

The service went down for real on May 11, 2010.


Xbox Live, the console's online service, was scheduled to cease operation on Apbut as it turns out, it couldn't shut down until every user who'd connected before said date disconnected, leading to a few determined players leaving their consoles on for nearly a month and playing Halo 2 until their Xboxes died from overheating. And all they needed was backing from the biggest software company in the world, a willingness to lose millions upon millions and never really turn a net profit, and launching with one of the most popular and influential games of all-time. The Xbox was the console that introduced a new third contender between the Nintendo and Sony console wars following the demise of Sega's Dreamcast, and proved for the first time in two decades that it was possible for an American console to become successful. This console has a hidden developer message.
