"Xbone," as an alternative moniker for the Xbox One, sprang from the depths of the internet's hive-mind with such immediacy that it may as well have been included in the console's announcement PR. In fact, the nickname has become so ubiquitous that Microsoft has gone ahead and purchased Xbone.com, according to whois records dug up by the sleuths at Fusible.

We wouldn't say the URL is doing a tremendous amount of positive work for Microsoft, though. Navigating to Xbone.com redirects to a Bing search for the term "Xbone," where the very first entry listed under "Related Searches" is "Xbox One Terrible," as of press time. Whoops!

There's not a whole lot else Microsoft could have done with the domain, however, as having it redirect to anything more official would be like signing off on the term's legitimacy. Under the circumstances, this seems like all the company can do to control the term's usage online.

Posted: Sep 12, 2013 5:03 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/09/12/microsoft-buys-xbone-com/