25 years later, the original $36,000 Xbox prototype that was shaped like an actual X has been rebuilt, and it's fully functioning

Xbox prototype rebuilt next to OG retail Xbox.

Back in March 2000, Bill Gates took the stage at that year's Game Developers Conference and unveiled the first-ever Xbox prototype. It was not shaped like a box, but instead the letter X, designed to demonstrate the third millennium power of Direct X, a modified version of which powers the original Xbox.

Anyway, it was glorious, and still is, but it cost Microsoft $18,000 (roughly $36,000 today) to cut from a solid block of aluminum, and so naturally they opted for a much more affordable and box-shaped ABS plastic case for the retail version of the console.