Chapter 1: The Rise of Xbox 360

When the battle of consoles kicked off, manufacturers rushed to get their products onto the shelves. Those who managed to launch their devices first often uncovered flaws in their designs sooner than others. Microsoft, unfortunately, was no exception to this trend.

The original Xbox, built with readily available components, struggled to compete against the robust PlayStation. This fierce competition drove the Xbox team to innovate and develop a more advanced console that would provide gamers with a wider selection of games at competitive prices.

The Xbox 360 was a significant departure from its predecessor, featuring entirely custom-made components crafted exclusively for this model. However, in 2004, when these unique parts were being designed, unforeseen shipping delays pushed back their arrival.

With these custom parts arriving just nine months before the scheduled launch in January 2005, there was minimal time for thorough testing. Despite round-the-clock efforts to resolve issues, defects were inevitable.

By July 2005, most major hardware and software issues had been addressed, and mass production commenced. The Xbox team recognized that launching a highly anticipated console during the holiday season would lead to an overwhelming demand. As a result, warehouses were filled to capacity in preparation for launch day.

In October 2005, shipments of the Xbox 360 began globally, leading to its official release in November 2005—one full year ahead of the PlayStation 3. The consoles quickly sold out in stores worldwide.

Fast forward to June 2006, the Xbox 360 began to attract unwanted scrutiny as problems became apparent.

Today, when using a console for extended periods, players might notice slow performance or overheating issues, but during the Xbox 360 era, gamers would have welcomed such minor inconveniences. The real issue was that prolonged usage caused the console to heat up to extreme levels—enough to warm an entire room.

This excessive heat caused the solder connecting the CPU and GPU to the motherboard to liquefy, leading to a loss of connectivity. Consequently, the console would freeze. When it cooled down, the solder would harden incorrectly, and upon rebooting, the console would appear to function normally at first. However, shortly after, the fans would spin, the hard drive and disc drive would engage, only to stop abruptly, with three red lights flashing around the power button—this phenomenon became known as "The Red Ring of Death."

Gamers desperate for assistance would call Xbox support and find themselves on hold for about an hour, only to learn that a replacement console would be sent. Unfortunately, the excitement of receiving a new console quickly faded when the replacement exhibited the same issues within a week.

For months, Microsoft’s support lines were flooded with calls. Various solutions were proposed and distributed to customers, but these too met the same unfortunate fate. Eventually, production of the Xbox 360 was abruptly halted.

In the following years, Microsoft undertook a complete redesign of the Xbox 360, releasing it in several iterations until the launch of the Xbox One in 2013. For nearly a decade, Xbox continued to support and produce accessories for the 360 until its final discontinuation in April 2016.

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