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Phil Spencer: Xbone name "going to stick"; though isn't the most flattering name

Just run with it guys.
Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer has weighed in on his personal stance towards the popular Xbone nickname for the Xbox One.

"At first, I guess the thing that bugged me the most is I didn't see it," said Spencer in an interview with GameSpot. "I'd been looking at the name for Xbox One for months, and I wasn't clever enough to merge them and come up with Xbone."

Spencer admits that he thinks Microsoft is going to have to endure the nickname. "But, you know, I think it's going to stick," he said. "I think we can say we don't like it as much as we want, but it's a clever use of the name. Probably not the most flattering name, but I think it's going to be there."

But does Spencer think that Microsoft should embrace the moniker? "Embrace? I think we know it's there. I don't think you'll see us running ads that say Xbone… but, yeah, it's a clever use of the name," he concluded.
Gamespot
 

Red Mage

Member
Every company should take a group of teenagers and tell them their idea for a product name. If they can come up with an unflattering nickname within ten minutes, change the name.
 

StuBurns

Banned
I don't really understand why it's happened. XBO seems like the best thing to write, and out-loud just saying 'Xbox' isn't going to confuse people, since everyone calls the current system 'the three-sixty'.
 
Ah, Microsofts own 'wiimote' or 'NGC'.

There is not much you can do really. If you get too angry at it you get seen as a "no fun here" guy...
 
The fact that he's acknowledging and kinda eh about it already kills some of the fun of the name. Why the hell didn't do that to begin with? If they had embraced it, it would have been nipped in the bud.
 

SaucyJack

Member
Every company should take a group of teenagers and tell them their idea for a product name. If they can come up with an embarrassing nickname within ten minutes, change the name.

Absolutely, expecially as everything gets market tested to death these days.

Xbone required no effort whatsoever, it was coined before the end of the reveal FFS.
 
I find it hilarious personally, but I don't really use it as slander per say I just use it as its the most effective acronym we've got so far
 
I don't really understand why it's happened. XBO seems like the best thing to write, and out-loud just saying 'Xbox' isn't going to confuse people, since everyone calls the current system 'the three-sixty'.

I think it started because people were saying the console was "x-boned". Or was it because of the COD dog thing?
 
Just when I see Xbone being used less and less they seem to talk about it in the press and it fires up again. Although I suspect this is a case of reverse psychology, "I (we) (Microsoft) aren't bothered with it any more!"
 
The first thing my wife and I did when picking baby names is to ensure that we chose a name that was bulletproof on the playground. Microsoft could be considered a neglectful parent in this regard. Props to them for stepping up and owning it though, especially since Xbone is here to stay.
 
Sorry Phil, it's the Xbox 180 now. An even less flattering nickname.
That is infinitely better than Xbone

I can't believe they missed this. Reminds me of that Simpson's episode where Homer and Marge are thinking up a name for baby Bart. Homer checks to see if it rhymes with anything bad: "Art, Cart, Dart, E-Art".
 

Fox Mulder

Member
xbone was just a shortening of an already stupid name. I'm baffled by their offended reaction to the term honestly.

They could have just laughed it off instead of publicly crying about it, which causes more people to use the term.
 
Xbox One is such a silly name to be honest, I mean couldn't pick a better one that won't confuse many people ?

Still better than Wii U though.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
But it has 'bone' in the name.

Please understand.

tumblr_mjx30qS2Or1rcaovvo1_1280.jpg
 

fertygo

Member
Time to insert it into ads pal.

"At first, I guess the thing that bugged me the most is I didn't see it," said Spencer in an interview with GameSpot. "I'd been looking at the name for Xbox One for months, and I wasn't clever enough to merge them and come up with Xbone."
This quote made me laugh.

"Fuck, why we don't see it"
 

AkuMifune

Banned
I don't really understand why it's happened. XBO seems like the best thing to write, and out-loud just saying 'Xbox' isn't going to confuse people, since everyone calls the current system 'the three-sixty'.

It was quick, clever, derisive and oddly appropriate during the time it was unveiled. Shouldn't be difficult to understand why it stuck.

But it should be difficult to imagine why Microsoft didn't see it coming a mile away. Though that's what happens when decisions are made by committee without someone with any common sense on the team.
 

szaromir

Banned
English isn't my first language, what's exactly unflattering about 'Xbone'? What are the negative connotations?
 
A boner ad would be epic.


All they have to do is run an ad that says: Xbox One. We got balance.

Then three guys in Xbox tshirts get massive erections and the ad ends.
 

Kusagari

Member
I think the main reason it stuck is because it's a great way to differentiate between the One and the actual original Xbox.

All my friends call it the Xbone now for that reason.
 

Meier

Member
I don't really understand why it's happened. XBO seems like the best thing to write, and out-loud just saying 'Xbox' isn't going to confuse people, since everyone calls the current system 'the three-sixty'.

It happened because they were boning consumers initially. It probably wouldn't have been so obvious if they hadn't initiated those policies at first.

English isn't my first language, what's exactly unflattering about 'Xbone'? What are the negative connotations?

Boning is another term for fucking. Microsoft tried to fuck consumers up the ass and consumers let them know they wouldn't take it, so they had to put their dicks away but were left with the consequences.
 

GooeyHeat

Member
Xboned by a Wii.

At least the rumors of the Wii U being called "Stream" didn't end up happening. They might as well have just called it the "Nintendo Golden Shower".
 

kiguel182

Member
At least he is honest, I think from the Microsoft side he is the one that seems more real instead of just spitting PR bullshit.

And I can see how they didn't see it coming, they had been looking at the name for so long that couldn't see it from the outside. It's normal.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I'm surprised they didn't think that was a possibility. Real humans don't say Sony Computer Entertainment's PLAYSTAITON 3 Computer Entertainment System, or the all-in-one Entertainment System from Microsoft, Xbox One. They form the most convenient short hand they can using the full name.

Riff on Xbox One...
XB1
XBO
XOne
XBone
Xbox 1
One
X1
MS1
(not including stuff like 180 that actually get into functionality)

Riff on Wii U:
Wii
Wii U
U
NWU
WU
Wu/woo
W2
Wii 2

Riff on Playstation 4:
Playstation 4
PS4
P4
Play4
PlayS4
PSX4
PS

This isn't rocket science to iterate through. And then from there you try to construct verbs, adjectives, etc and use them in different sentences. Doesn't at all surprise me that the XBone spelling caught on, given the easy pronunciation and jokes.
 

level44

Member
"I'd been looking at the name for Xbox One for months, and I wasn't clever enough to merge them and come up with Xbone."

Really? Really??

It's the first damn obviously nickname that could possible be used for the xbox one.

I cannot facepalm enough at this.
 
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