Xbox 360 designer doesn't play games!

Jonathan Hayes, 37, the man behind the design of Microsoft's Xbox 360 is not a gamer and considers himself to be out of place in Microsoft's Xbox! Hard to believe? Read on -

jonathan hayes

Talking to Washington Post, he said 'I am not a gamer' who puts it as 'When he says that the Xbox 'doesn't look like anything you've seen before in game consoles -- not the NES, not Sega, not PlayStation,' he's really speaking of himself. He is a 37-year-old misfit, a self-described "weird, idiosyncratic guy," a hardware designer in a software company full of engineers.'

He is an alumnus of Amherst, Massachusetts which is a prestigious liberal arts college. He says his friends thought that he was a 'wacko'. He went on to get a master's in industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design where they thought he was from Brown. Many years after joining Microsoft in 1997 as a joystick, mouse, keyboard and a cell phone designer, he moved to the Xbox. He still considers himself as an outsider and likens himself to be 'sand in the oyster'.

After getting the job with Xbox, he remembers Xbox Chieftain J Allard telling him that "Gaming is not a very mature field."

He says that Allard was a bit worried as he thought that Hayes would bring too much high design and remarked; 'You know, too much philosophy'.

"At Xbox, we're loaded with people who are off the charts in their technical understanding. My job isn't to compete in that front. My job is to produce a counterweight to that", says Hayes.

Hayes now leads a global group of about two dozen designers, all across from San Francisco and Osaka, after joining Xbox in Sept 2003.

Brett Lovelady, president and founder of the San Francisco contingent, Astro Studio says that he is always on the 'overdrive with enthusiasm -a type double-A personality who's on 24/7'. She adds; "The machine's purity of line and form -- I mean, it looks like a ceramic piece - that's Jon's influence."

Now we know what the real genius behind the Xbox 360 design actually is in reality. We simply can't help but love him no matter however wacky. What do you say folks? Do write in.

Report & Image: Washington Post Thank you very much indeed!