Xbox One X Name is Infinite Face Palm Levels of Dumb

At Microsoft's E3 press conference on Sunday, the Xbox Scorpio, now know as the Xbox One X received a lot of attention. Touted as the most powerful console ever, the Xbox One X, which is yet another Xbox One upgraded system sports 4K gaming at 60fps at a price of $500. On top of being insanely powerful, it also has one of the stupidest names in the history of game consoles.

Say what you will about Sony's unoriginal names for their consoles but at least when they release a new home system, there is no doubt as to what the thing is. The PS2 was the successor to the original PS as the PS4 was the follow up to the PS3. Sony is very direct with system names. The name "Xbox One X" is so confusing it makes my head hurt. I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised. Microsoft has been on this dumb console name train for years, ever since the original Xbox One was unveiled in 2013. They followed it up with the Xbox One S, and now here we are with the Xbox One X.

Its as if Microsoft took a page from Nintendo (not one of their best pages), looked at the Wii U name and thought they could come up with something just as, if not more baffling and viola, the Xbox One X. I love the Wii U but no amount of love is going to blind me to the fact that that system flopped hard and one of the primary reasons was the name. Wii U was a name that left many people puzzled as to whether it was a brand new console or an add on for the original Wii. Seeing as how the Wii was Nintendo's best selling home console, it doesn't come as a surprise that Nintendo would want to replicate that success, wishing to ride off the coattails of the Wii name. Unfortunately, the name caused far more confusion than it did interest to the casual gamer and when all was said and done, the Wii U barely sold over 13 million units, making it (sales wise) Nintendo's worse console ever.

To the Xbox One X's credit, it isn't a successor to the Xbox One, but the third member in the Xbox One family. Still, Microsoft may have already potentially shot themselves in the foot by giving the system such a baffling name. For all the power under that compact hood, $500 isn't too bad, but that's still $500 for a system that's core function is to play prettier games. This may come as a shock to those that absolutely must have the most shinny, ultra gaming experience, but not everybody cares about super flash games. It certainly is nice that there will be a console out later this year that caters to that crowd, but the Xbox One X isn't gonna be for everyone and I'm not just talking about those that don't want to cough up 500 bones.