street Racer - Cars, Metropolis Street Racer - Differences between releases

Read more here: » Metropolis Street Racer: Encyclopedia II - Metropolis Street Racer - Gameplay

Xbox - Development. The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. The rumors of a video game console being developed by Microsoft first emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. In May 2000 the "X-Box Project" was of ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - History

SpeedTreeRT (RT standing for "real-time") is perhaps the most important part of the SpeedTree package. It is a software developers kit (SDK) written in C++ whose source code is available to buyers. It is intended to be fitted into a larger graphical engine, with the SpeedTree software handling the rendering of trees and foliage alone and the specific product's engine incorporating these into the larger environment. This is intended to both provide more efficiently-generated high-quality trees and save project developers ...

See also:

SpeedTree, SpeedTree - Components, SpeedTree - Buyers

Read more here: » SpeedTree: Encyclopedia II - SpeedTree - Components

When the time came to design the successor to the Sega Saturn, the new President of Sega, Shoichiro Irimajiri, took the unusual step of hiring an outsider. He hired Tatsuo Yamamoto from IBM Austin to head a skunkworks group to develop the next-generation console. However, it soon became apparent that the existing Japanese hardware group led by Hideki Sato did not want to relinquish control of hardware, and so there were two competing designs led by two different groups. ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - History

The Getaway follows Mark Hammond, a former gang member, who, after 5 years in prison, decided to quit the gangster scene and settle down with his wife, Susie and their son, Alex. One day, Hammond awakes to find his wife murdered and son kidnapped by a rival gang. Rushing to his family's aide, he picks up the murder weapon (incriminating himself - for the rest of the game, the police suspect that Mark murdered his wife) and sees his child carried away in a car. He follows the car to the local hide-out of gang leader Charlie Jolson who ...

See also:

The Getaway video game, The Getaway video game - The Getaway, The Getaway video game - Development history, The Getaway video game - The Getaway: Black Monday, The Getaway video game - The Getaway 3, The Getaway video game - Getaway port for the PSP

Read more here: » The Getaway video game: Encyclopedia II - The Getaway video game - The Getaway

Xbox - Development. The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included Seamus Blackley, a game developer and high energy physicist. The rumors of a video game console being developed by Microsoft first emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. In May 2000 the "Xbox Project" was of ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - History

Dreamcast consoles came packed with a disc containing web browser software allowing dial-up Internet access. Dream Passport was the Japanese browser, Planetweb was used in America and DreamKey in Europe. Version 3.0 of Planetweb included broadband capabilities, Java, Flash, and mouse support. In Europe, the final version of DreamKey was 3.0. The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! (which was distributed free to Dreamcast own ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Online

The Getaway: Black Monday was a sequel to the original released in October 2004. In this game, Hammond and Carter have been replaced by three new playable characters: Eddie, a boxer and small-time thug; Sam, a female hacker; Mitch, a cop with SO19. Interestingly enough, Black Monday, despite being billed as a proper sequel to the original game, actually has nothing to do with The Getaway from a storyline perspective (although there are some recurring characters such as Jamahl). There are three main players in this ...

See also:

The Getaway video game, The Getaway video game - The Getaway, The Getaway video game - Development history, The Getaway video game - The Getaway: Black Monday, The Getaway video game - The Getaway 3, The Getaway video game - Getaway port for the PSP

Read more here: » The Getaway video game: Encyclopedia II - The Getaway video game - The Getaway: Black Monday

The Sega Dreamcast currently has over 276 games available in its library.[5] The Dreamcast features games with the following ratings from the ESRB: Everyone: 151 Teen: 93 Mature: 32 Sonic Adventure Sega/Sonic Team (1999) Soul Calibur Namco (1999) House of the Dead 2 Sega (1999) Virtua Tennis Sega (2000) Quake III Arena Sega/ID (2000) Test Drive Le Mans Sega/Infogrames (2000) ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots

Microsoft's next generation Xbox, the Xbox 360, was released on November 22, 2005. NVIDIA ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August of that year, which almost certainly marks the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 featuring a new GPU from NVIDIA's rival ATI. [17] When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited subset of the Xbox's library (more than 200 games at US launch) through emulation. (Games in emulation add support for the Xbox 360's higher screen resolution and a ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - Xbox 360

Halo: Combat Evolved Bungie (2001) Crimson Skies Microsoft (2002) Amped 2 Microsoft (2003) Project Gotham Racing 2 Bizarre Creations (2003) Halo 2 Bungie (2004) Ninja Gaiden Tecmo (2004) Dead Or Alive: Ultimate Tecmo (2004) OutRun 2 Sega (2004) Fable Lionhead Studios (2004) Doom 3 id Software (2005) Far Cry Instincts Ubisoft (2005) < ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - Screenshots

The recent popularity of the Xbox has inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms (sometimes in order to use the Xbox as a low cost web server), as well as to add customized design touches to the console's case (similar to PC case modding). Hardware modding can involve anything from simply replacing the console's green decorative "jewel" with a custom-designed one to open ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - Modding the Xbox

The Visual Memory Unit, or "VMU", was the Dreamcast's memory card. It had a monochrome LCD screen, a D-Pad, and two gaming buttons. It could play minigames loaded onto it (a Chao game was obtainable in Sonic Adventure, for example). It could also display a list of the saved game data stored on it, and two VMUs could be connected together (end-to-end, needing no other hardware) to exchange data. Standard memory cards could also be purchased without the additional features of the VMU. Most of these were manufactured by third-part ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Accessories

The standard Dreamcast unit is made of white and grey plastic. The power light, like the Dreamcast logo in NTSC regions, is orange. (This color was used as it is considered to be lucky in Japan.) Games were sold in jewel cases which initially had the Dreamcast name and logo on a white background, but later games used a black background (blue in Europe). The unit was packaged with a video cable which supports composite video and right/left stereo audio. Available separately were an S-Video cable, a RF connector (included as standard in the UK) a ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Models

Dreamcast consoles came packed with a disc containing web browser software allowing dial-up Internet access. Dream Passport was the Japanese browser, Planetweb was used in America and DreamKey in Europe. Version 3.0 of Planetweb included broadband, Java, Flash and mouse support. In Europe, the final version of DreamKey was 3.0. The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! (which was distributed free to Dreamcast owners in Europe) ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Online

Dreamcast used a proprietary format called GD-ROM (Gigabyte Disc Read Only Memory) or "GigaDisc" for storing games in order to discourage software pirates, although it had similar overall technology to the CD-ROM. However, the first run of discs had a high rate of defects; and eventually pirates managed to copy the games anyway (in some cases distributing them before the release of the legitimate versions). The primary reason this was possible was the existence of regular-CD booting code in the Dreamcast BIOS to enable multimedia func ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Technology

The Sega Dreamcast currently has over 276 games available in its library.[5] The Dreamcast features games with the following ratings from the ESRB: Everyone: 151 Teen: 93 Mature: 32 Test Drive Le Mans Sega/Infogrames (2000) NFL2K2 Sega Sports/Visual Concepts (2001) Soul Calibur Namco (1999) House of the Dead 2 Sega (1999) Sonic Adventure Sega/Sonic Team (1999) Shenmue II Sega AM2 (2001) Jet Grind Radio Sega/Smilebit (2000) ...

See also:

Sega Dreamcast, Sega Dreamcast - History, Sega Dreamcast - Design, Sega Dreamcast - Launch, Sega Dreamcast - Competition, Sega Dreamcast - End of production, Sega Dreamcast - Technology, Sega Dreamcast - Online, Sega Dreamcast - Models, Sega Dreamcast - Accessories, Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots, Sega Dreamcast - Technical specifications

Read more here: » Sega Dreamcast: Encyclopedia II - Sega Dreamcast - Screenshots

The Xbox was designed to take advantage of a slowdown in the saturated PC gaming market and incorporates a built-in Ethernet adapter. At the time of its introduction, the Xbox was the only game console to do so. Also, the console cost as much as the high-end GeForce 3 video card alone in 2001, while having comparable graphics processing power (the Xbox's NV2A graphics chipset is a derivative of the GeForce 3). Nonetheless, most of these features were not fully exploited in its first year of launch, notably the lack ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - Hardware

Project Gotham Racing 2 Bizarre Creations (2003) Ninja Gaiden Tecmo (2004) Halo: Combat Evolved Bungie (2001) Amped 2 Microsoft (2003) Halo 2 Bungie (2004) Crimson Skies Microsoft (2002) Dead Or Alive: Ultimate Tecmo (2004) OutRun 2 Sega (2004) ...

See also:

Xbox, Xbox - History, Xbox - Development, Xbox - Software, Xbox - Xbox Live, Xbox - Market share, Xbox - Hardware, Xbox - Detailed specifications, Xbox - Special Limited Editions, Xbox - Official Xbox accessories, Xbox - Audio/video connectors, Xbox - Networking, Xbox - Multimedia, Xbox - Controllers and removable storage, Xbox - Screenshots, Xbox - Xbox and DirectX, Xbox - Modding the Xbox, Xbox - Price history, Xbox - Xbox 360, Xbox - Programming for Xbox

Read more here: » Xbox: Encyclopedia II - Xbox - Screenshots