Microsoft launches virtual Xbox 20th Anniversary museum

Xbox's 20th anniversary celebrations continue today with the arrival of a virtual museum from Microsoft.

(No, I refuse to call it a metaverse.)

This browser-based experience is a mix of major news stories charting Xbox's 20-year history, 3D objects such as Halo's Warthog or the Skyrim logo, and some eye-opening personal stats if you explore while signed into an Xbox account.

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The museum is divided into sections for each Xbox console, where you can browse a 3D timeline of events. The Xbox 360 era, for example, has sections on the launch of Xbox Live Arcade, the reveal of Project Natal as Kinect, and the infamous "Red Ring of Death" crisis which saw countless consoles conk out.

But perhaps most interesting for long-term Xbox owners is an area dedicated to your own personal stats, which Microsoft has quietly been keeping track of. Want to know when you first switched on your original Xbox? Which game you've played the most over the past 20 years? Which was your very first achievement? Microsoft has a dedicated area for each user, and you can also share it for others to wander round if you so choose.

For example, my personal museum area tells me I first signed into Xbox Live on 28th September 2010 - I actually bought an Xbox 360 with my second Eurogamer paycheck, so that tracks. My first achievement is called "Cluster Buster", which is almost certainly something from the pack-in game Hexic. I can also see my most-played game for each year, which is a fascinating look back at the multiplayer modes I was playing back then (2010's is Red Dead Redemption, 2011 was Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and 2012 was Mass Effect 3).

Microsoft celebrated the 20th anniversary of Xbox last week with the (not so) surprise launch of Halo Infinite's multiplayer portion, as well as the announcement of an Xbox project origins documentary series, a glimpse at the upcoming Paramount+ Halo TV show, and more than 70 additional Xbox backwards compatible games.