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Microsoft's Xbox One preorders play hard to get

Amazon offered gamers one last chance to get their hands on the Day One edition of the Xbox One, but sold out within minutes.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
Watch this: Microsoft Xbox One hands-on

Gamers who were dragging their feet on preordering an Xbox One were given one more chance.

On Wednesday at 5 a.m. PT, Amazon opened the door for preorders on a limited number of Xbox One Day One Editions. Within minutes, the units sold out, leaving all of those who wanted the console to wait in line this Friday when the hardware officially launches.

Xbox One preorders have been hard to come by since Amazon and other game retailers ran out of their initial preorder allocations over the summer. Since then, some extra units have been offered, but they've been few and far between. Gamestop, Best Buy, and several other retailers are expecting the Xbox One to be a strong seller for the foreseeable future.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether the Xbox One can get off to the same fast start as the PlayStation 4. That console, which launched on November 15, tallied 1 million unit sales in its first 24 hours on store shelves. Microsoft has not said how many units it predicts it will sell in the Xbox One's early days on store shelves.