INT: Secret bunker in Redmond, WA, in the year 2001.
Top Microsoft execs and yes-men are huddled around a conference table (very high tech, of course)
Exec 1: Exec 2, you came up with the idea to charge $50 a month for our online service. Any ideas on how we can make our next console even more profitable?
Exec 2: How about we sell advertising space all over that service, too, so our customers can pay to look at advertisements?
Yes-Men, in unison: Brilliant!
Exec 2: Also, we can charge $15 for downloadable versions of the games coming out for the current system.
Some lame exec, pointing at a whiteboard: But look up there, someone wrote "Backwards Compatible" on that "Features List."
Exec 1: Schwooooop! [erases words "Backwards Compatible"] What was that, lame ass exec?
Yes-men: Brilliant!
Exec 2: Also, to make room for all these games, we can force customers to buy first-party hard drives at more than $1 per GB.
Exec 1: Now there's some genius, people! Ok, we've got our Live! service figured out. Now we need to get a name for this revolutionary console decided. What do you guys think of "Xbox All The Way To The Bank?"
And the rest, my friends, is history.