Back in March 2000 Bill Gates took the stage at that year's Game Developers Conference. and unveiled the first ever Xbox prototype. It was shaped not like a box, but like the letter X, designed to demonstrate the power of the third millennium Direct X, a modified version of which the original Xbox uses.
Either way, it was great and still is, but it was worth it Microsoft $18,000 (roughly $36,000 today) to cut from a single piece of aluminum, so naturally they chose a much more affordable box-shaped ABS plastic enclosure for the retail version of the console.
If you want to just skip to the end result, you can skip to around 39:00 in the video above, but if you have time, it's worth watching the whole thing. Macho Nacho determined the exact dimensions of the real prototype by obtaining photographs and video of where it stands on display at the Microsoft Experience Center in New York. Tito and his 3D modeling friend Vesk were then able to use unusual tools, including the so-called Gaussian method, to determine precise or nearly precise dimensions.
Tito then used the 3D model Vesc quickly put together to order a custom-cut, sandblasted aluminum body designed to emulate the rough, matte sheen of the real prototype. The exterior of the case is indistinguishable from the original, and it only cost a relatively affordable $5,622.66, although that doesn't include all the components that would go inside.
Mounts were attached to the inside of the console to secure the manufacturer's original Xbox components, such as the motherboard, DVD drive, controller ports, and power supply, and then brackets were 3D printed to attach the components to the mounts inside the console.
Finally, the key but functionally useless icing on the cake: the animated Xbox logo. This was achieved using a Raspberry Pi Pico, which was programmed to instantly play an animation when booting up and continue looping until shutdown.
Honestly, the finished product is one of the most beautiful gaming devices I've ever seen in my life. Yes, it's tacky, ostentatious, objectively ugly, but at the same time it's as beautiful as if he grew up in the early 2000s playing a lot of video games.
And the best part? It works! Tito says it “operates like any other Xbox because it's a factory system repackaged in this one-of-a-kind shell,” albeit with minor enhancements like an HDMI port instead of AV, a USB-C power supply, and a modified motherboard that allows the user to load games directly from the SSD, change fan speeds, and “do a lot of other really cool stuff.”
Really pretty damn cool.
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