Xbox One designed to be left switched on for ten years – report

Forget ‘always on’ meaning always connected to the internet – the Xbox One is designed to be, literally, always turned on.

In fact, a new report suggests that Microsoft’s No.1 priority when designing the machine was to create something with complete reliability that could be left switched on for the entirety of its ten-year lifecycle.

Furthermore, Eurogamer reports that Microsoft deemed that the console must be near-silent, too, so as to earn its place in the living room. This, it is said, is the reason behind the machine’s girth – heart dissipation is essential.

Heat, of course, was the heartless killer of early Xbox 360 machines.

So notorious was the Red Ring of Death that it still haunts Microsoft today (not least because of the $1m bill it footed as a result) and has shaped the company’s desire to produce a super-reliable console this time around.

Development sources have confirmed that early versions of Xbox One are very quiet indeed except when under the most strenuous of loads. This will be very welcome if you remember the noise generated by the earliest versions of both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The site adds that Microsoft will use Gamescom to get across the benefits offered by being able to resume a game instantly from the moment you left it – some within the company felt this message has not yet been sufficiently conveyed.