If you’re planning on getting Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One console, you should probably clear out some space in your entertainment center — only make sure it is a horizontal space.
Microsoft engineers did not build the Xbox One (due out Nov. 22 in North America) to work standing vertically, and the company recommends that you keep it laying flat.
“We don’t support vertical orientation,” Xbox senior director of product management Albert Panello told GameSpot in an interview. “Do it at your own risk.”
Microsoft’s Xbox 360, of course, works while on its side or while standing up, but the majority of gamers actually prefer one orientation over the other. Panello revealed that only 20 percent have their Xbox 360s standing up.
The issue is the Xbox One’s new disc drive.
“It wouldn’t be a cooling problem,” said Panello. “We just didn’t design the drive for vertical. Because it’s a slot-loading drive, we just didn’t design it for both.”
Well, gamers, now 20 percent of you (including me) have something to beg Microsoft to include in the inevitable Xbox One slim revision a few years from now.