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This Xbox launch title did something radical: instead of following preset race tracks, you could pick any line down a whole mountain. The gimmick was fame—impress photographers and film crews, land sponsorships, and become a media sensation. Plus, the hard drive let you load your own music onto the console, a showstopper feature in 2001.
Bungie's sci-fi FPS that proved console shooters could rival their PC counterparts. Released November 15, 2001 as an Xbox launch title, Halo: Combat Evolved sent you to a mysterious ringworld as Master Chief to fight the alien Covenant—and turned LAN parties into a rite of passage.
Sam Fisher creeping through the shadows in his three-eyed night-vision goggles, snuffing out lights and slipping past guards. The Xbox stealth game that made hiding in the dark thrilling.
Microsoft's console that beat the PS3 to market by a year and defined HD-era online gaming. Unified Achievements, party chat, a matured Xbox Live — and the Red Ring of Death, the three flashing lights that taught a generation the meaning of hardware failure.
Microsoft's revolutionary bet on broadband gaming — the service that brought voice chat and Gamertags into living rooms and normalized trash-talking strangers over the internet. The $49.95 Starter Kit arrived in November 2002 with a wired headset, a year of subscription, and a radical demand: high-speed internet or stay offline. It worked — 150,000 kits sold in the first week.