As the dust settled over the newfangled Xbox One this summer , one point that kept make out up — possibly predictably — was size : The console is amazingly low-set . Just chunky enough to make you wonder whether its wide berth is n’t a soupcon at what Microsoft ’s railroad engineer were hiding in there — and what it could disclose about their intention for next generations of Xbox . We put the enquiry to Leo del Castillo , Xbox ’s General Manager of Console Development , yesterday afternoon .
Del Castillo , who joined the Xbox squad in 1999 as an electrical engineer and has worked on every cabinet since the original , manage every component of Xbox One ’s engineering . Right off the bat , we need to know whether there was any trueness to the theory that the Xbox One ’s size was part of a figure brief that would countenance it to take to the woods forten years flat .
https://gizmodo.com/how-the-xbox-one-is-designed-to-be-left-switched-on-for-986658456
“ I do n’t eff where that come from , ” del Castillo laughs . But at the same clock time , rumors like that one speck at the trueness . Xbox One is only a console in name . It ’s also Microsoft ’s first effort to make a hub for an cyberspace of Things — or , more specifically , a hub for the Internet of Home . “ It wants to hold out in the bread and butter room , ” says del Castillo . “ To some extent , it has to be kind of clandestine and slice into the background . But at the same , it has to seem and feel like an investment . ” The tenacious , black body of the console reflects this — it ’s not about do an object that will be the centerpiece of a teenager ’s bedroom , as past generations were . It ’s about pass water it quiet and unassuming enough that syndicate will invite it into the livelihood room , to potentially replace everything from their microcomputer to their Blu - ray player .
That ’s reflected in the Xbox One ’s guts , which tip at the elbow room in which Microsoft hopes consumers will use it . The console is n’t just panoptic and long because it ’s opine to look unassuming — it ’s big and savourless because of its large fan . The design squad could have specified a little fan , but small devotee make more noise to push the same amount of gentle wind — so the conclusion was made to trade a great fan for a quieter political machine . “ In parliamentary law to be a workable product , we make out it would have to be very quiet , ” del Castillo explicate . “ Because we know that users really , really care about there not being a lot of extra stochasticity when they ’re trying to keep an eye on tv set or a movie . ” If the Xbox One is quiet enough , Microsoft go for that users will give it equal footing in their living rooms ( unlike , say , the prohibitively tatty Wii U ) . It ’s not just about supporting raw gambling capableness — it ’s about supporting entirely new uses .
Image viaWired .
But even the most experient purpose and technology team ca n’t anticipate the ways in which consumers are go to in reality use a raw merchandise — which makes Xbox One a grand experiment in substance abuser experience . For exemplar , the Xbox One ’s long , flat torso invites mass to jam magazine and DVD cases on top of it — which could cause overheating . And where does the Kinect go , if it does n’t equip on the goggle box tea caddy ?
“ We ca n’t prevent misuse of the product , ” del Castillo order us , “ but we can certainly expect it . ” That ’s mostly thanks to new computer software that can accurately simulate all the ways in which the gimmick will be messed with by untested , faineant , or just plain obtuse users . The engineering team used computational fluid dynamics — which can assume the realistic passage of air through a 3D model — to figure out where the problems are become to emerge .
Everything , mightily down to the physical body of the rooter ’ blades , was optimized acoustically using this model . And when the team had develop their best guess in digital space , they were able-bodied to move seamlessly into prototyping , 3D printing mental test models on a everyday basis . accord to del Castillo , Xbox One is the first cabinet that will actually feel the temperatureand cut back on power accordingly — along with other technology fail - safe . “ In a situation where an Xbox One has compromise atmosphere menses , we can smell that and get down remedial actions like carry the devotee quicker , ” he says . “ One affair we have more flexibility with is that we can dial back the power substantially . We had a petty less flexibility with the 360 . ” harmonize to del Castillo , the Xbox one can go on such low force , it needs virtually no air travel stream .
https://gizmodo.com/the-xbox-one-can-tell-when-its-overheating-and-power-1122442616
Another technical challenge that come along with colonise the keep way ? duration of life . “ TVs do n’t come and go very apace , ” del Castillo says . “ For the most part , amusement products that you invest a tidy sum of money , you expect to incline to hang up around for a while . So , we had to project a mathematical product that has seniority . ” The tough plastic racing shell of Xbox One eschew aesthetic flourishes — like unnecessary colors and LED — for simpleness and durability . It ’s meant to be tuck away and forgotten about , and del Castillo is confident in its ability to survive for many years .
Despite all of the thought and testing that went into this console , there are still plenty of unknowns . But both in technology and design , this is the closest Xbox has amount to ushering omnipresent calculation into the sustenance way — despite yesterday’srevelationthat Kinect wo n’t be required when Xbox One ships .
https://gizmodo.com/the-xbox-one-is-worse-for-everyone-if-kinects-not-mand-1113731041
Whether or not this is the console to do that , it seems light that all Xbox consoles will build on this foundation , though very soon , the bulky black body of the Xbox one might count like a dinosaur as scheme go into the swarm and ironware becomes unnecessary . Xbox One is n’t quite there yet , but it ’s doing everything it can to imitate the “ inconspicuous ” system it wants to be . It ’s silent , it ’s aesthetically bland ( and thus unobtrusive ) and it necessitate very little from the user . At the very least , it ’s the predecessor to a system that ’s integrated into the home itself . Microsoft is lay down the road to a connected home — now we ’ll wait and see if consumers need to walk down it .
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