Had Seamus Blackley and his hardware team not vetoed the anagram-based suggestions made by Microsoft's mad men, the original Xbox could have been called the Microsoft FACE – which stood for "Full Action Center" – according to a list of rejected names for Microsoft's debut console provided to Edge by Blackley.

Or, alternatively, the Microsoft O2 ("Optimal Ozone"), MEA ("Microsoft Entertainment Activator"), OM ("Odyssey of the Mind") or any other number of ridiculous things. Blackley said that, while "Xbox" was originally an internal shortening of "DirectX Box" used in email threads, it was the only contender to survive the four-stage naming process.

Out of the entire list, we think the most historically interesting option was Microsoft TSO, which meant "Three Six Zero." Sound familiar?

Posted: Jul 06, 2013 11:28 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/05/the-original-xbox-could-have-been-named-one-of-these-wacky-acron/