This retro video is how Microsoft explained 'Xbox Live' to press back in 2002

Ah, the early 2000s. The scent of the 90s withal lingering, 4:3 aspect ratio TV shows, mad hairstyles, and a primordial net. Although it somehow doesn't feel like so long ago, it really rather was, given that nosotros at present seem to be sprinting to the mid-20s at an alarming rate.

This past month, Microsoft celebrated Xbox's 20th anniversary. Originally revealed by Bill Gates and The Stone (yes, that The Rock), Xbox changed the video game industry forever, presenting what an net-first video game console would look like. You can argue that the Windows-powered Dreamcast was there first with its built-in modem, but information technology was ultimately Xbox that would bring it to the masses.

An entirely new concept for console gaming, Xbox Live was revealed every bit a fully online service, complete with integrated voice communications and connected multiplayer gameplay. No platform had really attempted this at scale before, and Microsoft, being the tech behemoth information technology is, was well placed to take the initiative.

At the time, Microsoft had a press outreach plan similar to what we meet today. Influencers and media often would receive "press kits" full of branded trade alongside data that detailed upcoming products. Xbox Live was no different.

"An interconnected global community of game warriors"

Xbox Live Press Disc Source: Jez Corden | Windows Central

Xbox Live every bit we know it continued to evolve over the years, later on adding in an innovative achievements system, and now plowing ahead with Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming, extending the platform'southward reach far beyond the panel that gave it life. Earlier Xbox Game Laissez passer was even conceptualized, though, Microsoft'southward printing teams were hard at work figuring out how best to explain the idea of Xbox Live to a post-90s printing accomplice.

Before I was office of the printing, I remember seeing an Xbox Alive neon sign appear in some YouTube videos, or, somewhere on the net, and immediately thinking "I desire one." I took myself straight to Ebay, where I found one mysterious Xbox Live neon sign, up for sale from Italian republic. I dropped 200 of her royal majesty'southward pounds sterling on that bad boy, and many weeks later, discovered myself in the possession of an Ark of the Covenant-similar wooden box, fully functional neon signage ensconced within.

To my wonderment, there was also a mysterious disc in the box, as well as press release documentation. Little did I know, I seemed to exist in possession of some sort of press kit. It was then that I realized that I didn't really own a unmarried device with CD-reading capabilities, and the disc remained unviewed for many years. That is, until now. Or at least, until recently.

Xbox Live Presser 2002 Intro Source: Microsoft

Thanks to the innovation of USB-based DVD drives, I have been able to navigate around the disc's Wink-based automobile-installer to discover this amazing piece of Xbox history, which serves as a sort of fourth dimension portal into a strange and nostalgic past where things similar global pandemics and, well gestures to everything felt like some scary dystopic nightmare. You lot can catch the video at the pinnacle of the article or over here on YouTube.

Nosotros're greeted by two absurd dudes, "DarkMaster" and his sidekick, the less-climactically-named Chuck, who introduce Xbox Live every bit "an interconnected global community of game warriors." I'k not certain I've e'er heard a better style to describe the screeching teens on Telephone call of Duty. Perhaps this video is somewhat prophetic.

For simply $4.95 per month, admission to that global community of game warriors could all exist yours, complete with your very own Gamertag. The cocky-deprecating video is actually quite hilarious and describes concepts we now wholly take for granted. Things like skill-based matchmaking, pre-friction match lobbies, voice comms, and custom matches — many of which simply weren't prevalent in the panel world at the time.

Oilslick Gets Muted Source: Microsoft Microsoft demonstrates its "Xbox Live exclusive" player-muting innovation, to cake hateful voice users such as Oilslick here.

Microsoft, of course, had platforms on PC already serving some of these features, including Age of Empires' MSN Game Zone, and fifty-fifty online casual games embedded directly into MSN Messenger. Sony was experimenting with it as well, with PS2's SOCOM, which came with its very own defended vocalization comms headset. Generally, though, it was all largely unheard of on consoles. Microsoft was trying to change that, though, with dedicated multiplayer APIs that would extend across all games, showcasing cutting-border "Xbox Live-merely" capabilities like histrion-muting.

Some of the ideas in this video never defenseless on, sure, like the built-in Xbox Live voice comms modulator. Others have simply died over time, like Xbox's Avatars. However, many of Xbox Live's principal innovations have become staple features of online platforms the world over, and I suspect more than recent innovations like Xbox Game Pass volition eventually become far more commonplace besides.

Xbox Live lives on

Xbox Live Sign Jez Source: Jez Corden | Windows Cardinal

As Microsoft's strategy continues to evolve and modify with the times, much of it can exist traced all the way back to its innovations with Xbox Live. Achievement systems, persistent identities across games, and content and connections that motion with you across devices, all came about from Microsoft'south piece of work across its entire tech platform.

Microsoft will showcase the emergence of Xbox in a new documentary next twelvemonth, unveiled as part of the Xbox 20th anniversary celebrations this week.

I'd exist lying if I didn't say Xbox has been a huge part of my life, from the games I've played and the experiences I've shared, to the career I've built up for myself, aslope my friends here on Windows Central. I recall reading on WPCentral dorsum in 2022 nigh this new-fangled gizmo Microsoft was working on chosen deject gaming, and now it's hither. The next generation will likely take all of this for granted in much the same way this Xbox Live video seems quaint to u.s.a. at present. Long live Xbox, and long may information technology continue.

An internet connection will soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

UH OH

An internet connection will presently be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has announced that afterwards this year, users volition be required to connect to the net and sign-in with a Microsoft Business relationship during the out of box setup experience on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows 11 Home since launch last October, and Windows 11 Pro is now expected to follow suit presently.