Bill Gates confirms it at last: Xbox 360 to launch this year

Due out by the end of the year, straight from the head honcho himself!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8408

 

Strange he speaks about Xenon, and not Xbox 360. ;p

 

why is that strange... it's the the official codename...
... just like when he was talking about Whistler which turned out to be winXP.

read this interview a few days ago.. he says why he is referring to it as Xenon.

:0)

 

Maybe there's still hope for a less stupid name... Personally, I don't think Xenon sounds bad at all.

 

Maybe 360 means 360 bit?

 

OMG..its sOo powerful....much !33tr than that ps3 shissness...

 

i got a feeling they might change the 360 name at the last minute, i know nintendo did with n64 was released dropping the orginal ultra 64 name. Anyone remember when the ds was caled nitro?

 

The DS was never going to be called nitro. It was its internal dev name. The reason it was not known for a long time is because the system was originaly under the name Iris but less then a year before it came out changed to nitro. The DS is still only refered to as nitro with development.

 

ah right, it was funny that final name ended up being ds, sicne its a very simplistic name being abreviation for dual screen.

 

How long has the DS been in development!

 

DS also apparently stands for Developer's System, as Nintendo has reportedly tried to make it as accessable as possible to people writing the software for it. I'm not sure how long Nintendo was working on it before - if at all - but the DS was announced last February and released in November, which is an amazingly short period for a console OR handheld release of any sort. Unfortunately, much like when Sega kicked the Saturn out months ahead of schedule, the software is only now starting to build up.

And yeah, I remember being all excited for Nintendo's new Ultra 64 (and Shadows Of The Empire) and then I find out upon it's release that it was changed to just 'Nintendo 64'. I think I still thought of it as the Ultra 64 for a few months after that...

 

I heard a rumor that the reason Nintendo couldn't use the name Ultra 64 had to do with Konami still holding a copyright from the Ultra Games days. When Nintendo (for the few that don't know) held all the power in the NES days they only allowed so many games to be produced under a developers name. Konami had to create a seperate lable to get around this call Ultra Games. Metal Gear, TMNT, and Blades of Steel being the most famous. Anyways forcing Nintendo to change the name of their system was a bit of payback for those days. Not sure how true that rumor is though.

 

Konami also released games under the "Palcom" label orwas that only in PAL countries?

Yakumo

 

yeah, I always wondered what Palcom was, lol

 

I really hope they call it Xenon....

 

Heh, brings back memories of the days when companies were bound by Nintendo's 8-bit release policy (only x amount of games could be released by a company in a given time period, which is why all these subsidiaries were set up...to get more product out)....

Konami had ULTRA
Acclaim had FLYING EDGE
Naxat became Taxan

and so on!

 

I completely agree. Xbox 360 is a bit much to say in a normal conversation.

 

I also prefer Xenon.


In regards to the DS. I don't know for how long but the system has been in development as a handheld n64 with a single screen originaly. Then from that to the DS happen in a year. All in all I would have to say the DS was a fastly thrown together system and not something that's been in the works for a long time.

 

XBOX three hundred and sixty sounds too stupid to be true they probably are just having a laugh and reveal the real name on that MTV "special".

 

Xenon is good with me. Xbox 260 is more likely though, I'd say - Xenon sounds like your standard codename, Xbox 360 sounds like an obvious "let's rival PS3" name.