Xbox 360 Pictures Leaked Early

The official debut of Microsoft's next-generation system on an MTV special is only a few days away, but images of the system and its peripherals are already leaking out onto the web. Technology website Engadget has been the source of most of these photos, apparently taken during a celebrities-only party celebrating the system's launch in Los Angeles last week. The available photos confirm several things, chief among them that the system will be called the Xbox 360, which has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the industry for weeks. Another interesting implication of the photos -- which include close-up shots of the controller, an image of the system, headset, and apparent camera attachment, and a shot of the Xbox 360's remote control -- is that the controllers will be wireless, and that a separate hard drive seems to attach to the top of the vertically-aligned 360. The first official public display of the Xbox 360 will be on Thursday, May 12th, when MTV shows its special on the system at 9:30 EST. The system and select launch games will also be present at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo from May 18th-20th.