Xbox Pure was actually contaminated

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 20 September 2008 16:53

Opinion and Analysis

Xbox Pure was meant to be the name of an upcoming Xbox 360, perhaps a slimline version or a new 360 successor, but has turned out to be a fake blog posting to see which games sites would run with it. With so many rumours online, was this a fair test of a gamer site’s fact-checking skills?

Games website “Cheap Ass Gamer” (CAG) had listed a blog posting by “desz”, claiming to potentially have the details of the Xbox’s “new name”.

The posting says: “I'm not completely positive how true this is, but most of the things GilZ sends my way are true. He was correct about the new price drops, new HDMI models, new Elites, and now a picture sent to us with clearly visible text, in what appears to be either the 360's new name or the next xbox's final name. "XBOXPure" is what looks to be the final choice in this document. Take a look!”

The picture in question is a plain sheet of paper with some text claiming to be a memo from Microsoft, with handwriting making some points, while showing that “Xbox Pure” was the “final” name chosen for the new box.

As you’d imagine, with plenty of rumours flying around the Internet all the time (just think of all those supposed iPhone or iPod pics that always pop up just before a major Apple event), it’s quite natural for major games sites to pick up on a rumour that everyone else has picked up on. It's just that the Xbox Pure story turned out to be Pure BS!

Some of the sites in question have now accused CAG of losing its credibility following the stunt to see which sites would get caught up in the “trap”, but given that the original posting itself was hardly definite.

The sheet of paper looked quite fake to start with, having no official Microsoft info on it at all, while the accompanying blog text simply alluded to rumours about the Xbox Elite turning out in the past being correct.

Ultimately it was just another story and rumour to entertain the gaming set – there is never any guarantee that a rumour truly will come out and be real.

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