Microsoft’s Xbox brand is, at this point, a mainstay in console gaming, and in many parts of the world, synonymous with gaming itself, much like Nintendo and Playstation were before it. However, did you know that the name Xbox, which on its own isn’t the best name in the world, wasn’t even the original proposed name for the console? Indeed, Microsoft went through several names, all increasingly stupid, all (thankfully) rejected.
In a report on Edge, these names have been compiled. They include 11-X (pronounced Eleven-X), WEP (standing for Windows Entertainment Project, not the Wifi security protocol), Midway (referring to how the console would be midway between a console and a PC), and, perhaps most stupidly of all, CyberPlayGround. No, really.
Ultimately, they decided to go with a name that, incredibly enough, now doesn’t sound stupid in context at all- the directXbox, and they shortened it to just Xbox, which does sound loads better.
The full list of the suggested names is as follows-
– MAX (Microsoft Action Experience)
– AIO (All In One)
– MIND (Microsoft Interactive Network Device)
– FACE (Full Action Center)
– MITH (Microsoft Interactive Theatre)
– XON (Experience Optimised Network)
– MVPC (Microsoft Virtual Play Center)
– TAC (Total Action Center – discs/games could be called TACs)
– MARC (Microsoft Action Reality Center)
– LEX (Live Entertainment Experience)
– M-PAC (Microsoft Play and Action Center)
– RPM (Real Performance Machine)
– MOX (Microsoft Optimal Experience)
– E2 (Extreme Experience)
– MTG (Microsoft Total Gaming)
– VIP (Virtual Interactive Player)
– PTP or P2P (Powered To Play)
– VIC (Virtual Interactive Center – disks/games could be called VICs)
– MARZ (Microsoft Active Reality Zone)
– TSO (Three, Six, Zero)
– EHQ (Entertainment Headquarters)
– O2 (Optimal Ozone or Optical Odyssey)
– MIC (Microsoft Interactive Center)
– R&R (Reality and Revolution)
– MEA (Microsoft Entertainment Activator)
– AMP (Active Microsoft Player)
– VPS (Virtual Play System)
– MAP (Microsoft Action Play)
– MEGA (Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Attendant or Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Assembly)
– CPG (CyberPlayGround)
– VERV (Virtual Entertainment & Reality Venture)
– OM (Odyssey of the Mind)
– P2 (PowerPlay)
– IS1 (Interactive System In One)
– MET (Microsoft Entertainment Technology or Microsoft Entertainment Theatre)
What’s up with all the inane acronyms?