According to Microsoft, the Xbox One should not fall foul of the same problems as its predecessor the Xbox 360, which became notorious for the dreaded Red Ring of Death early in its lifecycle.
Speaking to Gizmodo, Microsoft’s General Manager of Console Development, Loe del Castillo revealed that the Xbox One is able to monitor the temprature that it’s running at and adjust its cooling accordingly.
“The way we designed the box, we don’t actually intend it to ever have to go to maximum speed under normal environmental conditions,” Castillo explained. “But there is overhead. So we’ll allow the fan to go all the way up to its maximum speed and if that solves the condition without the user having to do anything.”
Castillo goes on to confirm that the Xbox One can also adjust its power consumption. “Xbox One can actually dial it back to a lower power state, so low in fact that it can [operate] in a mode that uses virtually no air flow.”
The fact that the Xbox One seems to include failsafes to prevent hardware faliure will be welcomed by those who have had to endure hardware misfunctions in the current generation.
Let’s just hope that the reality matches the situation Microsoft are describing.
A console that doesn’t break would seem to be the minimum for a console which is struggling to gain the trust of gamers.