What made you purchase the OG Xbox?

[InsaneNutter]

For me it was the ability to use XBMC and emulators on the TV.

Back then I'm sure as many of you will agree their was no better way to get your media on to the TV than a modded Xbox.

Region free DVD players were uncommon and DVD players that could also play Divx / Xvid we're niche and more expensive than an Xbox at the time. In addition to video the Xbox could also play MP3's, view your family photos, stream internet radio and emulate many past consoles. No other device at the time came close to the functionality of a modded Xbox.

The Xbox games were a nice bonus in some ways. However I think its fair to say playing split screen Halo & Halo 2 with friends on XLink Kai certainly got me more in to console gaming than I was at the time.

[ResistingWalker]

Well, I wouldn't say that I bought my first Xbox, I would say it was given to me by my Dad, the console was Hardmodded with an Aladdin Chip and a massive hard drive. It was like a stock console with extra capabilities I should say.

I asked him to give it to me because I was interested in the first Xbox from videos I saw online. A n d  H a l o 2.

The first one I bought was a project piece I am still working on. It just needs a new hard drive and then we are sorted.

[Dempsey_86]

My best friend bought the og xbox on release here in Europe. A year after purchase he needed money (he also had a new gf so he handnt much time to game anymore), so I bought it from him. (Back then I bought the ps2 and he the xbox so we could play the exclusives on both machines, we always went to each others home with the consoles in our backpack) I used the xbox long after it was current gen to run xbmc and I re-discovered the scene in corona time. Corona brought me back into xbox modding.

 

[HoRnEyDvL]

Moving across from the Dreamcast, I waited in the street for almost 24 hours on launch day to get one. Once i got my hands on this beauty the rest is history. Lol

[mjkthirdeye]

My cousin got one for Christmas in 2002. Being big into PlayStation 2, I, admittedly, was not very excited about the system. However after playing Halo for the first time while visiting that Christmas, my opinion changed completely and I was sold.

I couldn't afford to buy one at the time, so I visited my cousin's house to play any chance I could.

Later that summer, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic came out. I rented it and took it to his house to play. After spending a few hours deeply immersed in it.  I decided it was time. I went and immediately bought one and a copy of KOTOR and left my rented copy with my cousin.

Shortly thereafter, I found the original Xbox-Scene forums. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by mjkthirdeye

[LM666]

Got my first OG back in the day when EBGames were selling them for $49 used with 3 games. I thought it would be fun, coming from playstation. It was! Spent time ever since buying joblots of consoles to fix/mod and give to friends as they asked for them

Many a drunken night were spent playing terrible translations of emulated games with mates. Wish i could relive those days.

[Androxilogin]

There was a rumor when they were about to come out that they could run PC games. I instantly thought how cool it would be to be able to play Kingpin: Life of Crime from the comfort of my bed. When I found out that was a lie I wasn't interested in them whatsoever. My friend was selling his. It was already modded and I saw that I could play N64 games on it. It had a 120gb harddrive with an Xecuter 2.3b Lite modchip. He only wanted $120. At that time, it was a hell of a deal for the storage alone. Never really cared for the games, but being able to play everything else and use it as a box for streaming was a no-brainer. It also opened my mind to all of the different possibilities hardware-wise through trial and error leading me to all of the things that I do today. Sure, I had a Dreamcast prior with emulators and PS1 was actually the first console to get me started in soldering. But loading from harddrive changed the whole perspective. And the ability to use FTP saved me soo much money.

RIP Eurasia.nu. I miss that site soo freakin' much.

[SylverReZ]

I purchased an Original Xbox back in May of 2023 just so I want to experience what its like to own one again for the very first time. My dad used to have one until he sold it about a year or so later. I've heard of something called Cerbios, which is a custom BIOS with an extensive amount of features. I went to work and bought an OpenXenium and Xbox 1.1 model from eBay and successfully chipped it.