Christmas has arrived early for a few lucky gamers as Microsoft's next generation console is showing up on some doorsteps two weeks early. At least one of the early arrivals has already turned up on eBay while others have seen their consoles banned from Xbox Live until launch day on November 22.
Twitter user Moonlightswami was one of the first to post about the early arrival. He pre-ordered the console through Target and much to his surprised, it showed up 14 days ahead of schedule.
According to the user, the console takes about 15 to 20 seconds to boot up and the 500MB day-one patch was available for download. Other services like Netflix and Hulu weren't available although Moonlightswami claimed to be able to download Killer Instinct. He posted an unboxing video on YouTube that has yet to be removed by Microsoft.
Microsoft's Major Nelson addressed the issue on his blog, pointing to a system issue with a retail partner as the reason why a small number of Xbox One consoles were shipped before the street date. Major Nelson said they are pleased to see the initial response to the console but given the fact they are still putting the finishing touches on games, UI and online services in addition to confidential partner and media agreements, early consoles will be restricted from connecting to Xbox Live until closer to the launch date.
Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation 4 is set to launch this Friday - one week ahead of the Xbox One in North America.