
Another innovation of the Xbox was the first system to utilize an internal hard disk drive to store game data. Services such as Microsoft's Xbox Live became industry standard in this, and future, generations. While the prior generation had some systems with internet connectivity, such as the Apple Pippin, these had little market penetration and thus had limited success in the area. The major innovation of this generation was of full utilization of the internet to allow a fully online gaming experience. Meanwhile, the seventh generation of consoles started on November 22, 2005, with the launch of the Xbox 360. Xbox in 2006, GameCube in 2007 and PlayStation 2 was the last, in January 2013.


In March 31, 2001, the Dreamcast was among the first to be discontinued. This era began on November 27, 1998, with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, which was joined by the PlayStation 2 on March 4, 2000, the GameCube was later joined in Septemand the Xbox on November 15, 2001, respectively. Platforms in the sixth generation include consoles from four companies: the Sega Dreamcast (DC), Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), Nintendo GameCube (GC), and Microsoft Xbox.

In the history of video games, the sixth generation era (sometimes called the 128-bit era see "bits and system power" below) is the era of computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 21st century, starting on November 27, 1998.
