RUMOR: Is The Next Xbox’s Public Code Name “Durango”?

By Eric L. Patterson, Executive Editor
Posted on February 15, 2012 AT 06:35pm

THE BUZZ: No, it isn’t another rumor about the specs of the next Xbox console—it’s a rumor about its nickname!

EGM’s TAKE: According to Kotaku, the site has heard from “multiple sources” that Microsoft’s next console currently has the codename Durango.

Durango, a state in Mexico, certainly wouldn’t be the first time the company has used location names as codenames for products. Kinect was originally referred to as Natal (a city in Brazil), and other famous Microsoft codenames include Longhorn (a city in Texas) and Mojave (both used for Windows Vista), Blackcomb and Vienna (both used for Windows 7), and Alexandria (used for the Zune Marketplace).

Of course, there’s no reason to expect that Durango—if that even is the codename for the next Xbox—would be what the system would be called once finished. Looking back across the history of gaming platforms, there have been plenty of famous codenames: Examples such as Project Reality (N64), Katana (Dreamcast), Dolphin (GameCube), Nitro (NDS), and Revolution (Wii).

Source: Kotaku

Eric L. Patterson got his start via self-publishing game-related fanzines in junior high, and now has one goal in life: making sure EGM has as much coverage of niche Japanese games as he can convince them to fit in. Eric’s also active in the gaming community on a personal level, being an outspoken voice on topics such as equality in gaming and consumer rights. Stalk him on Twitter: @pikoeri. Meet the rest of the crew.