New Xbox 360 images - the real deal?

By Games Industry.biz Published 25 April, 2005

Latest image "leak" ties in with previously reported design features.

A new image purporting to be the Xbox 360 console has been "leaked" onto the Internet, and is being widely reported as the final design for the hardware, which is due to be revealed in an MTV special in under three weeks time.

You can find the reportedly leaked images here. Aren't we cheeky?

The new picture shows a small platinum/silver unit with a concave design, which appears to be designed to either sit flat or stand like a miniature tower unit - all of which ties in with the information from a British source who has seen the new console which we published two weeks ago.

Crucially, the design also fits perfectly with a zoomed-in teaser image of the console released on viral marketing "game" site OurColony.net, and the features on the case certainly seem to fit with other reports about the Xbox 360's functionality.

Interestingly, no controller ports are visible on the front of the system - the console supports wireless controllers out of the box, while USB connections for wired controllers are apparently concealed behind a small panel on the right hand side of the fascia.

Two slots for memory units appear on the front panel, while a "hood" supposedly concealing the location of the removable hard drive module is to be found on the left hand end of the console (the top of the unit if stood upright).

The size of the unit can be divined by looking at the DVD tray, which occupies almost half of the length of the console - suggesting a device far smaller and sleeker than the current Xbox console.

It's not clear where the "leak" came from, assuming of course that it is a leak at all and not simply a very clever mock-up. However, the original image which appeared online was in CMYK colour format, which is generally used in images destined for professional printing systems.

As might be expected, Microsoft's reaction to the image has been to issue their standard response: "Microsoft don't comment on rumours and speculation."

The firm plans to unveil the Xbox 360 (even the name of which remains unconfirmed, officially) in an MTV special to be broadcast in North America on May 12th, followed by international broadcasts on May 13th. More details will then be unveiled at the company's E3 conference on May 16th.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 7 years ago

    As I said in the piccies thread, it looks like a desktop PC. And it favours left-handers!

  • Royal Fool #2 7 years ago

    X360 front-and-side shot

    Or if direct linking isn't working: paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=17&f=xbo x360pop35fd.jpg

    Looks pretty damn authentic to me. :)
    Edited by 2 at 25/04/05 @ 10:42

  • Ginger #3 7 years ago

    looks OK. Certainly better than the old one, and would sit nicely on a home AV rack.

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    Looks pretty damn authentic to me.

    Why is the Xbox 360 logo reversed, then? :-)

  • Tweakmonkey #5 7 years ago

    Looks pretty sleek but i don't know why MS produced the ugly beast known as Xbox when with a bit of effort it could've looked like this. I still wouldn't call it "small" but it's certainly more acceptable.

  • Royal Fool #6 7 years ago

    "Why is the Xbox 360 logo reversed, then? :-)"

    Because it's a photoshop mockup I guess. You're right though, I was expecting logo to face the front like the original Xbox jewel logo does (Or the GameCube faceplate logo). Still, this mockup fits in well enough with the previously released images.

  • Frogger #7 7 years ago

    Nice design. One for me please !

  • prettyboytim #8 7 years ago

    RoyalFool: My, that's not obviously a quick render someone's hacked up using the leaked picture as a texture map from the front at all.

  • countlippe #9 7 years ago

    This is a mock up using the real image of the front and top side of the console. The top of the unit is completly fake.

  • realworld666 Verified Lead Programmer, Fuzzy-Frog Games #10 7 years ago

    " wow, I never thought MS would make it that easy for sony!

    Whatever Sony releases, it's impossible that it will look worse than this. "

    Yeah because the PS2 was a beautiful design that didnt resemble a box at all. Maybe they'll spend more than 5 minutes on the design this time. The XB360 looks ok better than the XB anyway

  • Darkedge #11 7 years ago

    "Looks pretty damn authentic to me. :)"

    Rubbish - looks like shite.
    It's a render based on the leaked photos and the shape "sucked in" rumors of a few weeks ago.
    It will be similar ish I suspect but if controllers are wifi - why have an IR for the remote?? Doubtful

  • Xerx3s #12 7 years ago

    Oke, seriously, "http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=1 7&f=xbox360pop35fd.jpg" has 3dmax/PSCS written all over it. However, that doesnt mean that the source is bad. I would be supprised if this is what it looks like on the drawingboard and that MS is just fieldtesting the console looks before actually launching it.

  • Talha #13 7 years ago

    IS is just me, or is it really that the XBOX 360 will be seriously underpowered as compared to PS3?

  • Royal Fool #14 7 years ago

    Fake top or not, the front has the same sort of watermark as the leaked front pic from Something Awful (SA FORUM LOL).

  • UncleLou #15 7 years ago

    A regular has confirmed in the forum that the devkits do indeed look exactly like this, Whether this also means that it is the final design I don't know.

    Anyway, I think it looks ok.

  • Talha #16 7 years ago

    REM, if only you are not named after my favorite band. Anyway, why do u have to post your comments twice? As for this underpowered business, you are right that it didn't hurt PS2's chances. However, PS2's success is more a function of its exceptional library of games. On the other hand, this late in the life cycle of PS2 I can clearly see the XBox making a headway due to the simple fact that games on XBox look not much different from their PC versions, which is sobering for a graphics whore (and a PS2 loyalist) like me.

  • Foregone Reality #17 7 years ago

    I heard Sony had to build a nuclear power station to power the prototype CPU alone!

  • Dire #18 7 years ago

    well that is certainly more powerful than when sony declared that the ps2 emotion chip could power a ballistic missile

  • BEAR-ONE #19 7 years ago

    Quoting Dire: " well that is certainly more powerful than when sony declared that the ps2 emotion chip could power a ballistic missile"

    Yes well erm... ballistic missiles have been around since the 60's, so I don't think they thought about that very much before writing it. Anyone for a vacuum tube powered ps3? LOL Ok OK that was nasty, there were a few solid state transistors around at the time hehehehe

    BEAR

  • Vin #20 7 years ago

    Looks ace.

  • Lukree #21 7 years ago

    I simply don't like it.. It doesn't feel like next-gen or cool. Even the "xbox 360" text in tray seems wrong. And the massive power button! *sigh*

    I just hope that this is a big hoax and we'll see different machine in three weeks. But at least the controllers are remote, so probably I can hide the unit behind my TV!
    Edited by 1 at 25/04/05 @ 15:46

  • Tweakmonkey #22 7 years ago

    the metal case is for a real - ie it acts as a heatsink as well as making a design statement

    Sounds dangerous!

  • Les #23 7 years ago

    Not as ugly as the current one, but still it still screams "wannabe". Americans just don't have any sense of style.

  • C13 #24 7 years ago

    "Not as ugly as the current one, but still it still screams "wannabe". Americans just don't have any sense of style."


    Anybody took a look at Japanese design then?

    I wish they made next gen consoles in Italy... oh yeah, they would look awsome - but for how long they'd work?

  • Tweakmonkey #25 7 years ago

    I'm not sure how slow people are in here, but a triple-core CPU can only have one form of game development...

    Sorry you've lost me. What are you talking about?

  • #26 7 years ago

    Guess we'll all find out when we get to LA.....what? You're not going? Really?

    LA BABYY!!!!!

  • vpin #27 7 years ago

    With all of this incredible proccesing power, yadda yadda yadda, soon to be readily available, I can only imagine what the terrorists will be using the next-gen consoles for! ^^;;

  • Lothar Hex #28 7 years ago

    Too..much...tech...talk...forcing me to...talk...like..William Shatner.

    I really don't care how powerful the consoles are, I just want some decent games for them. THEN I'll decide what to buy.

    Though the fact that I prefer the Xbox out of the current crop (owned all 3 at one point, now just Xbox and GameCube) means I'll lean more towards the Xbox 360.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/05 @ 09:23

  • Xerx3s #29 7 years ago

    Erm, ppl saying that the PS3 will outpower the XB2, well, i dont believe that. The claims they make come near a SuperCPU and thats simply not possible, not if they actually want to sell it for a price ppl can afford. And then there is the whole issue with support CPU's and such blabla. Anyway, the fact that Sony has never been able to produce a good chipset for its consoles and the fact that they delayed the launch strenghtens my ideas. You can delay games, but you dont delay consoles. You would only delay it when there is something seriously wrong with it.

    MS's claim is more realistic, considering the standard technology thats availble on the market and the price they COULD get it for. I think Sony is trying to get rid of its name as beeing underpowerd, but up till now they are empty words and the facts are against them.

    Anyway, its not raw power that matters anymore these days. Its HOW you use it. HOW do you optimise the internal databus? HOW do you optimise the load between the CPU, GPU and RAM? A lesson MS seems to have learned, judging the pattent they created (prolly for the xb2, considering that it looks like a system optimised for games).

  • redzero #30 7 years ago

    Ah finally Eurogamer reads the comments I posted in the previous article (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58739), and restates what I said :p A credit would have been nice :(

    Original comment:
    the picture from ourcolony.net that was rewarded to us for completing the last challenge:

    http://pg.photos.yahoo.com /ph/gamem8ker_colony/detail?.dir=/2293&.dnm=e8b4.jpg&.src=ph

    the picture i linked earlier:

    ht tp://img254.echo.cx/my.php?image=xbox36028ah.jpg

    (sorry for no link formatting guys, you can see I atleast tried with all the edits!)

    The first picture (reward from ourcolony.net) shows the top of an upright Xbox 360 by the looks of things, with a cosmetic "holder" over the end.
    The image at the bottom of the second picture shows a side-on version of the ourcolony.net official image, but seems to have a 40GB harddrive in place instead of the cover. There seems to be a button to pop the harddrive in and out.
    Of note in that same image is an IR port (no more dvd kits by the looks of things!) and two memory card slots. Note there is no controller ports, assuming that we may have wifi pads.
    The top image from the second link looks very much like a render. The font on the front of the memory card slot is different, for example. Either way I really like the design, however much is "rendered".
    Hope that clears a few things up :)
    Edited 2 times. Most recently by redzero at 23:39 on 23/04/2005
    Edited by 1 at 27/04/05 @ 20:12