Speaking with Gamespot during the company’s showing at TGS, Microsoft issued a warning for prospective owners of the Xbox One: keep the console in a horizontal position. That’s according to Albert Panello, head of Xbox’s product management team, who stated that placing the company’s next-gen hardware in any other position – i.e. vertically – would risk damaging the console itself.
“We don’t support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk.” Then, he clarified that “it wouldn’t be a cooling problem, we just didn’t design the drive for vertical. Because it’s a slot loading drive, we just didn’t design it for both.”
Though the slot loading drive is present in both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, the design of the Xbox One will not allow the console to be orientated in any other way but horizontal. Previously, owners of Microsoft’s last home console, the Xbox 360, were able to insert their game disc via the console’s tray drive and therefore position their device whichever way they deemed fit.
With that said, Panello also added that approximately 80% of consumers position their Xbox 360 in a horizontal position. In terms of the Xbox One, though, Microsoft is firmly stating that the console must remain level with the floor to accommodate the device’s slot loading drive. With an international release date pegged for November 22nd, 2013, the company is likely finalising the hardware and stress testing to avoid a recurrence of the problematic launch of the Xbox 360 eight years ago.
Tell us, what do you make of Microsoft’s warning regarding the Xbox One? Do you think you’ll find the space to squeeze the next-gen hardware into your entertainment system? Or were you always planning to place the console in a horizontal position to optimise ventilation? Let us know below.
