Introduction      page 3

• History and Background of an Xbox
• Market Competitors 

Xbox One      page 4                                                                         

• Failure at Launch of Xbox One
• New Features
• Specifications of Xbox One

Components of Xbox One      page 7

• Outline and Description of Components

Conclusion      page 9

• Afterword of Console’s Changes and Microsoft’s Impact on Market

Introduction

Xbox was launched by Microsoft on November 2001 in North America. It first retailed at $300 and debuted during the sixth generation of consoles. It was the first main gaming operation to be made by an American company. Before Microsoft launched Xbox One, the company focused on building PCs where the Microsoft Windows operating system was operating a monopoly (Marshall 2019). The closest Microsoft had gotten in launching a console is when it developed a customized Windows CE version for Dreamcast that supported Microsoft’s DirectX API. After observing that Sony’s business on the console was affecting Microsoft’s sales on PC games, it feared that Sony would eventually own the market with the PlayStation 2. It is for this reason that Microsoft made a decision to develop its own system to join in the competition.

Many developers view Xbox to be more powerful than other existing and competing systems, such as PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Xbox console has been acknowledged to be more powerful than its competitors. Microsoft ended up selling more than twenty-four million units of the Xbox, which made it possible to cast out Nintendo’s system. Microsoft became second in that generation and eventually developed its reputation in the console market (Bakalar, 2015). Although Microsoft established a good reputation for itself, it made losses and could not match its competitor’s PlayStation 2. Sony’s console (PlayStation 2) made more sales estimated at over one hundred and fifty-five million units and came in first. Microsoft had put in a lot of effort in the console business space, but it still struggled in making sales in Japan. The figures sold in Japan are estimated at half a million consoles (Marshall 2019) .

Xbox One

In 2013 May, Microsoft revealed its new Xbox brand which did not particularly make players happy because it had a lack of exclusives and was more focused on media entertainment rather than on games. The next console, the Xbox One, was unveiled by the CEO of Microsoft Don Mattrick. It was an improvement of the Kinect (device that captures a player’s motion and voice) and came with new support for integration with the Television (T3 online, 2018). The system marked a good opportunity to compete with the PlayStation 4 which had been launched by Sony in early 2013. It was rumored that the new Microsoft’s console, Xbox One, was required to be connected online and this made more news than the console system itself. This affected its sales a lot due to the controversies surrounding its launch the following month Microsoft bought the Xbox One to the E3, which made it even harder for it instead of making the situation easier (T3 online, 2018).

Microsoft launched its system before Sony and announced the price of Microsoft’s console at $500 which came with Kinect bundle per every system. After Microsoft’s launch, Sony confirmed its system had no online requirements or restrictions on used games at a cost of $400 with the PlayStation (T3 online, 2018). This was not good on the Microsoft side, because players could not be able to exchange games between each other. So, the only way to play something was to buy his/her own version of the game. Sony was clearly winning this race and PlayStation 4 made more sales.

Microsoft later announced that it will change its provision on online requirements and restrictions on used games. They adopted the same policy as Sony had. This was announced by the Microsoft CEO who later left the Xbox executive position to Phil Spenser who is the current CEO (Marshall, 2019). The Xbox One has made fewer sales as compared to PlayStation 4. Xbox One has been constantly applauded for its selection of unique and exclusive games (Marshall, 2019). Microsoft together with its partners has handpicked a collection of games available for its customers only on Xbox. The games are tailored to suit the user’s specific taste and gaming needs. Examples of Xbox One exclusive games are Sea of Thieves and Ashen.

Xbox One has incorporated many new social and entertainment features. It has made improvements in the motion and voice control through its new generation of the Kinect. The Xbox One resembles a central home theater system with all devices in one. It includes applications to stream movies and music. The Xbox One included a faster processor than the previous Xbox, bigger memory, ability to multi-task and better graphics. With its new improvement, Microsoft has hopes to dominate the console space.

The Xbox One has an 8-core AMD Jaguar Central Processing Unit with 8GB at 2133MHz DDR3. Its console has a Graphic processing Unit of 853 MHz AMD (T3 online, 2018). It has a Random-Access Memory (RAM) of 3GB reserved for the running of the operating system. Another part is the Blu-ray drive that has 720 pixels and 1080 pixels high definition capabilities, built inside the console (Bakalar, 2015). This is different from the previous console that used a standard DVD player. Xbox One has a non-removable drive which has a memory of 500GB. Some of this storage is used by system software, hence, not all of the 500GB is available for use. The console has three USB 3.0 ports which are super speed enabled (T3 online, 2018). Xbox One console is all black, but special editions might come in white. The console also has in and out HDMI ports, Kensington (memory), and optical audio interface. For internet connectivity, the device has an Ethernet port and dual Band WIFI. The device comes with the new Kinect sensor, one headset, 4K rated HDMI cable, wireless controller, and a power brick and cord.

Components of Xbox One

1. Enclosure, Main (Top, Right, Left, Front, Bottom)

A hard plastic material that gives Xbox One a unique style making it easily recognizable from other consoles. It includes a push button to turn on the console and openings on every side to allow the flow of the air. The enclosure also provides protection of inside components from minor damage.

2. BT/WLAN PCB

A printed circuit board (PCB) that is used for establishing either Bluetooth (BT) or wireless local area network between the console and other devices such as mobile phones, audio systems, monitors, etc.

3. HDD Assembly

A hard disk drive (HDD) is an electromechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks coated with magnetic material.

3. Enclosure, Center (Top, Bottom)

Steel material that surrounds the most important inside parts of the console to protect them from the exterior impacts or damage.

4. Fan Assembly

An assembly that is attached to an inside case for active cooling. The fan is used to draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside, and move air across a heat sink to cool console’s components.

5. I/O Interface Back Plate

A thin, removable plastic plate that includes different ports to connect a power supply and various wires or devices such as USB or HDMI.

6. Heatsink/Cooler Assembly

Heatsink/Cooler Assembly is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant, where it is dissipated away from the device, thereby allowing regulation of the device’s temperature at optimal levels.

8. Main PCB

The main printed circuit board (PCB) or motherboard holds and allows communication between all other electronic components of Xbox One. It is a crucial part of any computer system.

9. Optical Driver Assembly

Optical Driver Assembly is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves for playing movies or games from optical discs (DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray).

10. Optical Drive, Controller PCB

A printed circuit board that is used to connect to the console’s controller and to send or receive signals from it. It is required for communication between the system, Xbox One, and the user.

Conclusion

Xbox One marks the transition from the original Xbox that used x86 architecture to the new features that use the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit in the X86-64 set. Its wireless controllers have been remodeled from the previous Xbox 360. The new console has emphasized on cloud computing with more ability than previous systems. Since the launch of Xbox One, Microsoft has developed new systems and updates to the Xbox with improvements to meet customer demands and needs (T3 online, 2018). Xbox One was clearly built to be a game changer without losing the idea of the original Xbox. The competition in the gaming industry is still high with Microsoft continuing to put in effort to make more sales and dominate the market.

References

Bakalar, J. (2015, November 16). Microsoft Xbox One Specs. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-xbox-one/specs/

Johnson, B. (2013, November 25). How Xbox One Works. Retrieved from https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/xbox-one2.htm

Marshall, R. (2019, February 22). Has it really been 17 years? The past, present, and future of the Xbox. Retrieved from https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-the-xbox/

T3 online. (2018, November 13). Xbox One review: Is the original Xbox One worth your money? Retrieved from https://www.t3.com/reviews/xbox-one-review

Cost of building an Xbox One. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://mygaming.co.za/news/xbox/60563-cost-of-building-an-xbox-one.html

Motherboard. (2019, April 11). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard

What is an Optical Drive & What does an Optical Drive do? (2019, April 08). Retrieved from https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/what-is-optical-drive.html

WLAN Bluetooth Tunable Embedded Antenna. (2016, June 21). Retrieved from https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/e/ethertronics/wlan-bluetooth-tunable-embedded-antenna

Informit. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=29470&seqNum=3

Reflection

The technical description is an essential part of any engineering field.  The importance of such paper is its representation of some certain model, gadget, device or technology, specification of its parameters, materials, and components, and information that is necessary to manufacture this product.  Each mentioned criterion allows a reader to understand how the specific device/technology works, so that the possible user understands how to use it, and what to expect from it.  Thus, the knowledge of writing the technical description and creating a proper format for it is required for every engineer, because the engineering itself is about creating something new into life and describing how that works. 

The choice of the device used for my technical description was Xbox One.  I can’t say that I am a fan of Xbox series or any other console that ever existed, but it was just the first thing that came into my mind when I was deciding what to choose.  And, I think it is good that my decision was to pick something that I am not familiar with very well, because that made me do real research.  In this case, I was like a reader, who knows almost nothing about the Xbox One. Thus, I could understand what the reader might expect to see in my technical description, what parts of it could be unclear to him/her and what should have more focus.  Also, being unfamiliar with the object of description made me look for a lot of sources about specifications of the chosen device, compare them and make sure that the sources’ data is correct.  Then, my next step was to search the information about the background of Xbox One and Xbox series and build the introduction of my description with real facts and history of the development, so that it could attract reader’s attention.  I believe, it was important to show why the Xbox series started to develop, and what the console market was, so that the reader of my description can understand how it began, and what was achieved with the new version.

The process of finding of what are the components of the Xbox One was not difficult, even though I had to modify the graphics that are used in my description to get a better quality, therefore a reader could see everything on it.  But, the most important part was to describe each component in simple words, so that a reader, who doesn’t know anything about the computers or consoles, could understand the purpose of every piece.  The good thing is that Xbox One doesn’t include anything too complicated to understand, and most of its parts are also used in computers, thus I was able to describe some of them even without looking for any information.  But, in a case when I had no knowledge about a particular component, I was able to find a source about this specific part and explain its purpose and the concept of how that works in short and, the same time, not complicated words.