What did you think when Microsoft announced Xbox?

I mean what were your thoughts when Microsoft had first entered the gaming industry all the way back then? Did you think it was cool? Did you not care? Did it put a bad taste in your mouth? It's not everyday you see an entirely new original console enter the market, what did you think?

At the time, gaming wasn't something that interested me. I can't really remember what I thought, but I'm thinking I probably didn't care.

Same as gingertastic,gaming did not interest me and i was just a casual gamer,so i did not really know that there is an Xbox or even a Gamecube lol!Oh my how times have changed,now i have a 360 and a PS2 with a wii and PS3 on the way i am certainly a true gamer now!Aldo you don't really care...

i remember thinkin  'huh, guess its gonna be a PC that just plays games'.

I thought it was a bigger Gamecube. Everybody said it was going to fail before it was even released.
 
I just thought it wasn't interesting.

I thought "Fuck, Microsoft is gonna bully/buy the compitition out..." While they are kinda bullying and buying some developer rights/dlc, they weren't doing it as strong as I expected. Plus, they actually managed to make a good console so it wasn't all bad :P

I was not a big gamer at that time.  I only owned a N64 and I didn't know much about the PS2 or the Xbox, didn't even know that they were released.  But I suppose I would have gotten really excited for it, based on how I am today.  I tend to gravitate things that are new and awesome, that's why I was hyped for OnLive when it was announced and that's why I'm excited for Natal.
 
It would be impossible for another company to enter the console-making fray that has been established at this point, but I would probably get really excited for it also.

".....meh"

I thought they were going to be the next dreamcast and that no american company could come into the industry and succeed. 

I remember being really interested in it, more so than the PS2 after reading about its performance vs the PS2. 

I didn't buy one until a couple months after it released though and I never owned a PS2 because I could only afford one. I never remember thinking much about whether or not it was going to be a success or not, I just decided to buy it.

I thought it was going to be a breath of fresh air, honestly. I was 13 at the time when I found out and I was also ECSTATIC for the day that th Gamecube came out. No way did I want a year old system. (I wasn't thinking that the PS2 might have had more games... -_-) but then I looked up screenshots of Dead or Alive 3 and was totally blown away. I showed all my friends at school, and convinced about 3 others with me to buy an Xbox. We all got them and loved them, and none of ours broke, EVER. I sold mine in 2007 and apparently it still works amazingly. 
 
And this is coming from someone who had an NES when he was 2, a SNES at 5 and N64 at 8 (Of course, didn't know how to play the NES. Very vague memories of playing Dragon Warrior, not knowing how to read/battle)  
 
I wish I still had mine though, for Gunvalkyrie... 

"Going to stick to my PS2", is what I thought

" I thought they were going to be the next dreamcast and that no american company could come into the industry and succeed.  "

The first rumors were indeed that it would just be an actual PC that wasn't upgradable, and many people thought you'd install every game completely to the HDD, which of course was very small.  I remember talking to a game store clerk and arguing that the HDD size would not be enough, and he said the HDD would be easy to upgrade.  Mind you this is the original Xbox we're talking about, and neither of us thought game installs wouldn't be a feature.
 
I also thought MS would fail very badly, pointing out previous console failures.
 
By the time Halo (Xbox version) was revealed at E3, I knew I wanted an Xbox, along with a Gamecube.  I did get both on launch day, but I shamefully traded in my Gamecube for the Xbox, which is an insane thing to do.  Glad I'm over that...

I remember Malice. Do you guys remember that game? It looked amazing when they announced it and then flopped so hard when it came out.

I still remember all the rumours, saying it would play PC games and would accept a mouse and keyboard.
 
I really enjoyed my Original Xbox, Halo 2 on xbox live for DAYS.

I thought it was a big joke at the time, and it didn't help not a single launch title excited me. I remember going to gamestop to pick up my launch day Gamecube and the guys working there were making fun of the xbox because only like 2 people preordered it from them compared to the 30 or so there to get a GCN. 
 
Looking back I don't regret never buying one, as far as exclusives go I thought it had the weakest selection last gen. Most original Xbox games I wanted I have just been buying them from the online service or the physical ones that are backwards compat.

I thought nothing of it.

I didnt even acknowledge its existence for a while, honestly.

Dumbest name for anything ever.

" Dumbest name for anything ever. "

I thought the idea of microsoft building a console sounded great and bought one when it was released.  I loved it with the weird high-tech alien looking background and then xbox live came out and that was impressive, but I've moved away from xbox since the 360 started with the avatars thing and the crazy in your face dashboard full of advertisements.

"i remember thinkin  'huh, guess its gonna be a PC that just plays games'. "

I thought of The Rock, that wrestler.  Didn't he present it during some press conference or something?  Either way, the Xbox reminded me of The Rock.

I thought it was going to be a low spec gaming rig that i could plug into my tv.

" I thought the idea of microsoft building a console sounded great and bought one when it was released.  I loved it with the weird high-tech alien looking background and then xbox live came out and that was impressive, but I've moved away from xbox since the 360 started with the avatars thing and the crazy in your face dashboard full of advertisements. "

" "Going to stick to my PS2", is what I thought "

I think I thought "Good, I won't need to upgrade my PC again".  I was wrong, but I did get a lot of use out of the original Xbox, and it probably did delay my near bi-annual PC upgrade for an additional year.

I probably thought "Well I haven't ever owned any console and this new piece of shit isn't going to change that". I thought everything played and looked so much better on computers then and wasn't at all interested in buying a console of any sort. 

Honestly, I thought they were gonna fail miserably.  They showed me.

" @DOUBLESHOCK said:

" I thought the idea of microsoft building a console sounded great and bought one when it was released.  I loved it with the weird high-tech alien looking background and then xbox live came out and that was impressive, but I've moved away from xbox since the 360 started with the avatars thing and the crazy in your face dashboard full of advertisements. "

Its not like those detract from the game. "

1. who is gonna buy that?
2. Japan might stop screwing us with ridiculous high prices of their products.