Today, the original Xbox celebrates its 20th birthday. Now, I know some of you are reading this and already bemoaning the passage of time, and heaven forbid, feeling old. Hold on for a second here. Actually, hold on for 105 seconds of this emotionally powerful ad for the Xbox about a father and son’s story.
This short comes from filmmaker John Wikstrom who had stumbled upon a YouTube comment on a video titled “Can Video Games Be A Spiritual Experience” from a lifelong Xbox player. They described the hours and hours that they would spend gaming with their father, especially on the racing game RalliSport Challenge.
Here's gameplay from Forza Horizon 5 - the highest rated release of this year at the moment - featuring the gorgeous environments of Mexico!
Tragically, their father passed away when they were only six years old. They couldn’t bring themselves to touch the Xbox ever again. Ten years after that, they were exploring their boxes of belongings and found that console buried under everything else. They started playing RalliSport Challenge and to their surprise, there was ghost data from their dad’s races in the game.
The (unofficial) advert for the Xbox uses that story as a word-for-word voiceover, and even got an acknowledgement from Xbox’s head honcho Phil Spencer. It’s an affecting story when you consider the little things that are left when a person passes away and how you hold onto those memories.
Advert
Sadly, the original Xbox that held their father’s final races on RalliSport Challenge eventually stopped working so the ghost data was lost for good. However, the story has resonated with people from all over the world and will continue to do so for many years to come. Happy birthday, Xbox.
Featured Image Credit: John Wikstrom via YouTubeTopics: Xbox