Two Thousand
Sony released their successor to the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2. The console has been extremely successful selling over 146 million units to date. IGN listed it in the top 3 best consoles of all time. When the console was first released there was little emphasis for online play, however a Network adapter was produced and a new slim line model was announced with online capabilities integrated within the system which was later released in 2004
Two Thousand & One
Nintendo would finally give in to the power of the disk with the release of the GameCube, which compared to their other consoles, didn’t use cartridges. The GameCube was unique as it used mini disks approximately 8cm in diameter, this was to ensure that NGC titles could not be pirated. This did have its disadvantages. Due to their size they could hold a maximum of 1.5 gig, which meant that some games would have to be released on 2 disks.
This year also experienced the release of Microsoft’s Xbox. Available March 2002 in Europe, this was Microsoft’s first venture into the console world. Halo: Combat Evolved, was released with the console as a launch title.
Halo revolutionised the way First Person Shooters would be played on consoles. Many FPS titles were difficult to play due to an awkward control system. Halo’s was intuitive using the left stick to strafe and right to look. There are also some gameplay elements such as vehicles and regenerating health that the series introduced, which a lot of games still use today.
Two Thousand & Two
When the Xbox was launched in 2001, an online service would later be released in summer 2002 which would allow subscribers to download new content, add-ons, updates and play competitively online, assuming you pay the fee for a Gold subscription. It is however the only online gaming service on consoles which charges users a fee to play online. But within 2 months after the launch of Live, over 250,000 people had subscribed, 1 million in July 2004 and over 2 million the following year.
Two Thousand & Five
The Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s latest console, competing against other current seventh generation machines such as Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii. During the 360s launch back in 2005, many technical issues were found with the system, Microsoft experienced many reports concerning the systems reliability and failure rate. Microsoft actually
extended the warranty to 3 years to cover hardware issues such as the notorious red ring of death! There were some makeshift ways to temporarily fix this failure, the towel and penny trick are some amusing examples. However in the terms and conditions in the warranty, if an Xbox’s case is removed then it will not be covered, sucks.
The PlayStation 3 is Sony’s third console, first released 11th November in Japan. The system distinguishes itself apart from the other seventh gen consoles with a wide range of unique features. First off it has a built in blu ray player, and around the time that the first individual players were released, it was actually cheaper to buy a PS3! Compared to Microsoft, Sony offers their online service, PSN for free. Rather than having to pay for a yearly subscription. The system 
also has vast multimedia capabilities. However compared to the Xbox costing £230, the PS3 was significantly more expensive costing £425 on release. Though having to pay £30 yearly to be able to play online (which imho is a must!) and having to fork out for a wireless adapter can narrow the price gap.
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