We're all familiar with the etymology behind "Xbox"—it's a truncation of "DirectX Box." But, as one of the console's creators told Edge, Microsoft lawyers at first weren't too sure of "Xbox" for some reason, and the alternatives favored by the suits were all hideous.

Seamus Blackley, formerly of Looking Glass and one of the key men involved in Microsoft's original Xbox project, has quit his job at a talent agency and will be coming back to the games business.