BBC reveals seven Xbox 360 prototypes

by Ben Striegel { Nov 5th 2005 at 5:00AM }

Xbox 360 Prototypes
During the course of a console's initial development phase, there's bound to be dozens of potential designs floating around for each and every individual component, and the Xbox 360 is no exception. What aids in determining a final box design is the fact that many of these initial prototypes are terribly, horrendously hideous. Normally these bastardized boxes are sealed in wooden crates and shipped off to a secret government storage complex, but the BBC somehow managed to get their hands on seven such rejected 360s, and Next Generation's got the pics to prove it. Some of these we've definitely seen before, such as the one on the far right. At least one other, the box on the far left, is eerily reminiscient of the Xbox 360's current design. Any of our British brethren out there care to summarize this BBC special?

[Via 1UP]

[UPDATE: Ed Andersen took the time to upload the a copy of the video here, while those of you without 180 MBs to spare can check out the BBC's own summary here, courtesy of mkjones. And for even more scrapped 360 designs, click here.]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Venomous @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I like the second to the left. I want more chrome damn it!!!!

Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

So the one with a big curved back/handle was real after all. I remember seeing a snap of that aaaages ago.

jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I live in the UK and to be honest the programme was nothing special[like interviewing kids and mothers about the 360 eh!].Interviews with j allard,robbie bach and peter moore where ok and they admitted the xbox had lost microsoft millions.There was a look at organising x05 but the interesting piece was seeing microsofts european chief pulling his hair out as they realize there isn't going to be enough 360's to go round.The closing comment was"with only 4 weeks to launch some of the ships in asia aren't going to arrive as planned so were frantically trying to arrange air freight,its going to be very tight".

Jelly @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I actualy recorded this last night...will watch it today...and if no-one else has said what it's about, i'll say.

Watched the bit on the prototypes though...they all look horrible to me :S

Palmer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'll summarize it:

It was sort of about the challenges MS faced, it followed the organisers of X05 (Miss Organiser was one of the highlights.) It also showed the MS bosses back before the Xbox launched with J and his balding head, his beer belly and his skateboard. It also went to some so called hardcore gamer who said that the Xbox copied the PS2 with the sliding disc tray thing and the PS2 looked futuristic with it's green and blue lights, it went to some under 10's and asked them about the Xbox and believe it or not it went and talked to some new mums about it.
What I though was kind of strange was the way it portrayed the first xbox as a stupid thing to make, they must have talked about the billions it has lost 3 times. Half the show was a bit better than alright (like the X05 bit and the part with the Xbox UK boss) and the other half was moronic (Asking mums would they buy the 360, and why not talk to some of the hardcore gamers who have actually used Xbox instead of 7 year old kids?!). You can grab the show from here: http://media.putfile.com/moneyprog3

Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I think the program was pretty good at conveying the business side of gaming, and hopefully changed afew opinions along the way. Yet what gets me is big 3 (Allard, Moore & Bach) kept on saying how the console is hardly finished and there are not going to be enough. This backfired in my opinion as the target audience for the show isn't the average gamer at all (which they hope will start pre-ordering), and these comments (no matter how old they were - 4 weeks/months) alienated the kind of people that they are trying to incorparate into their audience for the 360 (ie. non gaming adults)

Plus another thing was funny was the interview with the mothers (mentioned in #2) They said how they would like if it was mainly an entertainment device that [paraphrasing] 'could play games, as a kind of small off-shoot of it's main functions'

Interesting point that would infuriate any gamer i think, but it seems that consoles are going that way.

EndOfRamble
Ben

Page @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Watched the program last night and was dissappointed aswell - who cares what the mother of a new born baby thinks or what some six year olds think? Thought the whole point of the program was going to be on how the business has matured and how they need to aim at young adults with the money to spend - thought they could have talked about the economics as well - would have been really interested in a non fanboy take on the loss-leading aspect etc...

xbox360-forums.com @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Ah shame. Since coming to university, I haven't had a television and can't watch this. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns up on the net anyway.

I'm sure Microsoft had some better designs than this that they don't want to show. These rubbish designs makes the final one better and hey, the designs we don't see may feature in the next gen xbox!

Ed Andersen @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I have encoded and uploaded a direct feed version (instead of that shitty cam video of the screen) of the documentary here: (180MB widescreen WMV)

http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=d25a8df324c497853dc96882

Download it if only for the J Allard skateboarding bit!

Ruari @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I watched this, and report this to you. :(

It said the 360 shortages were to do with mixture of being behind schedule, shipping problems and demand. But MS seems to have over-played the demand and hid the other reasons for short supply.

Griffon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I lost faith when they asked some "hardcore" gamers what they thought of the PS2 and Xbox. They said the PS2 was really good because everything was "Electronical", that it had a DVD drive that opened out and best of all had "a blue and green LED's" (I kid you not). Then they went on to say that the Xbox copied the PS2 because the Xbox also has a DVD drive that opens when you push a button!

After that and them asking a bunch of 5 year olds which was the best console it lost all it's credibility in my mind...

bbxboy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Wow, if I were MS I'd be pretty reluctant to show these - this is some of the ugliest industrial design ever (not that the actual shipping 360 is much better)... MS is just so clueless when it comes to style.

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Shittest program ever. Reporter deserves to get shot

13th Duke of Wybourne @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I lost faith when they went and asked a room of what appeared to be single mums with small children whether the system appealed to them or not. I mean really, they may as well have gone and asked the local homeless population if they'd be buying it.

Jez @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Gosh, I was interviewed for this, but I guess they didn't want to know what girl gamers thought after all -- five year olds must have had better opinions *grin*

I think it's nice to see a programme about the games industry on television; opening the layman's eyes to the fact there *is* an industry is a good thing all round. So many people don't think "outside the box" and realise that there are millions of people involved in making their consoles and their games.. and this filters down to careers advisors telling schoolchildren that making computer games is not a possible job for them. Seriously.

mrdelayer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

they showed these off when they revealed the 360 on MTV in may.

rory @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Hi
The programme was very interesting...
Also the programme seems to be proof that xbox are really having a shortage because it showed the guy on the phone to the distrubtion centre in dublin which they were having trouble with stock etc...
It also showed a factory but it had not even begun making xbox360 games yet because the games code was not yet completed

mkjones @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

A summery of the show:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4384838.stm

rocko @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

hey, i remember that first one, remember when it was leaked all over the internet and people thought it was just a decoy?

http://img.engadget.com/common/images/7281865774352732.JPG?0.7120437591854326

http://img.engadget.com/common/images/8795814156068882.JPG?0.10486335097644739

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

has anyone else noticed how OBSESSED microsoft has become about the ability of the Xbox 360 to stand vertically??

in every picture they show of it, it's standing vertically. when they show it off (even in playable form) it's standing vertically. and if you'll notice every one of those prototypes have one thing in common (other than being extremely ugly).

you guessed it, they stand vertically.

yeah, MS.. we get it. it can stand on its side. now lay off.

ill trooper @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

The program was fine. No one needs to be shot. I found it very interesting as it dealt with things we have not seen - the Microsoft people demo'ing the thing, fairly normal people and their opinions on the xbox and the new 360, and also a very straight forward demo of connecting a digital camera and an iPod. The time schedule is amazing for a physical product - it's more like a magazine - four weeks out and they're showing the phone calls coming in saying they need to fly units to the UK as the boats ain't gonna cut it. It's worth watching just to see how much MONEY Microsoft is cramming down our throats.

Looks like Allard has been on the same diet as the Xbox360! He's shown in the program back in 2000 skateboarding around the office (wacky company policy, how DO they get away with it?!? Oh I see, "Adults At Play" sign...) with a hefty set of jowls, in a oversized button-up short-sleeved tent. Now he's shaved his head to lose the 'thinning bleach blond scruff', and lost about 30 pounds. He really looks like he's picked Jonathan Ives as a role model...

http://www.screenimages.com/pages/apple/dorian/

I'd recommend watching it if you can download the program.

abigsmurf @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Hmmm should you really be posting a direct link to what seems to be a full BBC program? The programs may be 'free' to watch for UK viewers and may or may not appear on the BBC's P2P service but that doesn't mean these programs are free for everyone to download. You wouldn't post direct links to the latest G4TV games show.

Just a thought...