Stand Xbox One Vertically "At Your Own Risk," says Microsoft

If you've been standing your Xbox 360 vertically to help save shelf space, you might want to clear out a little room should you plan on upgrading to the Xbox One. Senior Director of Product Management and Planning at Xbox Albert Panello issued a warning to Gamespot at TGS stating not to do so because of the console's "slot loading drive"

"We don't support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk." Panelleo further clarified "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".

Both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 are capable of standing vertically despite their slot loading drives. Panello believes that this will not affect many Xbox customers though because only 20% of the users out there stand the console vertically.

"We found, interestingly enough, that 80 percent of people, believe it or not, have their Xbox [360] horizontally".

I too use my Xbox 360 horizontally after discovering that switching between horizontal and vertical scratched my games beyond repair when I first bought it. I've never looked back, and now it looks like I never have to. In the crowded space of a Japanese apartment though, those valuable inches might be what an entertainment setup needs.

Will you be experiencing problems with this? The Xbox One will be launching on November 22nd, so stay tuned.