Microsoft doesn't condone vertical orientation for Xbox One

[Shawn Knight]

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Xbox One has only been shown in a horizontal orientation in press photos. That’s in contrast to the Xbox 360 which is more often than not seen standing vertically alongside a controller or Kinect. Turns out, what you are seeing isn’t just an odd coincidence – Microsoft doesn’t condone vertical orientation on the next generation console.

During a recent interview with GameSpot, Microsoft’s senior director of product management and planning at Xbox, Albert Panello, said the Xbox One should not be positioned vertically due to the fact it has a slot-loading optical drive. Doing so would be at the user’s own risk.

He clarified that the orientation decision wasn’t related to cooling but instead, the optical drive. It just wasn’t designed for both orientations, Panello said.

It’s a bit of an unusual admission, especially when you consider both the PlayStation 3 and the upcoming PlayStation 4 feature slot-loading drives and both of those machines work correctly in either orientation. Even the 360 which features a tray drive can be stood up on its end without incident.

Interestingly enough, Panello said they found that 80 percent of people have their Xbox 360 positioned horizontally. If that’s the case, it may not be as big of a deal to some as it would first appear to be.

The Xbox One is set to launch in North America on November 22 priced at $499.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/54079-microsoft-doesnt-condone-vertical-orientation-for-xbox-one.html

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

It?s a bit of an unusual admission, especially when you consider both the PlayStation 3 and the upcoming PlayStation 4 feature slot-loading drives and both of those machines work correctly in either orientation. Even the 360 which features a tray drive can be stood up on its end without incident.

It doesn't mean the XB1 won't work on it's side, it just means that MS hasn't tested it working on it's side. When you see drug commercials on TV they always say at the end that pregnant woman should not take this drug... it's not because it's dangerous (it might be, it might not be), it's because they have no idea what'll happen. They just didn't test it. Could very well be the same thing with the XB1, and considering the red ring of death issue with the 360, they probably don't want to take any chances.

And I hope this doesn't mean we'll see a response from Sony now about how the PS4 will work vertically and how great that is.

 

[Guest]

They clearly state that they actually tested it, if they didn't they wouldn't use there words:
"He clarified that the orientation decision wasn’t related to cooling but instead, the optical drive. It just wasn’t designed for both orientations, Panello said."

 

[m4a4]

Even the 360 which features a tray drive can be stood up on its end without incident.

Well... even that was risky. If it was rotated with a disc spinning, all sorts of horrible noises would be heard...
But anyways, doesn't bug me. Usually leave my consoles on the carpeted floor, and you don't want to stand it up vertically on that...

 

[Guest]

Even the 360 which features a tray drive can be stood up on its end without incident.

I dont recommend leaving a disk in the try when rotating it even if its off. I ruined Halo3 like this. All I did was rotate the Xbox to stand up. When the xbox turned on you could hear the spinner scratching the disk as the it was falling out of the try slot. Never again.

As far as this Xbox 1 goes. If microsoft recommends not using it a certain way, DONT DO IT. You couldnt even sneeze near the first gen 360s without getting the red ring of death.

 

[MrBlkfx1]

I've never understood the appeal of standing consoles vertically. But, either way, I don't see why a disc drive would operate any different. I would have to agree with the fact they're just being safe.

 

[Guest]

Here's a radical idea. Stop using disk media! Why cant we buy a special USB stick with the typical "from microsoft" logo. They can even sell it in a smaller jewel case to save money. Disks are now old school. I miss the cartridge days when you didn't have to worry about accidentally dropping the game face up and ruining your $60 investment. USB thumb drive games could solve this issue and still give players a physical device not tied to a "cloud".

 

[treeski]

Here's a radical idea. Stop using disk media! Why cant we buy a special USB stick with the typical "from microsoft" logo. They can even sell it in a smaller jewel case to save money. Disks are now old school. I miss the cartridge days when you didn't have to worry about accidentally dropping the game face up and ruining your $60 investment. USB thumb drive games could solve this issue and still give players a physical device not tied to a "cloud".

Flash memory is too unreliable and even though it's gotten relatively cheap, it's still too expensive to be used for that purpose. I love the idea of it, though...

 

[m4a4]

Here's a radical idea. Stop using disk media! Why cant we buy a special USB stick with the typical "from microsoft" logo. They can even sell it in a smaller jewel case to save money. Disks are now old school. I miss the cartridge days when you didn't have to worry about accidentally dropping the game face up and ruining your $60 investment. USB thumb drive games could solve this issue and still give players a physical device not tied to a "cloud".

The main reason is production costs. Discs are cheap. And they are more "secure" than other storage mediums. I do agree that usb drives would be easier, but I don't think we'll be seeing em soon...

 

[hahahanoobs]

I don't get why someone would want to stand their console up anyway. Getting knocked over one time could be the end of it. MS should put a big easy peel sticker on the console itself just to be sure.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Here's a radical idea. Stop using disk media! Why cant we buy a special USB stick with the typical "from microsoft" logo. They can even sell it in a smaller jewel case to save money. Disks are now old school. I miss the cartridge days when you didn't have to worry about accidentally dropping the game face up and ruining your $60 investment. USB thumb drive games could solve this issue and still give players a physical device not tied to a "cloud".

That is some crazy logic right there.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Even the 360 which features a tray drive can be stood up on its end without incident.

I dont recommend leaving a disk in the try when rotating it even if its off. I ruined Halo3 like this. All I did was rotate the Xbox to stand up. When the xbox turned on you could hear the spinner scratching the disk as the it was falling out of the try slot. Never again.

As far as this Xbox 1 goes. If microsoft recommends not using it a certain way, DONT DO IT. You couldnt even sneeze near the first gen 360s without getting the red ring of death.

Console orientation and the RROD are in no way related.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

I would say it would depend on the way the drive is built but I'm thinking this is more likely a thermal reason.

Console orientation and the RROD are in no way related.

I wouldn't say it was the cause of the RROD but it certainly didn't help.

 

[insect]

They clearly state that they actually tested it, if they didn't they wouldn't use there words:
"He clarified that the orientation decision wasn?t related to cooling but instead, the optical drive. It just wasn?t designed for both orientations, Panello said."

That's a bit of a leap. Just because he says it wasn't for cooling reasons does not mean they test the optical drive in an up-right position. It just means they might have tested the cooling in an upright position. They may not have even testing the cooling in an upright position because physics would tell us that cooling will be better in the upright position because you have a higher surface area directly to air ratio which means faster heat dissipation (which is why gaming PC towers are rarely designed to lay down).

 

[Puiu]

I've never understood the appeal of standing consoles vertically. But, either way, I don't see why a disc drive would operate any different. I would have to agree with the fact they they're just being safe.

Mostly space related. I don't have enough space near my TV to put a console horizontally unless I put it on the floor which many don't like.

 

[Burty117]

I'm sorry, how god damn hard is it to test Microsoft? All you have to do is stand it up and see if it works? If it doesn't, how about spending that extra 50p on each console to get a decent drive that does work?

It's more expensive than the competition for Christ sake! And they're genuinely going to release this thing with a cd drive of a lesser quality than that of the 360? To be fair, there are no rubber feet to make this thing stable upright, they obviously decided this, but to blame it on the cd drive? Very strange.

 

[Ranger12]

I'm sorry, how god damn hard is it to test Microsoft? All you have to do is stand it up and see if it works?

I don't believe the article says they didn't test it that way. I would figure they did test it that way, hence they recommend not to position it that way. Seeing as the xbox one is designed as a media center of sorts it logical that it would be positioned horizontally since vcr's dvd players, audio systems etc. sit horizontally almost exclusively.

 

[Camikazi]

They clearly state that they actually tested it, if they didn't they wouldn't use there words:
"He clarified that the orientation decision wasn?t related to cooling but instead, the optical drive. It just wasn?t designed for both orientations, Panello said."

That statement doesn't mean they tested it at all, it just means when they made it they had a certain orientation in mind and never tested it another way.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It's fine by me. I'm not a fan of standing devices vertically because the bottle of beer I put on it tends to be precariously balanced. Risky at best.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I've never understood the appeal of standing consoles vertically. But, either way, I don't see why a disc drive would operate any different. I would have to agree with the fact they're just being safe.

Especially with all that hardware underneath, they wouldnt want to risk it.

 

[Emexrulsier]

I used to stand my xbox up but the vibration from load a game once caused it to fall over and ruined my aerosmith disk so never again