The Xbox 360 is the second video game console developed by and produced for Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of June 30, 2013, 78.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide.[6] The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
As is typical of seventh-generation consoles, the Xbox 360 features an online service (called Xbox Live), used to download games (using Xbox Live Arcade) and game demos, music, and video media. It can also be used to play back media using Windows Media Center. However, unlike other seventh-generation consoles, a monthly fee must be paid to compete in online games, or to use (often region-specific) third-party media streaming applications.
At their E3 presentation on June 14, 2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360, called Xbox 360 S, that would ship on the same day.[14] The redesigned console is slimmer than the previous Xbox 360 model and features integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, TOSLINK S/PDIF optical audio output, five USB 2.0 ports (compared to the three from older versions) and a special AUX port.[15] Older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued.[16] The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, while a later, less expensive SKU features 4 GB internal storage.
The Xbox 360's successor, the Xbox One, was announced on May 21, 2013.[17] At E3 2013, a second redesigned Xbox 360 model, called Xbox 360 E, was showcased and released.[18]