Xbox_One

The Xbox One won’t support vertical orientation, revealed Albert Panello, senior director of product management and planning at Xbox. Speaking to GameSpot, Panello stated that though it’s not a cooling issue, “We just didn’t design the drive for vertical. Because it’s a slot loading drive, we just didn’t design it for both.”

Despite the fact that Sony’s current-gen and next-gen consoles feature slot loading drives and function in both orientations, Panello asserts that those who laugh in the face of caution and decide to run the Xbox One vertically should, “do it at your own risk.” While this could be a move to insulate Microsoft from customer complaints regarding hardware malfunction down the line – who hasn’t heard stories of someone ruining a disc by dropping their console mid-session – we hope every unit ships with a hefty disclaimer that discourages the seemingly commonplace practice.

Coincidentally, Panello touched on the lack of users who actually run their current Xbox 360 consoles in the vertical position. “We found, interestingly enough, that 80 percent of people, believe it or not, have their Xbox [360] horizontally,” he said.

The Xbox One launches November 22 in: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK and USA. The Xbox One will be available in more markets, including Japan, in 2014.

Source: GameSpot, Siliconera