Microsoft Explains Why The Xbox One Looks The Way It Does

There have been nothing but non-stop complaints about Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 successor, many of which we've covered numerous times already. But there's one that hasn't been touched upon too much, yet is still a source of consternation and annoyance nonetheless. And it's how the thing simply looks.

We've already chimed in on what we believe its design roots are, and now it's MS's own turn. In a rather lengthy breakdown, we discover that our assumptions were on the right track; it's indeed designed to share the "unifying language" that other MS products currently use, like Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface.

To be honest, much of it is filled with a large degree of hyperbole. While it does seem reasonable that the reason why there are so many rectangles present in the hardware is because the software uses said shapes, it also seems a tad bit reaching.

Though it also confirms our assumption that its look and feel is meant to evoke something that you'd find in a serious entertainment center and not some game room. But even further than that, it's supposed to blend together with your flatscreen TV (ithe report also mentions quite a bit that the 16:9 ratio, which is what most modern sets use, was another guideline).

Hence the "Xbox One’s use of liquid black, the blackest black creatable, as a color palette for the brand… The console and Kinect sensor are liquid black so they melt into the background when being used, allowing the content on your TV to dominate the living room."

We also discover that the One was designed by Carl Ledbette, who drove the look of the Xbox 360 S and the original Kinect. Over 100 different versions of the updated Kinect were drafted, and twice as many for the new controller.