Rough Draft
The Xbox One
Justus Akalonu
ENG 21007
Professor Alikhani
I.Technical Poem…………………………………………………………….3
II.Introduction……………………………………………………………….4
III.Naming of Parts………………………………………………………….4-5
IV.Description of Parts………………………………………………………5-7
V.Conclusion……………………………………………………………….7-8
VI.References………………………………………………………………..8
The Xbox One
Countless Emotions
When I’m on my Xbox One
All kinds of emotions are brought out.
There’s happiness when you win a game of Call of Duty with a 30 to 1 kill-death ratio
And Sadness when you lose with a 6 to 28 ratio.
There’s frustration when all your teammates suck
Yet they insist on giving you useless tips.
There’s anxiety when your palms are sweaty playing in a close game of basketball
And controller-breaking rage when you lose by 1 point at the very end.
There’s loneliness when all your squadmates are already dead in a Fortnite match
And boldness when you decide to take on the other squads solo.
There’s fatigue when you’ve been playing all night to hit the highest level in a game
And disappointment when you realize the reward ain’t that special,
And then there’s emptiness when you realize you have 4 midterms the next day
In which you didn’t study for because of a lackluster reward.
At that moment, all the anxiety, depression and frustration mixes up in your brain
And finally, transforms into neutrality when you say to yourself,
‘I’ll just take the L.’
- Introduction
The Xbox One is Microsoft’s third gaming system, which released on November 22, 2013. Since then, over 10 million copies of the device have been sold. Its price started at $500, just like its rival system the Playstation 4, but now you can get one for $200. The Xbox One allows you to play a wide variety of games by yourself or with friends, stream your gaming online for others to see, use a bunch of social apps and even watch TV. I was gifted my Xbox One on Christmas of 2014, and I haven’t stopped playing it since. While there are thousands of games to play of numerous genres, I enjoy playing sports games like NBA 2K, and shooting games like Call of Duty Black Ops. They are the best for me and all my friends play them as well, so we all have a good time playing together. There are too many complex things that go into the making of the system, so I’ll be focusing on explaining its outer design.
III. Naming of Parts
Starting with the basics, the Xbox One has a rectangular prism shape, as does other devices like the PS4, cable boxes and radios. According to ‘Xbox One Review’, its exact dimensions are 13.1 by 10.5 by 3.25 inches, which makes the PS4(10.8 x 12 x 2.08 in.) look quite small in comparison (Smith, 2013). The console mainly comes in the colors black and white, however some special edition systems are multi-colored. Smith says the console weighs 7 pounds, so it’s almost the same as the average weight of a newborn baby (2013). As for the parts of the outer design, the first thing you’ll see is a touchscreen power button on the front side. It is the shape of the Xbox logo, which makes alot of sense. Also, on the front side you have a very small eject button and a very thin disc tray. To put it in perspective, the disc tray has a width similar to a pencil and the eject button is nearly as big as a dime. On multiple sides of the rectangle prism, including the top and side faces, there are vents that take up about half the surfaces. The rest of the system’s surfaces have either a shiny glass material like TV screens, or a regular matte material. Finally, we have the back side of the console, which has multiple connecting ports, along with a small vent. There are 10 ports in total, as stated in “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console”, which include:
The power port, HDMI In, HDMI Out, 2 USB 3.0, Ethernet, Kinect Sensor, S/PDIF Connector, IR port and the Lock port. Therefore, all of these parts are what make up the Xbox One’s sleek outer design.

Figure 1. Fredrickson, E. (3.20.14). Shows the front of the Xbox One with the power button and the disc tray.

Figure 2. Stevens, T. (5.21.13). Shows the vents on multiple sides of the system.
- Description of Parts
To go into detail, we’ll start with the front side again. The power button’s purpose is exactly what it sounds like: To power on the Xbox. Once the Xbox logo shaped button is pressed, it will light up in a white color, which indicates that the system is on. The disc tray, to put it simply, eats your game discs. You insert the disc into the slit in the tray, and it gets sucked in, which allows the Xbox to process the game, and then you can play it. The eject button is for when you want to switch games. When you press it, the disc tray spits it out as if it were rotten milk. Then, you give the tray a different game to swallow up so you can play that one. Moving on to the top and side faces, you have the vents, which allow the Xbox to breathe. All living organisms need to breathe to survive, and the Xbox is no different. Without ventilation the console may overheat, or in other words, get a fever. If that happens, the system will get sick, and when it gets sick it may not operate as efficiently, just like us when we aren’t feeling well. Lastly, we have the back of the Xbox where all the ports reside.

Figure 3: “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console” Shows all the ports on the back of the console.
The first one is the power port. You take one end of the power plug and connect it with the port, and the other end goes into an outlet. Once that happens, all you need to is press the power button and the system will turn on. The 2nd is the HDMI Out. This is what allows your games to be displayed, since one end of an HDMI cable goes into the port and the other into your TV. HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, so you’ll need an HD TV to play your Xbox One. The 3rd is your S/PDIF Connector. Basically, this port lets you connect your console to any sound system like a speaker or radio, for when you want everyone in the house to hear what you’re playing (Get to know). Coming in 4th is HDMI In, which serves the same purpose as the HDMI Out. It connects your system and your TV so that you can play games on the TV or just watch TV through your Xbox One. Next, the 5th and 6th ports are both USB 3.0’s. We’ve all used USB’s for our laptops and computers so we know their uses. For the Xbox, you can use the USB to charge your controller, and connect any wired accessories (Get to know). The 7th port is the Kinect port, which is to connect that specific device for the console. The Kinect basically makes things more convenient, since you can give your Xbox voice commands, similar to Apple’s Siri. After that, the 8th port is the IR out, and IR stands for infrared. This port allows your Xbox to communicate with other compatible devices, like a TV or TV remote, using infrared signals. The 2nd to last port is the ethernet port, which basically gives networking access. You can connect your ethernet cable from your router to your Xbox for better internet connection, which will help your games run as smoothly as possible. The 10th and last port is the lock port. With this, you can connect a laptop lock to the Xbox, which keeps it nice and safe (Get to know). This is a very good way to prevent your laptop from getting stolen. To conclude, each part of the system’s outer design is unique and makes it much more useful than any regular gaming console.
- Conclusion
The Xbox One was designed to satisfy the needs and wants of all gamers. You can play over thousands of games with friends, use social media apps and watch TV. It’s smooth, compact outer design with vents, ports and the disc tray allow for great gameplay experiences. However, one critique for the outer design would be to tighten or secure the HDMI ports. From my experience, there have been multiple times where the plug in that port got loose and came out. It is pretty inconvenient when this happens, so to fix this problem I would use a thicker and harder material for the ports. This way, the chances of the plugs slipping out the ports would decrease. Other than that, the workers at Microsoft did an excellent job designing the Xbox One. Hopefully one day it will surpass Playstation in sales, and become the most popular gaming console on the planet.
- References
Fredrickson, E. (3.20.14). “Expect More 1080p Games on Xbox One, According to Xbox Director.” Retrieved from https://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/03/20/expect-more-1080p-games-on-xbox-one-according-to-xbox-director/
Morehead, P. (12.3.13). “Xbox One: Buy Now, Later, Or Never?” Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2013/12/03/xbox-one-probably-better-off-waiting/#1a1cae766b2f
Smith, S. (11.19.13). “Xbox One Review.” Retrieved from https://www.tomsguide.com/us/xbox-one,review-1948.html
Stevens, T. (5.21.13). “Xbox One has non-replaceable hard drive, external storage is supported.” Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-hard-drive/
(No Author nor Date). “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console.” Retrieved from https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/console/get-to-know-console
Final Draft
The Xbox One
Justus Akalonu
ENG 21007
Professor Alikhani
I.Technical Poem…………………………………………………………….3
II.Introduction……………………………………………………………….4
III.Naming of Parts………………………………………………………….4-5
IV.Description of Parts………………………………………………………5-7
V.Conclusion……………………………………………………………….7-8
VI.References………………………………………………………………..8
The Xbox One
Countless Emotions
When I’m on my Xbox One
All kinds of emotions are brought out.
There’s happiness when you win a game of Call of Duty with a 30 to 1 kill-death ratio
And Sadness when you lose with a 6 to 28 ratio.
There’s frustration when all your teammates suck
Yet they insist on giving you useless tips.
There’s anxiety when your palms are sweaty playing in a close game of basketball
And controller-breaking rage when you lose by 1 point at the very end.
There’s loneliness when all your squadmates are already dead in a Fortnite match
And boldness when you decide to take on the other squads solo.
There’s fatigue when you’ve been playing all night to hit the highest level in a game
And disappointment when you realize the reward ain’t that special,
And then there’s emptiness when you realize you have 4 midterms the next day
In which you didn’t study for because of a lackluster reward.
At that moment, all the anxiety, depression and frustration mixes up in your brain
And finally, transforms into neutrality when you say to yourself,
‘I’ll just take the L.’
- Introduction
The Xbox One is Microsoft’s third gaming system, which released on November 22, 2013. Since then, over 10 million copies of the device have been sold. Its price started at $500, just like its rival system the Playstation 4, but now you can get one for as low as $200. The Xbox One allows you to play a wide variety of games by yourself or with friends, stream your gaming online for others to see, use a bunch of social apps and even watch TV. I was gifted my Xbox One on Christmas of 2014, and I haven’t stopped playing it since. While there are thousands of games to play of numerous genres, I enjoy playing sports games like NBA 2K, and shooting games like Call of Duty Black Ops. They are the most engaging for me and all my friends play them as well, so we all have a good time playing together. There are too many complex things that go into the making of the system, so I’ll be focusing on explaining its outer design.
III. Naming of Parts
Starting with the basics, the Xbox One has a rectangular prism shape, as does other devices like the PS4, cable boxes and radios. According to ‘Xbox One Review’, its exact dimensions are 13.1 by 10.5 by 3.25 inches, which makes the PS4(10.8 x 12 x 2.08 in.) look quite small in comparison (Smith, 2013). The console mainly comes in the colors black and white, however some special edition systems are multi-colored. Smith says the console weighs 7 pounds, so it’s almost the same as the average weight of a newborn baby (2013). Transitioning to the parts of the outer design, the first thing you’ll see is a touchscreen power button on the front side. It is the shape of the Xbox logo, which is only fitting. Also, on the front side you have a very small eject button and a very thin disc tray. To put it in perspective, the disc tray has a width similar to a pencil and the eject button is nearly as big as a dime. On multiple sides of the rectangle prism, including the top and side faces, there are vents that take up about half the surfaces. The rest of the system’s surfaces have either a shiny glass material like TV screens, or a regular matte material. Finally, we have the back side of the console, which has multiple connecting ports, along with a small vent. There are 10 ports in total, as stated in “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console”, which include:
The power port, HDMI In, HDMI Out, 2 USB 3.0, Ethernet, Kinect Sensor, S/PDIF Connector, IR port and the Lock port. Therefore, all of these parts are what make up the Xbox One’s sleek outer design.

Figure 1. Fredrickson, E. (3.20.14). Shows the front of the Xbox One with the power button and the disc tray.

Figure 2. Stevens, T. (5.21.13). Shows the vents on multiple sides of the system.
- Description of Parts
To go into detail, we’ll start with the front side again. The power button’s purpose is exactly what it sounds like: To power on the Xbox. Once the Xbox logo shaped button is pressed, it will light up in a white color, which indicates that the system is on. The disc tray, to put it simply, eats your game discs. You insert the disc into the slit in the tray, and it gets sucked in, which allows the Xbox to process the game, and then you can play it. The eject button is for when you want to switch games. When you press it, the disc tray spits it out as if it were rotten milk. Then, you give the tray a different game to swallow up so you can play that one. Moving on to the top and side faces, you have the vents, which allow the Xbox to breathe. All living organisms need to breathe to survive, and the Xbox is no different. Without ventilation the console may overheat, or in other words, get a fever. If that happens, the system will get sick, and when it gets sick it may not operate as efficiently, just like us when we aren’t feeling well. Lastly, we have the back of the Xbox where all the ports reside.

Figure 3: “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console” Shows all the ports on the back of the console.
The first one is the power port. You take one end of the power plug and connect it with the port, and the other end goes into an outlet. Once that happens, all you need to is press the power button and the system will turn on. The 2nd is the HDMI Out. This is what allows your games to be displayed, since one end of an HDMI cable goes into the port and the other into your TV. HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, so you’ll need an HD TV to play your Xbox One. The 3rd is your S/PDIF Connector. Basically, this port lets you connect your console to any sound system like a speaker or radio, for when you want everyone in the house to hear what you’re playing (Get to know). Coming in 4th is HDMI In, which serves the same purpose as the HDMI Out. It connects your system and your TV so that you can play games on the TV or just watch TV through your Xbox One. Next, the 5th and 6th ports are both USB 3.0’s. We’ve all used USB’s for our laptops and computers so we know their uses. For the Xbox, you can use the USB to charge your controller, and connect any wired accessories (Get to know). The 7th port is the Kinect port, which is to connect that specific device for the console. The Kinect basically makes things more convenient, since you can give your Xbox voice commands, similar to Apple’s Siri. After that, the 8th port is the IR out, and IR stands for infrared. This port allows your Xbox to communicate with other compatible devices, like a TV or TV remote, using infrared signals. The 2nd to last port is the ethernet port, which basically gives networking access. You can connect your ethernet cable from your router to your Xbox for better internet connection, which will help your games run as smoothly as possible. The 10th and last port is the lock port. With this, you can connect a laptop lock to the Xbox, which keeps it nice and safe (Get to know). This is a very good way to prevent your laptop from getting stolen. To conclude, each part of the system’s outer design is unique and makes it much more useful than any regular gaming console.
- Conclusion
The Xbox One was designed to satisfy the needs and wants of all gamers. You can play over thousands of games with friends, use social media apps and watch TV. It’s smooth, compact outer design with vents, ports and the disc tray allow for great gameplay experiences. However, one critique for the outer design would be to tighten or secure the HDMI ports. From my experience, there have been multiple times where the plug in that port got loose and came out. It is pretty inconvenient when this happens, so to fix this problem I would use a thicker and harder material for the ports. This way, the chances of the plugs slipping out the ports would decrease. Other than that, the workers at Microsoft did an excellent job designing the Xbox One. Hopefully one day it will surpass Playstation in sales, and become the most popular gaming console on the planet.
- References
Fredrickson, E. (3.20.14). “Expect More 1080p Games on Xbox One, According to Xbox Director.” Retrieved from https://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/03/20/expect-more-1080p-games-on-xbox-one-according-to-xbox-director/
Morehead, P. (12.3.13). “Xbox One: Buy Now, Later, Or Never?” Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2013/12/03/xbox-one-probably-better-off-waiting/#1a1cae766b2f
Smith, S. (11.19.13). “Xbox One Review.” Retrieved from https://www.tomsguide.com/us/xbox-one,review-1948.html
Stevens, T. (5.21.13). “Xbox One has non-replaceable hard drive, external storage is supported.” Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-hard-drive/
(No Author nor Date). “Get to know your Xbox One S or original Xbox One console.” Retrieved from https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/console/get-to-know-console
The Xbox One (Word document link)


