Rejected Xbox Names Revealed in List

[GoaThief]

Bunch of shitty names, but xbox did make sense due to it being the DirectX box and all.

What I find intriguing is the TSO - 360. I wonder if there's some behind the scenes history that we're not party to that played right along for Microsoft's second console?

 

[CriticalMiss]

Does anyone find it a bit spooky that one of their original suggestions was 'three, six, zero'?

 

[Proverbial Jon]

That's odd - they're all acronyms.

MAX was the only okay name on that acronym list to me, and even then I didn't really like what it stood for.

Technically they aren't all acronyms. A lot of those examples are initialisms.

An acronym is a series of letters that can be pronounced as a word.
MAX, MIND, FACE, MOX etc...

An initialism is a series of letters that have to be spoken separately because they cannot be pronounced as a word.
MVPC, RPM, VPS, R&R etc...

I would have thought that using an initialism as your console name would be a stupid move because the only way to actually refer to it would be by using a string of letters which have no meaning unless you can decipher them.

- TSO (Three, Six, Zero)

It amuses me that the original console was almost the 360 before it was even an Xbox.

 

[Frostbyte666]

I look at the list and think surely XON (Experience Optimised Network) would be better using the E instead of the xtreme version so we have EON then bung xbox in front of that and you get XBox EON. Hell I can then think of the kind of unveiling billboard of:

XBox
EON
Experience the Optimised Network.

But overall yeah the names are pretty pathetic.

 

[Doom972]

Don't confuse familiarity with it being better than those other titles. All stupid names lose their edge with time. Xbox is a terrible name, born late out of the "extreme marketing" fad of the 90's.

I mean, everyone acknowledged Wii was a dumb name when it was first unveiled, but you accept it and move on. I knew a girl who was actually named Star Power, which was an incredibly cruel joke by her parents, but you know what? Growing up, nobody even seemed to realize it was odd, because we were familiar with it.

Xbox remains a dumb name that came years too late to even be timely, but we accept it because with time we stop seeing the name, and instead what it represents: the product, the person, the _____.

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

 

[Kargathia]

Reminds me of some of those terrible names from the 1950's for cars.

For example, this little list from: http://jalopnik.com/5972546/the-edsel-could-have-been-named-the-intelligent-whale are a selection of the names Ford had suggested for the Edsel.

The Ford Silver Sword
Hirundo
Aerundo
Hurricane Hirundo (swallow)
Hurricane Aquila (eagle)
Hurricane Accipter (hawk)
The Impeccable
Symmechromatic
Thunderblender
The Resilient Bullet
Intelligent Bullet
Bullet Cloisoné
Bullet Lavolta
The Intelligent Whale
The Ford Fabergé (That there is also a perfume Fabergé seems to me to do no harm, for here allusion is to the original silversmith)
The Arc-en-Ciel (the rainbow)
Arcenciel
Mongoose Civique
Anticipator
Regna Racer (couronne a couronne) sovereign to sovereign
Aeroterre
Fée Rapide (Aerofee, Aero Faire, Fee Aiglette, Magi-faire) Comme Il Faire
Tonnere Alifère (winged thunder)
Aliforme Alifère (wing-slender a-wing)
Turbotorc (used as an adjective by Plymouth)
Thunderbird Allié (Cousin Thunderbird)
Thunder Crester
Dearborn Diamanté
Magigravure
Pastelogram
Regina-Rex
Taper Racer
Varsity Stroke
Angelastro
Astranaut
Chaparral
Tir á l'arc (bull's eye)
Cresta Lark
Triskelion (three legs running)
Pluma Piluma (hairfine, feather-foot)
Adante con Moto (description of a good motor?)
Turcotinga (turqoise cotinga-the cotinga being a South-American finch or sparrow) solid indigo.
Utopian Turtletop

Times don't change do they?

... this list is brilliant. I can only imagine owning the Ford Symmechromatic - it'd probably become a hobby to collect all the misspellings I encounter.

"Thunderblender", and "Utopian Turtletop" also sound like the naming department went in all-out troll mode. I love it.

 

[The_Echo]

All of those are atrocious.

I mean... absolutely gut-wrenchingly terrible names.

I went down the list and imagined asking a friend if they wanted to play that console with me. None of these names felt organic to say. They fall out of the mouth like a nasty curry you immediate regret trying to eat.

Dunno where they got Xbox from, but it's a good thing they did.

Does anyone find it a bit spooky that one of their original suggestions was 'three, six, zero'?

There's also "all in one."

Though why they would call it Three, Six, Zero is beyond me. I'm still not entirely sure why they named its successor that.

 

[synobal]

They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

The list is potential names for the original Xbox, not the Xbox One.

Ya I got confused, the whole Xbox, VS Xbox One, Vs original xbox. It's kinda confusing when you're just reading it and not actually considering it.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Let's see if we can beat that. I'll start.

-COCK (Community Oriented Creativity Kit)

"Hey Billy, can I cover over and play with your COCK?"

"Sorry, bro. My COCK's got the red ring of death, so I'm waiting for a new one."

 

[Quazimofo]

They are just releasing this so they can say "See you think our name is stupid but it could of been so much worse!". I honestly doubt any of that list was ever considered. Like they would drop the Xbox Brand name for even a second.

TL;DR List is fake, released to make the decision to name it Xbox One seem intelligent.

Well, all this list does is make me realize, that they are even more stupid than they appear to be. While Xbox One is an eyerolling name, abandoning an old and popular brand for no apperant reason is just idiotic. The fans of Xbox want the "next Xbox", not the "new Microsoft console". Brand loyalty is powerful and you can't just jump ship like that.

Well at least at first they seemed to give less than half a shit about any sort of gamer community which mad them their fortunes, so it doesn't surprise me that they tried to name it something different.
But I swear, the ones on this list that aren't just awful were half-assed attempts to piggy-back on other popular brands' acronyms. Or just common acronyms in general. MTG. RPM. Really?


Edit: Oh wait, this is about the original Xbox. Man that whole XBone naming really throws me still. The second point stands though. They just seem slightly less awful since it's not a re-naming but rather a first-naming which is always hard.

 

[Phrostbit3n]

Xbox is shortened form of DirectX Box, I'm sure 11-X referred to DirectX 11.

EDIT:

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

Doom beat me to it -- DirectX Box was the actual codename they used in development, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Reeve]

It's called the Xbox because it was the first console to use DirectX.

 

[GoaThief]

Xbox is shortened form of DirectX Box, I'm sure 11-X referred to DirectX 11.

EDIT:

Actually, the X doesn't mean extreme in this case. I recall it being said before the Xbox was released, that it was a shorter version of DirectX Box, because it uses DirectX (like PCs). But yes, it's still not very clever.

Personally, I like it when such things are named after mythic creatures, deities, or natural disasters.

Doom beat me to it -- DirectX Box was the actual codename they used in development, if I'm not mistaken.

Seems like my previous post went all invisible or something?

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post but at the time of the original Xbox we were at Dx8 or somesuch, 11 was Vista onwards only so there's no way it was in reference to that.

 

[rofltehcat]

Urgh those are horrible... how can they possibly not be able to afford people who can come up with a better name (and avoid stuff like Xbone)?

 

[Phrostbit3n]

Anyway, that wasn't the point of this post but at the time of the original Xbox we were at Dx8 or somesuch, 11 was Vista onwards only so there's no way it was in reference to that.

Yeah, I had an "Wait a minute..." moment a few minutes after I posted that.
Cthulhu.

 

[Fireprufe15]

They should've called it MITH. Would have opened brilliant oppurtunities to make fun of it.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

This is the most 90s thing I've seen in years!

 

[F'Angus]

These are absolutely dreadful. I can't believe they ever considered using any of these. I mean "Optimal Ozone"? What?

And why are they all short for something. What's wrong with Xbox 3? (other than being close to 360). 720 would be a better name.

Also why is "TSO - Three Six Zero" on the list? I thought naming it Xbox 1 was lazy...but naming it directly after the previous console.

These make WiiU seem like a good idea.

But I wonder now, what does "One" stand for?

EDIT: I do quite like Lex...but not because of what it stands for...for the villain reason.

EDIT 2: my mistake.. know this is about original Xbox now.