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It might be just me, but I can really see some striking similarities between the design of the new Xbox 360, and the older style Dell GX220. I’m suprised someone else hasn’t noticed this, but I can’t find anything.
After much searching, I came across this:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002276090_xboxdesign16.html
Obviously to attract to the big Japanese Market, they would have to go away from the big black box...
Quote:
The goal sounded simple enough, but it was something Microsoft had failed at before. The company has sold only 1.7 million original Xbox consoles in Japan, where gamers deplored the system as too brash and bulky.
Design can play as big a role as technology in consumer electronics these days, particularly when everything else about a product is standardized. Telephones pretty much work the same, for example, but are set apart by the way they look. Microsoft knew that if the Xbox 360 was to be seen as on par technology-wise with other next-generation consoles, its appearance would matter too.
Quote:
The Xbox team cast a wide net at first, bringing on a dozen firms two years ago to brainstorm ideas. Armed with an array of concepts, the team made several trips  to Japan, Europe and the United States  to see what people liked.
Patterns arose in the responses. People wanted a softer look than the original console. They wanted Microsoft to tone down the logo. They loved the use of chrome as an accent color.
I think maybe with the white and chrome thay wanted more of a feminie appeal, although thay say they always want to appeal to non-gamers; it never really succeeds, unless with something like the GameBoy Micro in Japan or DS Lite, which looked more like a fasion accessory.
Microsoft Described this as a "Mild Look"
Quote:
The original Xbox was certainly on the wild end of the spectrum. And, with its complex geometry and lines, it was architectural as well. Should its successor have the same look?
The executives talked about vehicles as a point of comparison. A Hummer had the same wild, architectural sense as the Xbox. On the mild, organic end was the Porsche 911, which had a well-evolved and distilled feel. That's the look the group eventually settled on.
Apple Computer's iPod is mild, executives said. Mild will still look fresh five years from now. Wild and aggressive will seem dated.
Microsoft would go through 30 color combinations before settling on four: three variations of gray and a white with slight green undertones.
The original Xbox was meant to make a much more aggressive, graphic statement, versus the more elegant statement the new design makes," said Bill Cesaroni, president of a Cesaroni Design Associates in Glenview, Ill. " I have no way of knowing what turned off the Japanese; however, I guess that this new design language is alot more successful
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and yeh it does look very similar to the 360.
