Xbox One Can Detect if it’s Overheating and Shut Itself Down

The Xbox One can detect when the system is overheating and automatically shut itself down to prevent the console's failure. 

Microsoft's problems with the Xbox 360's overheating issues cost the company over $1 billion as a result of the red ring of death, or RROD, fiasco. 

With the Xbox One the company seems determined to prevent such technical difficulties. Speaking to Gizmodo Microsoft's general manager of console development, Leo Del Castillo, revealed the system's ability to self-shutdown.  

"One thing that we have more flexibility with the architecture of the Xbox One, is that we can dial back the power of the box considerably," said del Castillo.

"We had a little less flexibility with the 360. And so basically, if we couldn’t dissipate the heat, there wasn’t a whole lot of leverage we could pull to keep the heat from being generated, so we had a limited amount of time before it just shut down. Xbox One can actually dial it back to a lower power state, so low in fact that it can [be] in a mode that uses virtually no air flow."

It's unclear if this will happen in-game or non-game applications but del Castillo says users will be notified before the console turns off. 

The Xbox One is due for release in 21 countries this November for $499/€499/£429.