Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360 - Magazine Coverdisc Lists

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Revision as of 05:28, 26 January 2021

Why combine Xbox and Xbox 360 PAL missing lists? Xbox & Xbox 360 regional PAL demos are a mess of confusion. There is irregular crossover between regions and hybrid discs. For the sake of accuracy and ensuring nothing fall through the cracks, its easier to collect and research both systems on a single page.

? = Haven't seen hard proof (pics or otherwise).

As the regional title might be different for discs with matching hashes, redump prefers using internal titles for the entries. However this list refers to "Titles" based on their case titles to help physically identify what is dumped.

UK

UK titles are being used in redump as the default naming convention when other regional variants match. This can be confusing because unlike other countries they don't have a country name in the titles so they are more generic.

Official Xbox Magazine

"Official Xbox Magazine" (for the original Xbox) ran for 61 issues[1] before being rebranded with as "Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine".

Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine

"Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine" demo discs ended with Number 104 (Issue: November 2013).

Starting with Issue 105, the magazine was rebranded to be "Xbox: The Official Magazine" (dropping the "360") to help cross promote the Xbox One along with Xbox 360. No demo discs were issued with the new magazine title.

Demo reference scans here.

Discs 24 - 104 dumped.

Australia

Official Australian Xbox Magazine

The first demo promoting Xbox 360 was released in March 2006 [2], however a demo promoting the original Xbox was also released in March 2006[3] and kept going until July 2006 (Demo #55)[4].

Reference scans of some discs/packaging here.

Unnumbered:

Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine: Australia & New Zealand

"Xbox 360: The Official Australian Xbox Magazine" later rebranded as "Xbox 360: The Official Magazine: Australia & New Zealand" with Issue 52? (maybe a couple issues sooner) (Issue 53, is the first issue the demo sleeve is updated to the new magazine rebrand name). For Issue 100, the magazine rebranded as "The Official Xbox Magazine: Australia & New Zealand" with the launch of the Xbox One console [7], although it continued to include Xbox 360 demos.

The final Xbox 360 demo appears to be shipped with Issue 112 of "Australia & New Zealand: The Official Xbox Magazine" (see comments [8][9]).

Most Australian magazine demos matched UK versions, however the Australian edition extended longer than UK releases, allowing for some exclusive releases for Australia.

Some of the earlier Australian discs in this series have Australia branded entries, but are likely to match UK variants whenever the missing UK variants are dumped.

Reference scans of some discs/packaging here.

Specials:

Do any others exist?

France

Le Magazine Officiel Xbox

"Le Magazine Officiel Xbox" released 54 demo discs[15] before rebranding as "Xbox 360: Le Magazine Officiel".

Specials Issues:

Xbox 360: Le Magazine Officiel

The last demo disc shipped with issue 80 (see comment reply)[23], although the magazine continued up through at least November 2012, Issue #85[24].

Inconsistencies with the early demos (early appear to have their disc label artwork adapted from the UK releases):

• The first 13 issues have incorrect month on disc label vs case (off by one number).
• The first 19 issues have incorrect demo # on disc label vs case, with the disc label being +1 number higher than the case (except issue 14 which matches).
• Issue 20 has demo # in sync with case and disc label. But has the incorrect month (May) because it reuses the disc label from Demo #19, but updates the XMID serial number on it.
• Issue 21 demo# and month are now in sync with case vs disc label, and the disc label now uses the French language title.

Reference scans here.

Specials Issues:

Germany

Das Offizielle Xbox-Magazin

Issue 1 is 2002/1, the second issue is 2002/11 (Ausgabe 2) (hiatus?), and in January 2006 the final demo was released, before the magazine was rebranded as "Xbox 360: Das Offizielle Xbox-Magazin".[29]

Xbox 360: Das Offizielle Xbox-Magazin

Italy

Xbox Magazine Ufficiale

Probably no disc 11 was released.

Xbox 360: Xbox Magazine Ufficiale

The numbering for "Xbox 360: Xbox Magazine Ufficiale" continued from "Xbox Magazine Ufficiale".

List needs research, not sure number this magazine starts or ends with. Last demo disc which issue? (mine for info[30]). The final issue 128 was published in 2012-02 [31][32][33].

Portugal

Revista Oficial Xbox

Xbox 360

Numbering continued from the original Xbox magazine disc run. The final disc issue seemed to be released on 2007-05[34].

Spain

Revista Oficial Xbox Edicion Espanola

These do not have dates on the packaging, making tracking the year/month difficult.

Any after 46?

Xbox 360: La Revista Oficial De Xbox

Any after 33?