Moving the New 360 Can Damage Disks

[More Fun To Compute]

I'm sometimes a harsh critic of Microsoft but I don't expect them to overcome the physics of centrifugal force. Quality games blog journalism there from Destructoid.

From more sensible reports it sounds like Microsoft have finally sorted out the insides of the 360 so that it is up to the quality level we expect from a reputable consumer electronics company. Good for them but they should aim for that on day one next time.

 

[joshuaayt]

I heard children play with this console every now and then. Imagine this scenario, Microsoft- quite common. A child is playing a game, using a wired controller. Maybe it ran out of batteries, and he wants to play it while it is charging, or something silly.
So, he's sitting on his bed. Uh oh! the cord is too short.
Well, he says, surely I can simply move the big noisy machine just a leetle bit closer to... to... what's that noise?
Grind, chew, broken, mommy and daddy break up due to financial difficulties resulting from child's attempt to replace the device. Typical ending to a typical story.
I'm not suggesting you spend all of your money making some revolutionary disc stabilising mechanism, but it has to be possible to find a way to allow for slight shifting.

 

[Demoliboy2]

I'm no microsoft Fan, in fact I'm mroe of a Nintendo dude, but isn't moving a console while it's on and the disk inside is moving just asking for trouble?

I mean, it's common sense i think...

 

[Arkley]

This isn't a particularly big problem and it isn't a design flaw of the XBOX360 - it's a problem with ALL high-speed disc drives. Hell, moving any kind of disc reading device while the disc is spinning is a piss poor idea and I can't imagine why you'd ever want to anyway. Aside from it being COMMON SENSE to leave a disc drive alone while it's reading a disc, the sticker on the console outright tells you not to move it, so it's not like you're going to ruin your copy of Barbie's Horse Adventure by accident unless you can't read. The 360 also tells you not to turn it off or remove the hard drive while it's saving data in case said data becomes corrupted, do you consider that a design flaw? Are you going to complain about that, too?

 

[PoliceBox63]

Why are people giving out about MS. If you move anything spinning a disc it's not going to be good for the disc. Get over it.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Hmmm apparently throwing your xbox against the wall while it is running may damage the disk and possibly the xbox. Letting your girlfriend hit your xbox with a golf club may cause failure to operate (both). Yes moving a console while it's working is a bad idea. So yes Microsoft should add labels to all new and old xboxes "Not recommended for idiots".

 

[Kross]

I'm sure most PC towers can be shaken a bit without ruining a disc

Moving a PC while it is spinning the hard drive has always been a great way to get a head crash [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_crash]. Modern laptops (mainly Macs) have motion detection that will lock/park the head if the machine is moved to avoid this (and when you shut any computer down, it parks the drive head so it isn't over the disk as well). Very few desktops have similar protections, although it's possible newer ones do.

And the above is with the hard drive, never mind a loose removable disk that's just held in with a friction clip.

Never ever move a computer (and a console is a computer) while it's reading/writing from a disk. Just don't.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

But... wait. The old one has the exact same characteristic.
I mean, here, I'm looking at it right now.
"Do not move console with disc in tray".
Yeah.
Not really an issue.

 

[molesgallus]

I ruined Halo this way, after accidentally pulling my 360 off a shelf, 4 foot in the air.

 

[bojac6]

The Wii, PS3, and some older laptops have exactly the same problem. How is this news or a bug? A PC tower would probably do the same thing. I've been rough on my 360 and bumped it while it was reading, that was fine. But to tip something 90 degrees as it's spinning? You realize that turns the disk into a gyroscope, forcing the sides to level out against the tipping force and jamming them into tray. It's physics people. It's not a design flaw at all, it's science!

 

[hansari]

[HEADING=1]FAIL, MICROSOFT. FAIL.[/HEADING]
I mean, they may have fixed the Red Ring of Death issue, but isn't this worse?
However, I suppose most people don't really move their 360s whilst it's playing a disk.

FAIL LAST SENTENCE!!! FAIL!!!!

I juggle my 360 and controllers in between loading times for levels!!! D:

How is this even remotely news?

And E3 is going on right now...what if the new motion control gimmicks was all the event had and this is all The Escapist can do to fill space?? What if t-

SKITTLES

 

[Soviet Heavy]

This is why upright consoles are a bad idea.

And the thing that bugs me most about the 360 disk drive is that there is not a tab which holds the disk in. The little tab that pops through the hole in the middle of the disk. Its stuff like that that keeps the disk from getting wrecked.

 

[scotth266]

Wow, it's almost like moving a sensitive piece of electronics that has a thin piece of plastic spinning at thousands of RPM is a bad idea or something...

Common sense is an uncommon commodity. [http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa288/Idginator/DeadpoolCommonSense.jpg]

Next up: Destructoid reveals that the new model of 360 can scratch disks if you shake it vigorously when the disk is spinning! The new 360 can also scratch disks if it is hit with a hammer, dropped down a flight of stairs, or thrown out a window! All of this uncovered by our SUPER FAIR AND BALANCED journalistic team!

 

[The Rockerfly]

Dear Escapist staff, is the new 360 quieter than the old one? I am sick of hearing a chainsaw like noise whenever I play my xbox and I was wondering if the new one was any quieter?

 

[ZephrC]

Why can't this be both an unacceptable design flaw and a consequence of using the device improperly? Actually, I suppose I technically think it's an acceptable design flaw, because it's pretty easy to not move the console while the disc is spinning, but it's still ridiculous how easily the 360 devours disks.

I mean, I know it's a dumb thing to do, but people are going to do dumb things with their video game systems. It's best to design them with that in mind, and the PS3 and Wii most definitely do not eat discs the same way 360s do when slightly tilted.

Don't get me wrong, the 360 is my favorite video game system, but it's not a particularly well engineered piece of hardware, which can be frustrating sometimes.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

This happens on the original 360. The same thing happens in all consoles, and in laptops, and probably in desktops (although moving your desktop around is far less likely..)
[HEADING=2]Don't move shit when the game is running![/HEADING]
It's a basic rule of anything with a bloody DVD/CD of some sort in, right down to CD players.

While I don't normally do this, I think that with my own and every almost identical response here, an /thread is in order.

 

[Lucane]

I'm sure most PC towers can be shaken a bit without ruining a disc

Moving a PC while it is spinning the hard drive has always been a great way to get a head crash [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_crash]. Modern laptops (mainly Macs) have motion detection that will lock/park the head if the machine is moved to avoid this (and when you shut any computer down, it parks the drive head so it isn't over the disk as well). Very few desktops have similar protections, although it's possible newer ones do.

And the above is with the hard drive, never mind a loose removable disk that's just held in with a friction clip.

Never ever move a computer (and a console is a computer) while it's reading/writing from a disk. Just don't.

I didn't mean full on Let's move it to the other end of the table move it just like let me set this book down (oops bumps the tower) can it doesn't move more than half an inch you wouldn't get a scratch deeply from something like that right? though turning a system 90 degrees is alot more than that.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Honestly, I think this is one of those "Well no fucking shit!" moments. OBVIOUSLY if you move any electronic device while there is a disk in it the disk is most likely going to get damaged. I don't think it's the player's point of view whether it's a design flaw or just common sense but rather the player's sheer stupidity.

 

[luvd1]

..... How for the love of gods is this a problem? What moron would be moving their console while it's reading? This is not a flaw. It's common sense. Why would a proper grown up sane person do such a thing? If I decided to try and get my disc out with the use of a butter knife while it's still plugged in. Its not Microsofts fault all my hairs been burnt off my flesh.

 

[Dexiro]

I'm pretty sure no other console has this problem. At least i haven't had this problem with my PS3, and as for the Wii you could probably throw that thing against a wall and still have it work perfectly!

It's not a massive problem, there isn't much of a reason to move it while it's still switched on. If it breaks the disc from just a slight nudge then it's a bit more problematic.