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Around 150 US consumers were the lucky recipients of their Xbox One consoles this weekend two weeks ahead of the machine’s official launch.
Retailer Target has confirmed that due to a systems error” it shipped a small number of video game consoles prior to the street date”.
Kotaku claims to have word from a retail source that the retailer had accidentally not assigned a release date to the regular version of the Xbox One”. The error was picked up by all but one distribution centre, located on the East Coast, which then accidentally did send a batch out”.
It is believed around 150 consoles were shipped in total.
One recipient gleefully took to Twitter with a swathe of shots revealing the UI and hardware, only to quickly find that his Xbox Live account was banned – although Major Nelson was quick to quell the oncoming backlash by assuring the world that the ban would not be permanent.
Sony, always fast to capitalise on another oncoming Microsoft PR meltdown, also took to Twitter to assure users that anyone lucky enough to get a PS4 early will not suffer the same fate.
However, those hoping that they may enjoy similar luck and get hold of Microsoft’s machine early shouldn’t get too excited.
Microsoft subsequently confirmed to Kotaku that early consoles will be unable to connect to Xbox Live to download the required day one update ahead of release. Meaning their machines will be largely useless.
