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Designing the Look of the 360
Gamasutra has a piece up where they talk to the folks that designed the look of the Xbox 360. From the article: "We are responsible for the whole look and feel, the outward aesthetic. This includes the features, how it looks as overall design language, how it works with the controller and peripherals - working on the camera, the charging systems for wireless remotes - and then the box itself, obviously."
This all means nothing to me. I want to see how the games play more than how the system looks. Others may feel different.
On the other hand, if I was interested in design, I would have liked to see it more rack compatable, fitting in with stereo equipment as for it would be the living room media hub.
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Personally I think that it's a pretty crap design. After all of the flack that Microsoft got over the look of the first Xbox (which I own) I really expected something cool. When I was fist shown screen shots of the new Xbox I was sure that they were fakes, or that it was a prototype that hadn't been painted yet.
The article is an interesting read, however I am a bit disappointed that she didn't answer the stackability question. That and the price are the major stumbling blocks for me actually getting this system. I don't know where I could fit the Xbox 360 in my entertainment unit.
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From a shear industrial design standpoint (nevermind rackmounting or anything else, just how does it look...), MS made by far the ugliest console last time around and are dead set on making this round no different.
Sure it's better than the horrible eyesore that the original XBOX was, but not enough. The prototypes for the PS3 and Revolution blow this thing away.
The Xbox had the same issue. If the drive came from a particular vendor, they were known to generate disc read errors. I was actually working at Xbox Live at the time I got one of these drives. It was less than a month after getting my system, and they wanted me to pay to have the product shipped for replacement. I told them the BBB would be more than happy to register yet another complaint on their drives.
Sonny, the 360s were beautiful machines. Lots of blinking lights, switches, dials, even a large nameplate on top. The big emergency stop was always there in front, taunting you to pull it. When the new 370s came out with only a couple of lights on the front panel, I knew an era had passed.
Everytime I see one of these stories with "360" in the front, I flash back to my college days as an operator of an IBM 360/22 in a corporate data center. I'm officially old.