Console Positioning
 

After a brief chat in #xblive about the placement of consoles in either a horizontal or vertical position. I think it's discussion worthy to see what everyones opinion on this matter is.

Personally, i have had nothing but trouble with placing my consoles in the vertical position, which killed 2 of my PS2's.


Since then, i've placed all my consoles horizontally and they've all worked perfectly and I haven't experienced any DRE or any other system errors that i always got when i had a console vertically.


So what is your opinion on this subject? Do you think the placement of the console has no bearing on it's performance? Or are you a firm beliver that their is only a correct way to place a console, be it vertically or horizontally?

Discuss, away.

Both of my XBox360s (the original and its replacement from Microsoft) would constantly freeze when I left them in the upright position.

I finally put it down horizontally and it hasn't had the same problems since.

Well, if it's vertical it has the possibility of falling over. Which is bad. Hence, all of my systems remain flat on the table, horizontal.

Horizontal also works (sorta) with an NES and stacking older consoles. I'm sure for "ventilation," vertically will space them out a bit more for just more room.

Personally, I like my consoles lying flat and horizontal. I was simply never comfortable with the PS2 being vertical. My discomfort was probably completely unfounded, but being unable to see the mechanism which spins the disc and holds it in place on the PS2 did not instill confidence in having the PS2 in any position other than horizontal. Granted, it is probably something exactly like the original Playstation had, but still. My 360 sits horizontal, and I have no desire or need to stand it vertical. Plus the whole possibility of them falling over, if there is like an earthquake or something.

However, if I were to hook up and play my original Playstation, that is one console that I would sit in the standard horizontal position under no circumstances. Due to overheating and subsequently damaging my original launch PSX, I became in the habit of leaning it vertical, usually wedged between my tv and snes, or laying it horizontal, but upside down. This allowed the heat to leave through the vents located on the bottom of the console. I hear a rumor that heat tends to rise, so only having vents on the bottom seems kind of silly, in retrospect.

Initially I didn't have any problems with vertical positioning, but last night COD3 started freezing every 10 minutes or so.

From now on my 360 is horizontal. I'll report back after a week.

At the moment, my consoles look good the way they're meant to be. So:

PS2 (Slim) - Horizontal. I don't see why the hell you would even put this model vertically.
Wii - Vertically. All the text is positioned upright, so why would you turn it horizontally.

Well, now that my PS2 is older, I've gotta keep it horizontal, or I get DREs, but since the Wii is pretty much built to be put vertically, and even comes with its own stand, I'm probably going to keep it that way.

My tv is in a closet which means the various consoles are in the "VCR" compartments below, so they have to be horizontal. Except for the Wii which is sitting pretty next to the TV. I like horizontal better though--I just didn't have any more space for the Wii.

My Slim PS2 is too thin to stay upright on carpet, so it goes Horizontal by default.

The only system I can think of that makes any sense being positioned vertically in the Wii, considering it was intended to be placed that way. All of the others with vertical options just seem to have been mere afterthoughts. In other words, they just plain don't work too well vertical.

Like many others, all of my consoles are horizontal except for my Wii which is standing vertically next to the Dreamcast. I have my 360 stacked on top of my regular Xbox. Now if I get a PS3 (as soon as MGS4 comes out, unless it goes multi-platform), then I might have to make the PS2 go vertical just to fit it...or stack the PS1 on top of the PS2.

About five years ago while I was living in the crapped dorms at a tech school I would always position my PS2 in the vertical position. In all other cases I much prefer keeping all my consoles in the horizontal position. Not sure why, I guess I'm just used to looking at a console in that manner.
Though this may all change when and if I can get my hands on a Nintendo Wii. Unless of course I remember build myself a larger entertainment shelf this summer.

The only current gen console I have is the Wii which is vertical, every thing else is flat.

Supersonic: You say your 360 is on top of your Xbox. I'm curious as to how well they fit together, I remember reading a while back that the 360 was going to be designed to fit snugly on top of the Xbox, is that the case or does it just lay akwardly on top?

I have my ps3 positioned vertically since the ps3 doesn't have reading problem anymore in that position. I fond it to look better that way too XD

and it seem that it get more air in that position too so I prefer my ps3 that way ^^

Despite the convenience factor of it, I always keep my consoles flat to avoid issues with them. After the stories of scratched discs, disc read errors, and laser wear and tear, I've decided to just play it safe and lay the consoles horizontally. I just wish the top of the Xbox wasn't so oddly shaped so it was easier to put something on top of it, but I just put my old-style PS2 under it and it works well enough.

Although I don't have a PS3 or Wii yet, so I might put those in the horizontal position when I get them since they seem to handle it better than the Xbox 360 or earlier consoles would, since the slot loading mechanism is probably less likely to scratch discs than a tray loading one.

I don't trust putting the consoles vertically - I don't want to get disk read errors. Plus, I'm afraid that they might somehow get knocked over by accident and damaged. I bought my PS2 a year after it was released and it's still running fine - keeping it horizontal probably contributed to that.

Huh, I never heard of that. Maybe that's why the bottom of the 360 is curved a little. Well it looks alright to me, but that's because I really don't mind it at this point. I think maybe if my 360 was the elite version and the front wasn't curved a little, it'd probably look better.

The only way one should position a Wii is in the upright position. It looks much cooler positioned that way, though, and as someone mentioned, it was designed to stand upright.

I'd be a little worried with a PS2/PS3 standing vertically -- I've heard lots of horror stories about those stands being easy to knock over. I think I'd set a PS2/3 on it's side just for peace of mind.

The 360s, like the Wii, look better standing up because of the contour design.

Horizontally all the fucking way, seriously. Ever since the PS2's early days I've had it sitting flat and it's been fine. My PS2 is immortal, apart from the odd Memory Card 1 error, it runs great.

I had my PS2 vertically temporarily when I had a stand, but I didn't like it. Putting discs in sideways feels weird and probably more prone to scratching. My 360 (which is second hand) doesn't open if it's vertical for some reason, but it opens fine when it's flat.

Having them vertical is also inconvinent for me because my gaming rig doesn't have space for it, and it just wouldn't look right. It might save space but running discs sideways doesn't sound healthy.

I'd really like to have my 360 horizontal, but the plug coming out of the back is so huge that it won't fit on my shelf that way. After hearing all of you talk, I might see about rearranging somehow to make it fit.

When I had my old PS2 (the non-flat kind), I had to turn it vertical to have any chance of it reading PS1 and blue discs.

I've had some problems positioning my PS2 vertically before, however since I changed sides and switches to horizontal-ism, my gaming life has been much better! Without the unnecessary sensationalism, horizontal all the way.

My Wii gets put up vertical on occasions, and I have no problem with that. That little machine looks good no matter how it's positioned. :3: The PS2 is naturally not aesthetically pleasing, so its better to position it in a more flattering position. (Horizontal! Not even the blue vertical stand thing helps it's image~)

Also, I've had a bad experience with a vertical PS2 before. :( Oh the memories I try to suppress.

All of my systems are horizontal just because I have huge fears of them toppling over, especially with my shelving and how easily things in the house shake when people walk. Plus I'm forced to stack one or two things despite really hating to do that. But soon I will probably stand the Wii vertically to make room for a DVD recorder. I'm not too afraid of the Wii falling because of it's size and it will be between two other systems.

I never really had any reason to not put it horizontal. It's not something I think about.

About the only time I actually put it vertical is to see if my system still magically worked when I put it vertical, since sometimes when your system is near death, it might just read a little more when placed that way, but I never saw a difference.