Does anyone know if this xbox proto surfaced in the collector circle?

Im talking about this one,




First concept of an xbox revealed to the public.
I could scan some articles of it, with different pictures, tech demos, and even bill gates next to the machine.i just need to find the magazine.

I'd be happy to hear of of those machines are in collector's hand.

 

Dunno. I think it resides in one of Microsoft's conference rooms...they showed a few interviews with Seamus Blackley and a few others back in the day in some conference room. This particular Xbox was seen in the background perched in some permanent-looking shelving unit.

Aside from its appearance as a life replenishment device in NINJA GAIDEN, I've never seen it pictured anywhere else.

 

That one in particular is at xbox hq, it kind of moves around. Last time i saw it, it was in one of the display cases there. You can also see it in the background of one of the "leaked" xbox 360 prototype pictures. There may have been more than one tho, hard to say. There was also a giant 50 ft tall one, but i think that was dismantled after e3, or at least i haven't seen it since.

EDIT: I've always kind of assumed that it's just a hollow shell, but someone told me that theres an alpha I crammed in there somehow, but i don't think that's very likely.

 

on a mag i own, you can see the "X" with bill gates, running a tech demo.

 

I believe there were working units with that case, I have a few pictures made during the Xbox tech-demo presentations (butterfly + desk) which have the prototype standing in front of the television (cables hooked, I doub there's another unit running instead).

Team Ninja might have such an alpha unit, considering they included it in Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Ninja Gaiden, and were one of the first to develop on Xbox.

 

I know the pic you're talking about, but there's no way to tell where the video is really comming from. I don't remember where the picture was taken, if it was CES there would have been an Alpha I powering the demo, if it was from E3, they already had the final case design and had shipped the DVT-3's. If you look at the back of the "prototype" there's a freaking huge cord hanging there, seems too big just to power the lightbulb. It could be a VGA in that just re-routes to the video display. That's how it was done for the 360 anyway...

EDIT: Anyone else see what looks like a Parallel ATA cable at the back of the unit? Never noticed that before...

And if anyone ever used this thing for development, it would have to have been before November of 2000. Alpha I's shipped in december '00.

 

Dang, i just saw that i posted that in the wrong forum. If any mod see that, please move it.

 

If you say the Alpha I's shipped in dec. '00, then why did the first sdk for alphas appear in May '00? I'm pretty sure there's a sticker somewhere on my alpha that dates it back to October '00.

EDIT: Do you think this proto predated the alphas, or was it made alongside them? It would seem impractical to use the protos as dev machines, they seem more like show pieces.

 

I swear I remember an article in Edge with some of the Xbox dev team. Apparently, there's at least 3 of these DirectX boxes that are working. I'll find pics.....

 

Well I'll be damned. That would be an amazing piece to have, and I would say this would be the ultimate xbox collector's item.

 

It's still a dead-hot unit. Sexy, if bulky.

 

well damn... i guess there is something in there after all. I'm going to have to take another look at one of those next time i get a chance...

 

It would make a great base for a glass coffee table. I thought it was just a plastic mock up. The one Gamepro mag had when MS showed it off for the first time was purely a mock up. I don't think that photo edge took isn't even real. The motherboard and all looks totally out of proportion and hwat looks to be the CPU, does not even have a heatsink on it.... But if its real, then I'll be damned.

 

More pics....


Direct-Xbox looking all nice and shiny


Whatever happened to these ADSL thingies? Do people actually have these, or are they unreleased?


Xbox at the TGS

Seamus Blackley with the Direct-Xbox opened up

 

Alpha I's shipped well before Dec'00, infact we had moved over to Alpha II's during late December!!!!

The aluminium 'X' proto was made to showcase the Xbox, not to Dev on, they made about 6 off them at $18,000 each, there's two different types, the first couple are of welded construction the rest were machined from billet.

...All ran on NV15 chips with P.C mobo's, not Alpha H/W!



...My aim is to machine up some fulling working 'X' replica's sometime soon, keep your eyes peeled

 

They remain unreleased.

 

Our alpha I's didn't ship until december... and our alpha II's didn't show up until February... :crying: DVT-3's showed up around late march, early april... i think...

I guess we wern't on the "good" list back then...

 

Which version of the dev kit is this?

 

...Thats an Alpha I

 

Let's just call this version the Alpha-Omega and be done with it. :icon_bigg