Is this the Xbox 360? Nope!

Could this be the Xbox 360/Xbox 2/Xbox Next? To be perfectly honest, we don't know what this is, but check out this sneaky cameraphone pic that someone snapped of Microsoft VP J Allard making a presentation about the next-genertaion Xbox 360. See that silvery thingy? Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Anybody recognize what that is? Click to see a close up shot.

[Thanks, Pengo]

UPDATE: Nope, this isn't it. We ran this by one of our trusted sources, who says that this is actually a prototype that MSFT has been showing off as a decoy of sorts and that the actual console looks much better than this.

[cacophony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

yeah, right.

if this is real, the person stupid enough to include enough context in the picture to determine where the photographer was sitting...deserves whatever they're going to get.

[vince @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

If you look by the right side of the white screen there is another device. It similar to the xbox, it is black and white with a green logo...

[tacotaco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

This was the xbox 180. The xbox 360 will have that retarded looking handle (it reminds me of the thing I water my plants with) going all the way around- a full 360. I'm gooded at maths.

[ksb @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I saw someone else posted a picture of this with circles drawn around things he thought looked interresting, so I took them into photoshop and changed the levels and curves of the things... well here the picture is :) http://www.geocities.com/ksb_art/xbox2_edit.jpg

[Tyler @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

they all have toshiba tablet pcs. pretty cool

[Kundvagn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Its not exactly new, a picture of it got posted here in september. =) http://www.engadget.com/entry/9253838747326816/

[Stubbs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Looks like the Panasonic toughbooks or whatever they're called- their strong-framed, shock=proof laptops.

[Alex @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

#6 You're right! They're exactly the same, I'm surprised that pic turned out to be legit after all.

[andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

theres also what looks like the current x box behind the man standing in the black shirt to the right of him under the screen you can see the power and disc drive open buttons and controller ports just thought id put that out there

[Bilgin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

it looks like a portable petrol tank or something something...

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I'm gonna laugh if this turns out to be the real thing. A "decoy"?? (I'm reading the updated description at the top.) That doesn't really make sense if you think about it. So MS calls this meeting, a presentation about the Xbox 360, presumably at GDC, and J. Allard pulls out this box only to ask everybody, "is this the Xbox 360? NOPE!"

Does this strike anybody else as a little too strange to be the real story? Why would J. Allard be making a presentation on the Xbox 360 and be showing a "decoy"? I mean, why would he be deceiving the very people he's trying to present the Xbox 360 to, and if he's not deceiving them, why is he wasting their time showing anything at all only to tell them it's fake?

It may be a *prototype*, but that's different than a decoy. Prototypes sometimes look significantly different from the final design (the original Xbox admittedly looks nothing like those big silver prototypes), but often they look quite similar. By definition, a prototype serves as the basis for later stages of design.

My gut's telling me this is the real thing, at least as it exists currently. It will probably undergo some further changes before it's officially announced, though (kinda doubt that handle's making it into the final design).

[IRaqManiac @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

haha I thought they were talking about the laptop to the right of it, but that looks like a freaking solid suitcase that you would use to hit someone, and why would there be 4 big screws in the front of it???

or is that laptop actually an xbox...

[MrFriendly @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

@ no12:
Looks like that thing to the right of it is another one laid flat instead of stood up?!

[spooniep @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

If that's really the prototype (or even close to it) for the XBox Next/360/Xenon, someone in the industrial design department at MSFT should lose their job (or at least their boss should) The damn thing looks like a broken metal detector from the 1960's. Why can't MSFT ever learn from the leaders in industrial design (like Apple and Sony), that simplicity in form is almost always your best move.

Just look at how many people think the iPod and PSP are "cool". I don't think MSFT will ever get it -- you can't hire a bunch of blue suits and tell them to be "cool" (Did anyone see this week's The Apprentice?), and you can't hire a bunch of creative-types and manage them effectively with a bunch of blue suits either. In additionm why can't corporations learn that when it comes to most things (especially design), CONSENSUS BREEDS MEDIOCRITY. So PLEASE give up on using focus-groups to determine product design.

If they ever expect to get it right, MSFT needs to both hire innovative industrial designers, point them in a general direction, then give them the room to work. Apple learned this the hard way. The lead for the iMac (and later iPod), Jonathan Ive was sitting in a corner, cranking out bland beige boxes, and nearly ready to quit until Steve Jobs took back the reigns of the company, and gave the design team the direction and creative freedom they needed to succeed.

P.S.: All I can say is that the stupid "handles" better be removable. The xbox isn't supposed to be portable, so why bother. If you wan't something you can carry around, buy a PSP or DS.

[Jestin Jund @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

It's interesting to me... I am sure that the design is subject to change, but as the update states " the actual design looks much better than that". I feel that this implies that the actual design is still similar to that thing. If you notice, the lunchbox handle design matches one of the old prototype photos quite well. Also, if you take the idea that the "box" could be called the xbox 360, the circular handle (representing 360 degrees) would make alot of sense. So, even if the actual design is different or looks better, there is a good hint that it could be called the xbox 360, and will probably have the lunchbox handle of doom.

Lets cross our fingers and hope that the tards at microsoft realize they are making a huge mistake.

[Marcio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Oh come on, with that shape can be only one thing: Professor Xavier portable Cerebro computer, of course. lolol

[T @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

"P.S.: All I can say is that the stupid "handles" better be removable. The xbox isn't supposed to be portable, so why bother. If you wan't something you can carry around, buy a PSP or DS."

Microsoft going Apple in their design? ;)

[Broodle @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Of course you guys realize that this is probably the real thing or else something quite similar. I mean, the first Xbox was ugly, and they probably have the same people designing this new piece of crap. The Xbox is weird, what with its huge black casing and its weird green buttons. So this new thing is probably real.

[Andu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

this is funny it reminds me that this is probably one of those hoax like one person posted that picture of a Artists Concept someone might of stumbled throu that and mayb decided to make something out of it just like the IHome hoax Think about it

[Funkyberry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Sod the X-Box, I'm more impressed by the redhead on the right! She has a sexy haircut, a bottle of water (shows she is healthy), and a notepad (could be intelligent).

[metal_mickey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Come on guys.. this is all part of the media machine... They know this was going to come out. Anyone in that room would know what the new xbox looks likes or not.. plus project screen is current xbox logo.. not any kind of xbox2 logo.

It looks lick a bloody can of petrol, what's the idea with the handles for GOD SAKE!!, I would NOT put that in my living room.

But, I agree with Broodle.. the current Xbox is an ugly piece of junk, so there design team could theoretically produce something even more ugly this time

[Dungeonseeker_1uk @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Please, i think MSFT dont really care what the Xbox 2 looks like in design stage, after all its not as though you could hear what J Allerd was saying to the people he was presenting to. He could have told them that it was only a Prototype or a Decoy and the final product would look nothing likr the Petty Can on the table.

I agree with jeff, this is the Xbox 2 as it exists today, prob running an updated Xbox 1 dashboard. Hence the Xbox 1 Logo, but if you look closly it does'nt look like its says Xbox anyway.

And as for the name of the thing, well microsoft have a habit of naming beta software after places where MSFT ofiices and complex's are. EG longhorn is a village in torronto where MSFT Head Office is based (or so i read anyway),
so good o'l bill gates will prob choose a completly different name to the ones in the piblic eye.

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I watched the video from the GDC conference with Allard as the keynote. U can find it at xbox.com. After watching that speech and seeing what Microsoft has planned for the next generation xbox i have to say that I dont think that that ugly piece of tin in the picture is going to be the new xbox at all. I think it was placed there as a prop or decoy just incase someone tried to snap a picture and leak info. as is what happened. Personally i think that Microsoft will end up making their new system rather sleek and probably silver instead of the current black. The reason for this will be because they are aiming for the HD era. Most HD systems nowadays (tvs, dvds, etc.) are all either black or silver. All are sleek and very light. I see Microsoft aiming for the same with the new system and as for the name I dont really care what they call it cause i will end up saying "I am playing xbox." So to me it doesnt matter what they name the thing just as long as it does what they say it will do. The current xbox is by far way superior to the PS2 in my opinion and the specs for the new xbox look to wipeout the new PS3 easily.

I anticipate the launch and from what i hear it will be as soon as November '05. Till then.

[SiLvA @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

"The current xbox is by far way superior to the PS2 in my opinion and the specs for the new xbox look to wipeout the new PS3 easily."

Uh...well hopefully the new xbox would be far superior the PS2, after all it IS a next-gen console. The specs for the new xbox look to wipeout the new PS3 easily??? Not likely, the PS3 will probably be much more powerful than the Xenon, which is why Microsoft is emphasizing that it doesn't matter how much power the console has, but the quality of the content that's provided on it. This is where they believe they will beat Sony's PS3, in games, not raw computing power.

[guss reece @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

is it possible that the flat thing to the right of the silver box is the xbox360 and the silver case is just that. a protective carry case

[boilingpoint @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I think Guss is right, the white (ugly) box is nothing more than a carry case for the silver n' black box next to it, yeah it looks like a laptop but why have a laptop when you've got a big presentation screen in front of you, also the other silver box looks identical (left hand side).

[toypaj @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Boilingpoint and Guss

The Flat thing is a laptop and way too big to fit into the silver case/xbox2

The silver thing looks like it was made from a car wheeltrim (UK)

I hope the XBOX2 isn't white, that fad has been and gone (fucking ipod - ick)

The controller looks shite also: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=382461

like a Dreamcast Controller (which are great) but it looks crap, it needs an integrated battery compartment like my wireless logitech.

Anywho if it is white, I shall be whipping out the spray paint.

toypaj

[Adam Henson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Am I the only one who's noticed that the device-in-question seems to be PERFECTLY lined up with the cameraman?

[Douglas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Click on the the link and large the picture... http://tinypic.com/23jnkw , if you really look at the projection screen,(The bottom right corner) the last word says CONFIDENTIAL. Don't know if that has anything to do with it though. Earlier before I was thinking this was crap, im thinking about it now though. Also to the bottom left and right to the guy of the projection screen is an object. To me right now it looks like the Xbox 1 or much simulaity. I'm trying to look into this picture more now.

[Douglas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3139705 - Look to see little glimps from 1up (REAL)- NO ROUMOR OR ANYTHING...plane real.