Xbox donated to charity shop could fetch thousands

The Hulk-branded gaming device is in a vivid green

A rare Xbox console that was gifted to a charity shop could fetch thousands of pounds at auction.

The green gaming device, created to promote the 2003 Hulk superhero film, is one of only 50 ever made, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said.

The charity said it was "generously donated" to one of its shops in Oxford and could be worth up to £9,000.

The console, in working order, has so far attracted a bid of more than £400 in an online sale, which runs until 15 June.

Paul Smith, a BHF tester, discovered the machine's possible value while he was working on it.

He said: “This one really caught my eye. I’m a games enthusiast myself but the rare green colour combined with the Hulk and Pepsi logo really stood out."

Mr Smith said the device was only available as a prize in a UK cinema scratchcard competition.

He said only 36 of the consoles were won and only about 20 have been found.

The charity's eBay listing says: “In the USA, a green Xbox was created for the brand Mountain Dew, they made 5,000 of those and they are highly sought after, so this is even rarer.

"There are none on eBay and none have been sold in the past, so these are rare, the likelihood of finding another is slim."

Money from the sale will go towards research into heart and circulatory diseases.

Xbox a newcomer in console wars

The original Microsoft Xbox was released Europe in 2002 and was the company's first dedicated games machine. It sold 24 million units worldwide.

It competed against Sony's Playstation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and the Sega Dreamcast - which itself used Microsoft Windows to run some games.

Launch titles included Halo: Combat Evolved, Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3.

The name Xbox is a shortened version of "DirectXbox", with DirectX being programming tools Microsoft developed in the 1990s for running games on their Windows platform, and still in use today.