The Xbox One is set to appear on store shelves on Nov. 22, but some lucky customers who pre-ordered the console from Target managed to get their consoles early due to an error on the retailer's end. Target confirmed the news through an official statement provided to Kotaku, explaining the cause of the pre-order error.
"Due to a systems error, Target shipped a small number of video game consoles prior to the street date. The vast majority of video game preorders are slated to arrive on the street date," Target wrote.
Initial reports indicated that some fans got the console early, and, of course, some of those people took to the Internet to brag. One fan unboxed the console on Twitter, while another put the console on eBay before both the fans got a stern warning from Microsoft to cease and desist, with the Twitter fan getting temporarily banned from Xbox One for his flurry of leaks about the console. It is unknown how many users got their consoles early from Target, but it looks as though it was only a lucky few.
Based on these first impressions of the Xbox One, it looks like gamers are able to access the console's day one update along with setting up their Gamertag and other information on the console. If users also ordered a game, it also came with the console, and is playable, though it is unclear if players can use the game online yet. However, players can apparently access Xbox Live and check out different games on the console, but cannot buy them digitally.
According to Kotaku, a source within Target claimed that Target made the mistake of not assigning a release date on the regular Xbox One, causing the company to ship them out to users once they received their shipments of the console. The Day One edition of the console was assigned a release date, hence that version of the Xbox One was not sent out to customers. While some distribution centers caught and fixed this error, it looks as though at least one did not. Target has yet to comment on the validity of this explanation for the early Xbox Ones.
Look out for more Xbox One news right here as the console gets prepared for its Nov. 22 release date.