Xbox 360 seen in the UK

Also:

If you remember, the Gamespy leaked specs had the RAM at 256, but I believe it also said they were open to increasing it to 512. According to this, they did. I've read Bungie has something to do with this; just another reason to love Bungie I guess. Keep in mind that this also means that the PS3 and Nintendo Revolution will most likely have at least this amount as well. I doubt either one would want to deal with the problem of having less ram than a console that came out at 4-6 months (at least) before yours, no matter how much difference there is in the different RAM types.

As for the original article, there's nothing too surprising besides the description of the console. I more or less have prepared myself for confirmation of the 360 name, but this seems to confirm it even more than anything before it (I guess we can't officially confirm it until Microsoft says it directly).

The whole "concave" "nexus" stuff sounds interesting. I've seen some ugly things using those guidelines and I've seen some decent images using those descriptions. I'll have to see it before I get a good idea of whether or not I like it or not. The color wasn't so surprising since I've seen hints about it lately, such as the controllers. I also read from someone that Microsoft was stealing something from Apple again, so white was more or less in my mind already.

One bizarre thing is this picture from the OurColony site (ilovebees type site for Xbox 360):


If you look at the abdomen, you'll notice a little concave shape. We're probably looking too much into this, but pretty interesting nevertheless.

And to close out this somewhat boring thread, a comic from Penny Arcade :

 

It isn't that bad, although it may depend on how it is used. For example, if the console is the exact same color as the controllers revealed a little while back, it may look a little ugly. But if it more of a pearl white or something, it may look nice. Here are some examples of white(ish) consoles that don't look too bad, IMO:





There was also a white version of the PSP, which didn't look too bad, and of course, the iPod. Those two aren't game consoles, but they do look good in white, IMO.

Of course, they can still find a way to screw it up, but I don't see how it could be too much worse than what they did with the Xbox.

BTW, some were speculating that Microsoft is pulling a 360 by starting over with an opposite color. I didn't quite get some of their logic though (understand the whole starting over thing, just don't understand completely where opposites come into play).

 

That pic is actually a render that has been touched up some so that it can be put on a magazine cover, IIRC; it isn't a real-time pic or anything like that. Given how GT4 looks on 5-6 yr old hardware, they may still be able to get something like that though.

And that most likely is the controller:


Except for the fact that this is a little more black on the analog stick, it seems to match for the most part. Plus, it has been said to be close to the real deal if not the real deal by those "in the know."

No problem. This stuff really interests me, and I figured I I couldn't be the only one.

I'm trying to broaden my area to the PC world as well, although it isn't quite as interesting. I may post a little about the R520 (ATI's next card), which should be announced pretty soon IIRC (think it was expected to go on sale in the summer some time). I'm not sure how that would compare to a console debuting though; the card after that may be the one to look for if they go with unified shaders like the card in the Xbox 360. Unreal Engine 3.0 as well as the Reality Engine give a good look of what to expect from the PC as well as consoles, but only a little bit has been shown from those engines, not to mention that games using those engines may not even reach store shelves until 2006. We'll probably get more info on that stuff at E3. I'd also like to include more about Nintendo, but they seem to be content with waiting until much later before releasing anything about their next console.

Speaking of which, I imagine that these little updates will become more and more frequent from now until E3 (Mid to Late May). There will probably more info coming out in this month span than all the info from the last year combined. E3 is going to be great.

 

Do you mean this one?

Keep in mind that this isn't made straight off of the Xbox 360 (or any console for that matter), so games may not look this good. It would be cool if EA's expectations were conservative and they could actually make something like this pretty easily.

I think they still have some finishing touches to do on that controller, such as creating it out of a more expensive material so that it should/could be easier to grip, as well look a little better. IIRC, it did move/replace the black and white buttons (which seemed to get lots of complaints), putting in 2 extra triggers in the back. The final judgment on the controller can't be made until it is in my hands, but compared to the Xbox controllers, I think they didn't do too bad.

As for the multiple console colors, they'll most likely do that since just about every console/handheld does them, especially in Japan (as you can tell in the pics I posted above with the white Saturn and PS2). I don't know if they will necessarily make it a Halo 3 bundle, but I would think they'd have something planned. If nothing else, there will probably be those modding places that will either sell skins for it, or you could possibly send yours in to get some more color on it. I think they have some nice skins for the current consoles and handhelds right now that are also easy to put on and take off.

Depends on your definition of obsolete. Of course, the Xbox 360 will have games that make even the best Xbox graphics look like crap, but you'll also end up paying $250-$300 on the console itself, maybe even more if you want a hard drive. You could probably get Xbox games for a somewhat cheap price (compared to the possible $60-$70 price tags of next-gen games), so if you can live with the Xbox graphics for a while, you can hold out until a price drop or 2, not to mention a better gaming library (Halo 3).

Also, there have been rumors that Microsoft stopped production of the Xbox for good, ending any kind of support for it once the Xbox 360 launches. Considering the PSOne sold like 20-30 million consoles after the PS2 launched, not to mention that EA had every Madden up to 2004 on it IIRC, then you can see why this isn't a great decision, IMO. If you factor in no BC in the Xbox 360, then playing Xbox games can be a problem, especially if your current Xbox starts to break down. Of course, these are all rumors and there have been reports that Microsoft won't do this and plans to support it in 06-07.

If I knew that, then I wouldn't think it would be such a stupid name. Supposedly, they didn't want to name it Xbox 2 and lose out to the PS3 (3>2 in some customers eyes). Plus, they seemed to have taken a jab at Nintendo with the 360 (360 equals one revolution). Of course, I think this is stupid since both companies haven't even committed to those names. Imagine the next-next-gen consoles being called the Xbox Infinity and the Playstation Infinity+1.

Some think that they also are starting over, putting them in a 360. They could probably do some kind of marketing scheme with Xbox Live to using that name. As the article mentions, they may have used that name to reflect the console's design as well.

To be honest, I have no freaking clue why they named it that and I wish they never did since I don't see how any marketing they use could possibly make it acceptable. Although, I guess I thought the same thing about the name Xbox...

Keep in mind that other companies are watching what Microsoft does. If they revealed everything last summer that the Xbox 360 would have such and such amount of RAM and could handle such and such amount of polygons per second, then Sony would have almost 2 years to best that. The leaks also aren't what Microsoft wants either, although it may be a side-effect of giving developers as much info as they can. If these companies had their way, the only info revealed about their consoles would only take place when they held a press conference, which would most likely take place 6-12 months before the console is released.

It is annoying though. The leaks make it bad though since the moment you get one piece of info, you want it all, which won't be revealed for another year. You have no idea how happy I expect myself to be once E3 is over. For example, I'll finally understand why the heck Microsoft is going with the name Xbox 360.

 

Other than the ones already mentioned, I can only remember Xenon and Xbox HD. There may have been more, but I can only remember the major ones, which are all the names mentioned so far.

It isn't so much the sound of it (although I hate the sound too), but the reasoning for using it that bugs me. A lot of the names seemed to describe it well (next Xbox, 2nd Xbox, the Xbox in high def, etc.), or the case of Xenon (the code name), it kind of allowed Microsoft to use a new name, kind of like what Nintendo (recently) and Sega did. Personally, I actually liked Xenon in a way, with Xbox 2 a little behind that in my preference. I didn't like Xbox Next or Xbox HD that much, although I'm thinking twice about that ever since I heard Xbox 360. I just don't see where the 360 part comes in.

Of course, all Microsoft has to do is pay some marketers a couple million dollars and I'm sure everyone will start accepting and maybe even loving the name.

Also, I found the XX-Box to be kind of funny in a ways. As some others pointed out, the successor of that would be...you guessed it...the XXX-Box. I'm sure Microsoft console sales would then skyrocket.

And now that Rokkit mentions it, I do seem to remember their being reports that they picked this name due to marketing research. The only problem is that I want to say that Spong was the origin of that report, and I wouldn't believe anything they say. I can't remember if they did or not though; I doubt that story would have gotten that big had it been from Spong. Maybe I just want to believe that they didn't actually spend loads of money and research just to come up with the name Xbox 360, not to mention that it actually did better compared to other names among those surveyed.