Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox, the Xbox 360 was conceived in early 2003. In February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsoft's Vice President J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, Washington to recruit support for the system. Also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12, 2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, a deal which was publicly announced two days later. Before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apple's Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the system's PowerPC 970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBM's Xenon processor. The cores of the Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3's Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were "hiding" their work from Sony and Toshiba, IBM's partners in developing the Cell Processor. Jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360.
when was the xbox 360 created?
what did they call it before completion?
when did planning begin?
what was the software called?
who was the president?
what about the vice president?
where was an event held?
why?
who else joined microsoft?
from where?
what was his title there?
who was going to do graphics?
when was that agreed?
how were the processors made?
what was it?
what would it eventually run on?
why?
who were they hiding the project from?
why?
who said this?
early 2003
early 2003
Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox
Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox
February 2003
 February 2003
Xenon
 Xenon
unknown
unknown
J Allard
J Allard
Bellevue, Washington
 Bellevue, Washington
to recruit support for the system
to recruit support for the system
Peter Moore
Peter Moore
Sega of America
Sega of America
president
president 
ATI
ATI
August 12, 2003
August 12, 2003
using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3's Cell Processor
using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3's Cell Processor
PPE architecture
PPE architecture
IBM's Xenon processor.
IBM's Xenon processor.
unknown
unknown
Sony and Toshiba
Sony and Toshiba
they were IBM's partners in developing the Cell Processor
 IBM's partners in developing the Cell Processor
David Shippy and Mickie Phipps
 David Shippy and Mickie Phipps