One gamer gets an early Xbox One, reveals details, gets banned, then invited to a party

By Adam Rosenberg November 11, 2013

xbox one launch events nyc la — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Xbox One doesn’t launch until November 22, 2013, but an accidental early shipment by Target led to some new details being revealed by one lucky beneficiary via Twitter. The recipient André Weingarten, (under his Twitter handle @Moonlightswami – via Engadget), noted that there’s a 500MB update waiting when you fire up your console for the first time; this may or may not be the expected day one patch. He also found a handful of launch titles already stocked in Xbox Live Marketplace; their sizes range from 13GB for LocoCycle all the way up to 43GB NBA 2K14. A separately purchased disc copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts filled 39GB for its own installation.

Before Weingarten could learn much more, Microsoft banned his access to Xbox Live and had his YouTube videos of Xbox One demos pulled. Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb subsequently reached out to him – it’s not his fault that Target screwed up, after all – to explain that he wouldn’t be permabanned. The company subsequently confirmed to Kotaku that the ban isn’t permanent, while Weingarten himself revealed that he’ll be a guest of Microsoft’s at some kind of Xbox One launch event.

Here’s Microsoft’s official word on the subject of consoles received early and their ability to access online things: “We’re pleased to see the initial response to Xbox One has been so positive, but given we are still putting the finishing touches on our games, UI and online services, as well as confidential partner and media agreements, these console units will be restricted from connecting to Xbox Live until closer to our launch date.”

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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