Do you remember the “Ring of Death”? That’s what we called a hardware error in the early Xbox models over 10 years ago, which could paralyze the console (usually forever).

Feared by everyone who had spent a lot of money on their new console back then. Myself included. The worldwide warranty issues related to the “ring of death” cost the company billions.  In a lavishly filmed documentary celebrating the console’s 20th anniversary, which is now available here for free streaming for everyone, Microsoft itself deals with the history of the Xbox – including the aforementioned defect.

In six episodes and a total of about four hours of playtime, you’ll learn a lot of positive things about the console itself, its prehistory, its technical development up to today, its key features and what influence it had on the gaming market, which was still manageable at the time.

But the real problems and difficulties in the history of the Xbox are also openly addressed, such as the initial considerations of having to find a “hero” that excited customers and offered a real incentive to buy the console. In the end, this was achieved with the action game Halo and the purchase of the developer studio Bungie. Halo is still one of the many reasons to buy the Xbox.

There is currently a lot going on on the Xbox website to celebrate the 20th birthday of the console. In November, Microsoft opened an interactive museum about the Xbox. Also worth a look if you are interested in this topic.

Link: Power On – The Story of Xbox