New Xbox 360 shuts down if it gets too hot

As I reported last week, the new Xbox 360 Slim no longer suffers from the Red Ring of Death, after Microsoft chose to remove the infamous signal of hardware failure.

The new Xbox can still overheat and break down, however, so the console comes with a built-in preventative measure to prevent console death: it shuts itself down. A forum user over at NeoGAF took the shot above, after a warning flashed on his screen saying his machine wasn’t getting enough air.

Apparently, if the 360 Slim detects that it isn’t receiving suitable ventilation, the message appears before the console turns itself off. Its power light then flashes until the machine can be safely turned back on without frying itself.

Neat idea, right? Well, sort of. But then also no. I mean, we know nothing about how often this message will happen, how long we’ll have to wait before we can turn our console back on, and whether or not it’s going to appear right before you reach the checkpoint you’ve been aiming for over the last four hours.

And it does beg the question: should such measures really be required with a games console in 2010?

[NeoGAF, via Destructoid]