So, my work colleague asked me “do you have an Xbox yet?” today, and while I was sure what he was asking me, I was quite unsure how to answer him. See – I wanted to correct him. I knew he was asking me if I had an Xbox One yet, as he had recently bought one and has told me a few times that he is quite enjoying it, but shortening it to simply “Xbox”? I’m not sure if that’s allowed yet.
When the Xbox came out, that was fine. It was the Xbox. Then, after the Xbox one, came the Xbox two, or to be more specific, the Xbox 360. At first people were convinced the name was too long, and didn’t exactly roll off the tongue – but eventually, when games for the original Xbox dried up and the machine itself was no longer stocked in shops, the Xbox 360 became the Xbox. Or the 360. In fact, I’d say the name 360 was more popular than simply Xbox, but they were largely interchangeable. A quick aside: Did you know that an original Xbox 360 (Xbox 360 1?) fit snugly on top of an Xbox one thanks to the curves on each machine? I think that’s the only reason I kept my original Xbox for so long.
Ok, so, if a customer came into my shop and asked for, say, the latest Need For Speed, I would ask them if they wanted it for Xbox or PlayStation, and we would both immediately understand that I didn’t mean the Xbox one (or the original Xbox if you prefer), or the PlayStation 2, or even the original PlayStation (or PlayStation 1, or PSX, or PSone). As another quick aside, can I just say that while I don’t like the controller, I do appreciate the simple and straightforward naming principles Sony have employed in naming their subsequent consoles. Microsoft’s third Xbox is named as if it was the first, and has ruined a perfectly good naming convention. When there are more than one of the things but the later things have sequentially rising numbers, then even if, at the time, the first of the things did not have a number attached to it, from the time that a second, third and/or fourth of the things appear, then the first thing has a number attached to it forever more. The first Terminator film is Terminator 1. The first Star Wars film is Star Wars 1. The first Halo game is Halo 1. The first Sonic game (Megadrive) is Sonic 1. It just makes things easier.
Calling the original Xbox the Xbox one makes sense. Calling the Xbox One the Xbox does not.
Yet.
