Kid takes pictures of his Dad's Xbox 360 Dev kit

[Jasoco]

Don't know if it was mentioned...

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000370050882/
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000890050892/
http://www.360hacker.net/articles/07-18-2005/first-xbox-360-seen-in-the-wild/

[gleavepaul]

I think the kid will get grounded for a weeks..

[MegaDrive20XX]

Someone's getting time out mister!! You're grounded!

[darknut101]

I bet Microsoft is pissed. Unless it IS some cheap marketing ploy. I wonder if it will cost the father his job?

[Hep038]

Yeah I bet he does not have that smile on his face anymore. I just hope is dad does not lose his job, because his kid is a dumbass.

(Of course at his age I would have done the same thing.)

[vultar]

I don't know how the game companies function, but why would the Step Father even have a 360 at his house, or anywhere where this kid could get a hold of it? I'd think that if Microsoft wanted to keep everything quite, they wouldn't allow them off site. I worked as an intern in the testing area of a manufacturing company a while back, and you couldn't get in the building without a badge, and you couldn't get anywhere inside without the right badge for the area you wanted to be in, let alone take anything out. I have trouble seeing a big company like Mircosoft being so stupid with thier sensitive material, unless that's what they wanted.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

I thought the first picture of the Dev kit was black? I think this is a ploy by Microsoft, because do you really think that there would be different color dev kits? Meh, who knows...

[jajaja]

Might be fake. I wouldnt swallow it raw. Dont see how this could hurt Microsoft if its real. Not gonna get a xbox360 anyway so it doesnt matter much to me anyway hehe.

[googlefest1]

If this is real

what an F'in dumb@ss and a A-hole for going through his step-dads stuff

my only question is why is regulatory taking units home?
all regulatory should be concerened with is paper work - inspection of the packageing and inspection of sample units making sure all required labeling is in place and inspection of assembly

[16-bit]

Guerilla Marketing

[SuperNES]

i guess that answers one question, it Is gonna be backwards compatible. but still, the kid gets to play Halo 2 on the thing and for what? worldwide fame/embarassment and probably his stepdad's job, and a grounding/whatever. smooth.

as for me, i 'm saving up to get a legit one once it comes out.

[Vroomfunkel]

Can I just say, it really doesn't look as if it would be too difficult to fake that.

On none of the pics can you actually see that the 'thing' that he has is definitely what is plugged into the TV. The X-Box 360 screen would not be too difficult to mock up.

IN short, it could be real, could be a fake, could be viral marketing. Who cares? It doesn't actually show anything verifiable, or interesting even.

Expect pics of me playing my Dreamcast 2 next week ... it'll have a copy of Shenmue in it just to 'test the backwards capabliity'. Oh, and my 'Dreamcast 2' will look remarkably like the original Dreamcast, but don't be fooled!

Vroomfunkel

[sharp]

I think it is fake, with current technology everybody can make such a picture.

Cheap dumba** seeking attention.

[GrandAmChandler]

Dude if that is real, and that was MY kid? and it cost me MY job. His Ass would be grass. You can do a lot to piss a parent off, but cost him your JOB.

Come on kid. Did you really have to post your face in the pic. Stupid people.

[Roi]

Can't find the topic at gamespot?!

[pixelsnpolygons]

Interesting.

Like others, I have some doubts. I'm going to try to mess around with Photoshop tonight and see if I can't create a similar mock-up. I know it can easily be done by a professional, that I am not - but I would like to see how close I can get.

I'm sure it is Microsoft - and I have to hand it to them, if it is - it's a great campaign.

[MegaDrive20XX]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/18/news_6129378.html

GameSpot report right there...


Okay this guy works for Mircosoft? Man they live poorly...where's the furniture??? Damn it Kenny! You suck!

[stuffedmonkey]

Stepdad: "Boy! I'm going to whup your ass!!!!!!"

Kid: "You can't do that - you're not my real dad!"

[Muscelli]

yeah, calm down... it isnt a big threat... I know, but more of a comedy I was talking to this kid when he first posted, and were talking with PMs... And he was saying how his dad was a foreign tester and stuff... Anyway, appearently this dude lives litearlly a mile away from my shore house... Should I pay him a visit? I could borrow his 360 Anyway, Gamespot emailed me threatening that if I gave away his username, then they would take legal action HAHA

Too bad I forgot his username :-( they deleted my inbox

[jezt]

Now if we had some pics of some next gen stuff in action, that would be great.

[Flack]

If that was my kid the next picture would be of the Xbox 360's pummeling ability.

"Wow, is that a nextgen bruise?"

[shopkins]

Seems like a viral marketing campaign to me, too.

[chrisbid]

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!

[Lothars]

I don't believe the picture it's nothing but a fake I think

There's no place in there that really proves it's a really picture more like a marketing campaign than anything.

[Jive3D]

Posalutely Absatively a marketing ploy!!!

[Yago]

All I know is that the loser needs a haircut.

[Cauterize]

Remember how Halo 2 was leaked just before release...
I think this is just another petty marketting scheme!

[studvicious]

Guerilla Marketing

I agree

[Damaramu]

One thing is for sure:

I would love to wipe that little bastard's smug look right off his face with a broken bottle. :evil:

[mieu_c]

yeah, calm down... it isnt a big threat... I know, but more of a comedy I was talking to this kid when he first posted, and were talking with PMs... And he was saying how his dad was a foreign tester and stuff... Anyway, appearently this dude lives litearlly a mile away from my shore house... Should I pay him a visit? I could borrow his 360 Anyway, Gamespot emailed me threatening that if I gave away his username, then they would take legal action HAHA

Too bad I forgot his username :-( they deleted my inbox

Dude.. you should sooo go to his house! Why are you even thinking otherwise?

[felix]

I take it that the shot of the crappy tv dispells the rumor that it is going to be HDTV only :)

[zmweasel]

I take it that the shot of the crappy tv dispells the rumor that it is going to be HDTV only :)

The 360 was never going to be HD-only, but all 360 games will be required to have a true-HD display mode of, at least, 720p.

-- Z.

[phreak97]

well.. it wouldnt be the first time microsoft use some internet scam for publicity, anyone heard of www.ilovebees.com ? that was a halo 2 publicity stunt afaik.

anyway, that's not what im here to say.

if the xbox360 will truely require hd, it will not sell here in australia AT ALL.. like 1% of all people own hdtv's here. and only in the past months has a tv even been released with an internal hdtv tuner. gives you an idea how non-mainstream hd is here.

i hope microsoft makes it hd only, and i hope they lose a whole 'nother billion dollars this time 'round.

[PapaStu]

well.. it wouldnt be the first time microsoft use some internet scam for publicity, anyone heard of www.ilovebees.com ? that was a halo 2 publicity stunt afaik.



So dont bring it up. This was a game (yes to a degree it was all stuff to promote Halo) but Ilovebees was about playing and solving this game. At no point did MS try to hide the fact about the game. It was quite obvious and was incredibly well done but HALO 2 wasnt stamped all over the place, because thats not what it was about. Playing with the 'AI' was. Halo 2 was already big enough without the game. Enough people knew what was up well before ilovebees popped up and continued to parade for it after ilovebees was done and gone.

Even the PAL leak of Halo 2 was most likley NOT an MS thing (Like the GTA leak which WAS a Rockstar thing). To their credit they were trying to hide the story in Halo 2 because there was some new-ness that was in it, and a pivotal story point.


The whole 360 story wiether real or not isnt going to even be remembered in another month. Wow so this kid is saying, or even MS is saying that theyve got a big power supply. OOH AAH. The dashboard is nice? MS has already said that. Any press at this point is good press, even if it was to say that the power supply could kill you from 10 feet if it fell on your head. News makes interest.

[yok-dfa]

Ofcourse it's a marketing trick. No matter how many NDA's you sign, do you really think that Microsoft would allow employees to take hardware that is still in development to their private homes for testing???

I have worked for a company where our project involved prototype hardware and even taking the stuff out of the restricted area inside our building would have been enough grounds to fire you on the spot...

[gamegirl79]

Definitely a marketing ploy, and a bad one at that. What does this tell us? That some brat got to play Halo 2 in an empty apartment with an Xbox 360. Yeah....

Is there ANY reason why I shouldn't be yawning right now?

[phreak97]

is there anything to say that's definately an xbox360? were there any empty shell display models made for e3 or anything that someone could have come accross and jammed a regular xbox inside of? or even just plugged in a regular xbox, shoved the 360 display unit in the background, and taken hold of the display controller like it's being played. the latter sounds more likely, but the former sounds cooler:P

guess it doesnt explain gamespot crapping their pants though.
another thought:
would microsoft let out a discarded shell from a rooted proto if they thought they trusted where it was going? if this kids dad did work for microsoft, what's the chances he could have got his hands on just the shell of a rooted and otherwise useless plastic shell?
probably not, but im just offering non-photoshop alternatives