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What has become a series of PR blunders leading up to the Launch of Xbox One, You might think you were reading an article from the Onion when Microsoft warned its potential customers to stand the console up vertically at your own risk because it may cause damage. Um, what? Something that became a fad last gen for all consoles is apparently not recommended for what Microsoft touted as the future of entertainment media. Here is the direct quote from Albert Panello, senior director of product management and planning at Xbox: He went on to say that 80% of 360 owners do indeed have their console in the vertical position. Its also worth noting that Wii, PS3 and PS4 have slot loading drives and they stand on their side with no problem. If you google image search Xbox One you'll be hard pressed to find an image of the console on its side that's not a Photoshopped sized comparison chart. It will be interesting to see what happens when people have their X1's stacked on its side... Will MS run a PR campaign? Will they put a sticker on the console with a warning? Time will tell. One has to wonder if this was a last minute discovery during testing that will be fixed on future models. For more detail on this check out gamespots' article: http://uk.gamespot.com/tgs/microsoft-on-xbox-one-vertical-orientation-do-it-at-your-own-risk-6414731/

Microsoft announced today that Xbox One will release November 22nd, the same day Xbox 360 released eight years ago and exactly one week after the PS4 launches. http://kotaku.com/the-xbox-one-comes-out-on-november-22-1250743149 http://news.xbox.com/2013/09/xbox-one-launch

According to an interview posted by IGN today, Microsoft has yet again flip flopped on another one of its stances. Previously, Xbox One required Kinect to be on at all times for the console to function. This is no longer the case according to Marc Whitten of Microsoft: One has to wonder if preorder numbers are the reasoning for this circus. Since June, Microsoft has taken off its DRM along with a slew of features, added some of the features back, overclocked the GPU, and now this. How does this effect developers? Especially ones that have coded their game confident that Kinect would be on at all times. This has to cause some headache, and its unclear if MS will ask them to make changes to their games near the end of development cycles. This definitely has the potential to get ugly after consoles launch. The first game that requires Kinect to play could cause the blame game between devs and MS. In the midst of walking back for irate gaming, its possible that Microsoft could also cause a strain on his developer relationships early on. Sources http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/05/ask-microsoft-anything-about-xbox-one http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909

Microsoft seemingly squandered its chance to redeem itself at E3, and afterwards they only continued to shove their foot deeper down their own throat. Will 24 hour check-in render games useless at the end of new generation? http://kotaku.com/microsoft-we-wont-render-your-xbox-one-games-unplayab-513602148 "No one wants to buy a $60 Xbox One game to discover they just had it for a 10-year rental." Microsoft dodges the "region free" question. http://kotaku.com/microsoft-cant-tell-us-if-the-xbox-one-is-region-free-513494440 "For reference, the PS3 was completely region-free. The PS4 is as well. The PS3 even allowed different international accounts on the one system.The Xbox 360 wasn't locked at the hardware level, but some publishers chose to implement their own region blocks." Xbox One's reputation system isn't troll proof. http://kotaku.com/xbox-ones-reputation-system-sounds-crazy-but-it-just-m-513480515 "Each Xbox One game with an online component can include the ability to recognize griefing behaviors and react to them accordingly. Even if no one reports you for flagrant team killing or purposefully driving the wrong way in Forza, the games will know you've been naughty, and you could get dinged for it.There's potential there for hiccups and exploitation, but there's real potential here. It may strip players of their "right" to freely act like an obnoxious asshole online, but I'm willing to take the hit for the good of Xbox Live society." Microsoft fails to sell possible positives for "Always Online"? http://kotaku.com/a-slightly-more-convincing-reason-for-the-xbox-ones-fo-513295925 "Those worlds can live on in between game sessions", he adds, drawing a line under games that would make this an extra and those where it's part of the game itself, the world updating every day. "If one player drops out, that world will continue on and can experience the effects of time, like wear from weather damage, so that when a player comes back into the universe it's actually a slightly evolved place in the same way that our real world evolves a little bit from the time we go to sleep to the time we wake up. Game developers have given us incredibly positive feedback on the crazy different ways that they can use this incredible new cloud power resource." Microsoft tells customers to buy a 360 if they don't want to check in online. http://kotaku.com/cant-get-an-xbox-one-online-buy-an-xbox-360-512742247 "The 360 ecosystem is a great ecosystem for somebody that's in a purely disconnected state for long periods of time. We have built a natively connected device with Xbox One and we think the experiences are moving in that direction."