The organic look of the Xbox 360 is broken down

by Ben Zackheim { May 17th 2005 at 4:49PM }

Gamer Jay was kind enough to send in this story from The Seattle Times; a thorough look at the design process of the Xbox 360.

It sounds like the project was handled very well, with executives kept out of the loop at the early phases so no one championed a particular design. The bigwigs were just given four themes; mild, wild, architectural and organic. The original console was considered a combo of wild and architectural, while the iPod was classified as mild. The ultimate design for the 360 landed squarely on the organic side ("inhaling" body and, I think, a textural look).

The sheer number of people involved in the search for the final design is breathtaking. Microsoft set out to craft this thing from scratch and they were, as usual, willing to throw as much money at it as possible. If the look is successful, in the end, then you can chalk it up to the efforts laid out in the article.

Good job, Seattle Times.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dmitri @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I dont get why so many people have a problem with this design. I think it is just great, I am probably going to have several plates stashed away hehe.

sandro @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

All this work and many people involved, for what? I dont get it, why cant MS get it right? Sony is wabetter looking again!!!

Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

So, you're gonna buy a game station soley on its looks??? Come On! Consider what's inside the box! A box that looks good, doesn't mean it plays good...
Xbox is most likely gonna get the majority of the sales.

pOThOLDERS @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

LOL. #2 must still wear plaid or somethin. you gotta be completely devoid of any fashion/design sense if you think sony's new system looks better. but, i guess if sleek and ugly is your thing, you would think the ps3 was better lookin.(i dont even neede to get started on that butt ugly control. just looking at it makes me laugh)

p.s. i would still buy a ps3 if the graphics are as good as the demos, although i find it hard to believe those videos are running off of actual hardware.

CaptSnuffy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

coming from someone who didn't like the original xbox (in looks and in other areas), i have to say this system and it's controller kill the ps3 designs. Although i dont liek macs either, the xbox just looks better, and the controller looks more comfortable than the sony boomerang. But seriously, who cares about looks? The ps3 blows the 360 away with it's graphics. So who's the real king?

Kind of interesting how the first time around the xbox was the more powerful system and now the ps3 looks like it's going to be running things. Will xbox fanboys flock to sony or deny it? hopefully both will be successful and in their competition they'll produce some amazing games.

rc51 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Wow, its still UGLY and UGLIER as I keep
staring at it. Kind of like the Pontiac Aztec.
Still ugly and hasn't grown any prettier!

Monmin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I think it looks pretty cool.

Any Japanese people reading this? whats your opinion? Does this have a shot in Japan?

I think the American opinion is mixed. Probably the same for Japan.

It is smaller than the PS3, that should be good news for MS.

Bleep @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

The 360 design is strong. I mean, c'mon. Look at that picture. It's stunning. Organic simplicity like this is difficult to achieve. Notice how cold, even frigid. the PS3 looks next to the 360. The 360 appears elegant, yet powerful. It's a great design and, of the three consoles, the one I'll gladly place in my living room.

Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I think the 360 and Revolution designs are the best so far. I like the "Ring of Light" idea for the 360 and the simplicity of the Revolution.

The PS3 looks like a laminator that you'd get at Sam's Club and the controller looks like a cross between a boomerang and a sex toy.

Digi Smalls @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Why isn't more being made about the delicious irony in 360 INHALING, while the ps3 is EXHALING. the xbox is holding its breath, while Sony is letting it out. Pretty funny to me, and I mean that in both senses; c'mon, is this coincedence or corporate espionage???

stinky @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

the most recent issue of time - the one with bill gates on the cover holding a 360 in one hand and baby cow's head by his teeth - had a similar take on the design process. a design firm from SF, a design firm from tokyo, and a death match atop the highest mountain in the chilean andes for the opportunity to give j. allard a hot stone massage.
ok, some of that was made up, but the article was actually pretty good.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050523/story.html
unfortunately, time magazine is like the lotto: you've got to be in it to win it. which is to say, registration required. awwww......

zander106 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I think the main victory for Microsoft is that the design for Xbox 360 is not BAD. A lot of people thought original Xbox was too big and bulky and ugly. This at least looks like some thought was put into it.

Not that it matters so much anyway. So many people seem to think that how the console looks will determine sales. Everyone's saying, "well, the look is what will attract the average consumer."

While design is a factor, I think at this point all three consoles all look decent enough that design won't really be that much of a *differentiating* factor. They all seem about the same general size, and they all look pretty sleek with smooth lines. So in the design contest, it's pretty much a wash right now. Give Microsoft credit, at least, for designing something that looks better than a hulking black box.

Digi Smalls @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Depends on just how white is white and how big is big. The white looks great in the nice studio shots on xbox360.com but imagine a huge iPod by your TV.

NergiZed @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Can't anyone just make a normal box?! with out any concaved or convexed crap! This is Y I like the revo design. Although the X-box did improve there design I like it better, can't say it looks ugly anymore, PS3, still ugly as hell. Still think the revo's got better design though.

E.V @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I just don�t see how the Xbox 360� gets the �great design� label. How come did it took so many people to design a box. Is a freaking box! Nothing new! Still the same old xbox, but white and smaller.. It looks like a giant Ipod as #12 point out. It doesn�t take a genius to create a box, no matter how much �Inhalation� you apply to it. Is not different, it doesn�t stand tall among the others. The fan made version that looked like Hal or Halo oracle was more innovative and a great design that the �inhale� box. I just do not understand the wanting of having a box design and been able to stack them. I want a system that will scream in my living room �Im a gaming console damn it!� not something that people are going see and say �Is that an Ipod? Oh no wait�is an Apple computer.�

I find PS3�s design bolder and different than a box. The controller still the same as the old one, is just more round up and the ends are a bit longer. I agree, still looks like a boomerang, but it might be very comfortable. At the end you want something comfortable and nothing else. I like Nintendo�s choice of making it in different colors, even though the �Pride Rock� (Lion King) box design still confuses me.

At the end, we are going to buy the system that has the games we love to play, no matter how they look or match with out living rooms or game areas. So far, PS3 system blows 360� system out of the water. Lets see who wins this battle in the years to come.

Bleep @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

#13: Yeah, that "fan made Halo oracle" design you mentioned was much, much better than ANY of the console designs at E3. THAT should have been the Revolution's design. I disagree with you about the PS3, though. The thing looks like a refrigerator. Cold, cold, cold. Look at the shots of the 360 over at Kotaku. That ring of light thing? It's pretty cool-looking, you gotta admit.

Kunami @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

"I think the 360 and Revolution designs are the best so far. I like the 'Ring of Light' idea for the 360 and the simplicity of the Revolution.

The PS3 looks like a laminator that you'd get at Sam's Club and the controller looks like a cross between a boomerang and a sex toy."

- Scott

Brilliant. Someone give this man a cigar!

I totally agree. Why can't we have a normal looking game system, for fuck's sake? The Revolution, at the moment, fits this bill perfectly... but people complain that it's "too plain". The 360 has a bit of style to it, but while organic, it is still very simple. Not good enough, though, as it's "too white" or it's "not powerful enough".

Goddamnit, you ungrateful cocksmokers... They Are Next Gen Systems!! They're ALL powerful!! I all comes down to the developers any fucking way.

And just to clarify things... how you (Digi Smalls, #9) came up with the Xbox 360 as the system doing the "INHALING" and the PS3 "EXHALING", I haven't the slightest. Watch your torso next time you breath, dork. You inhale, it expands outward, you exhale, it retracts inward. A little backwards there, aren't we?

It's okay... you're not the only one mucking that up. Maybe "concave" and "convex" would be better words to use when describing the two systems from hence forth.

Digi Smalls @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

wasn't exactly the point but, i got it from Microsoft. that's their term not mine, so call them the dorks. fairly sure they're talking about the gesture of an entire body, and not actual lungs.

Ean Frick @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

It looks better than the old xbox... but that's not saying a whole lot. I want to see pictures of these 3 systems next to each other so we can get some scale comparisons. A 50 foot ipod billboard would look horrid, while a normal sized one looks fine. We're all getting distorted views because we're excitedly squinting at photos online. The ps3 has a chance of looking good it it's tiny. The revolution looks clean, but not empty. So far, the 360 doesn't seem to be photogenic, but I'm hoping that microsoft didn't waste it's money. Then again, too many cooks can spoil the soup.

But that's all just cosmetics, the real proof is in the pudding (gameplay).

Thundercizzle @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I still don't like the way it looks. The Revolution and PS3 look a lot better.

asdf @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

the ps3 looks like a printer. the xbox 360 design is way better. i also like the new nintendo design, very small.

Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I don't have ANY gaming system, but I have one bro that has a PS2 and another that has the Xbox. They both have pretty good graphics. What is the general consensus - which unit has the most games and the better graphics?

Personally, I am more inclined to get the Xbox, but is it true that P3 has better graphics?

E.V @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

To #16:
Yea, I agree, but I think that Nintendo should have gone with the brain design that was leaked out on Friday 13th. That think look sweet and does scream "you know you wanna play with me." Still, we don�t know anything about that design (fake or not), since no more info has been giving by Nintendo on the matter.

The "Ring of light" I disagree with you there. Is a huge green button that if you place your Xbox next to your TV, it will be cover up in minutes by a game case or my personal favorite...duck tape. I have my TV red little bulb light that tells me that is on, cover with electric tape, cause I just don�t like anything else flashing around the screen when im watching or playing something in it. Then again, that might be just a personal choice and every one else doesn�t get bother by a huge ring of light burning your retinas while you play games like Doom 3, that requires darkness.

hedon247 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

who cares how it looks? I have a PS2 and an XBox and I don't sit and stare at them. I look at my 47 incher and play games while they sit on a shelf. The XBox 360 is gonna do the same, and so will the PS3. Whether the 360 looks like an I, or the PS3 is curvy won't matter crap after most people see the games.

sambo7777 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I really can't wait for the Xbox 360 to hit the shelves. ONE is mine! I believe that it and the revolution have the best designs by far and they have the games that i want to play. Ps2 was meant for the jap market and i really didnt care for the games that are on it. Ps3 will have more of the same and as usual the sony hype machine is lining up its lemmings by telling them how much better the games will look on it. They are very good at makeing wild inuendo about their upcoming products and then totally missing the mark. Strange that last time around all the ps2 freaks said its not the graphics, but the game play. After seeing games that were not rendered in real time at E3, now they say how much better the graphics are on the ps3. HAHAHAHAHAHA