Names Microsoft Almost called the Xbox One

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A list of potential acronym-based names pitched for the original Xbox have been revealed for the first time.

In an interview with Edge, Seamus Blackley has revealed a long list of names that were floated to him and the rest of the console's launch team.
"First, there were our code names, which were WEP – ‘Windows Entertainment Project’ – designed to make Microsoft executives comfortable," he revealed. "Midway – ‘Midway between a PC and a console or ‘Battle of Midway’ – you decide – and DirectX Box, which was shortened to xbox in email very early on.

Phase four was a battle between us and the naming guys, when we decided we just wanted to risk it and go with Xbox.

"When we got the first approval, Kevin [Bachus] was told we had to get a new name, because ‘xbox’ wasn’t legally sound, so against his judgment he did so, and got the phase two, or ‘car’ names. These were so bad we didn’t even save them, but I remember making fun of one of them by calling it the ‘Microsoft Bunduss’. Then we got the ‘acronym’ phase from the naming geniuses.

"Phase four was a battle between us and the naming guys, when we decided we just wanted to risk it and go with Xbox – since that’s what everyone called it anyway – and they wanted, for some unknowable reason, to call it ‘11-X’ or ‘Eleven-X’. Finally, we told them no, but still had to decide: X-Box, xBox, XboX, Xbox, X-box…"

The complete list of suggested names are below and it's safe to say we think Blackley made the right call...

• MAX (Microsoft Action Experience)
• AIO (All In One)
• MIND (Microsoft Interactive Network Device)
• FACE (Full Action Center)
• MITH (Microsoft Interactive Theatre)
• XON (Experience Optimised Network)
• MVPC (Microsoft Virtual Play Center)
• TAC (Total Action Center – discs/games could be called TACs)
• MARC (Microsoft Action Reality Center)
• LEX (Live Entertainment Experience)
• M-PAC (Microsoft Play and Action Center)
• RPM (Real Performance Machine)
• MOX (Microsoft Optimal Experience)
• E2 (Extreme Experience)
• MTG (Microsoft Total Gaming)
• VIP (Virtual Interactive Player)
• PTP or P2P (Powered To Play)
• VIC (Virtual Interactive Center – disks/games could be called VICs)
• MARZ (Microsoft Active Reality Zone)
• TSO (Three, Six, Zero)
• EHQ (Entertainment Headquarters)
• O2 (Optimal Ozone or Optical Odyssey)
• MIC (Microsoft Interactive Center)
• R&R (Reality and Revolution)
• MEA (Microsoft Entertainment Activator)
• AMP (Active Microsoft Player)
• VPS (Virtual Play System)
• MAP (Microsoft Action Play)
• MEGA (Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Attendant or Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Assembly)
• CPG (CyberPlayGround)
• VERV (Virtual Entertainment & Reality Venture)
• OM (Odyssey of the Mind)
• P2 (PowerPlay)
• IS1 (Interactive System In One)
• MET (Microsoft Entertainment Technology or Microsoft Entertainment Theatre)

Some of these are straight up ridiculous. Some would have just made us all laugh and really make fun of Microsoft. People are a creature of habit and what everyone knows it as is Xbox so they did the right thing by keeping it the same!

-Chris Taylor