Xbox fans around the world... it's officially been 24 years to the day since The Rock joined Bill Gates in unveiling the original Xbox! Yep, this big old chunky plastic box has been in our hearts and minds for almost a quarter of a century at this point, so we thought now's a good time to look back at the reveal of the OG Xbox in early 2001.
With how the industry is these days, this seems like such a crazy way to reveal a console, right? Sure, gaming is more popular and mainstream than ever now... but to have a WWE star present your brand-new gaming platform is just wild. With all of our clinical presentations and pre-recorded livestreams in the modern world, we do miss the slice of pantomime that something like this brought to the table.
We can't say that Bill's acting is quite as natural as Mr. Johnson's - but this is still entertaining to go back and watch, and we really do think the whole reveal captured how big of a moment this was for Microsoft and its gaming business. Seriously, interactive entertainment changed a whole lot after Microsoft brought this bad boy to market!
Of course, looking back, it's not just 24 years since the first ever Xbox console was unveiled - it's 24 years since the birth of the platform as well. When the system launched later that year it delivered some amazing experiences; followed up by the game-changing feature that was Xbox Live back in 2002. What a time to be around!
Anyway, to think that it will have been a quarter of a century next year since this big reveal (and later in the year the launch of the actual console) is honestly mad to think about - but long live the original Xbox is all we can say. We're still grateful for the path Microsoft's first console forged to this very day.