Written by Alex Maidment (nSanity Beach)

On the 22nd September, I had a day off work. It turned out to be a lucky timed day off as it coincided with the pre-order for the Xbox Series X|S.

With pre-orders going live at 08:00am, I got various tabs prepared on my laptop the night before. I went for the Microsoft store, Game and Amazon. At 07:30, my alarm went off. 20 minutes later, after dosing for a bit, I was leant up, laptop open and prepped for the crucial moment.

07:59am, the refreshing of tabs begins. As 8am strikes, I can’t get anything to load on the Game website, Amazon hasn’t refreshed properly but Microsoft shows me a pre-order button. I click the button, things start loading but slowly. While it takes its time, I try Game. Still no luck.

Amazon shows some stock, but just as I go to add to basket, the Microsoft store pulls through. I’m at the basket stage and moving to checkout. Some agonising minutes later, I’m on the confirmation page.

08:10am, I get an email from Microsoft confirming my order with an estimated delivery date of November 10th. I’m thrilled but also full of anxiety that my order could be cancelled any minute.

Weeks pass, nothing happens.

October 30th – 11 days to go, things start to happen. There are murmurs on Reddit of people getting pending charges and their order status changes. Nothing happens on mine.

A nerve racking few days of people on Reddit talking about how their orders are being charged and even shipped – some people even getting their consoles a week early. I anxiously wait for something with my order to go wrong. Then it happens. A charge on my bank and a day later, a shipping notification and tracking number. I’m relieved, excited and now just want to try out the new console!

Unfortunately, the day of release, I have work. But that’s okay, the console is here with me now.

It arrived at 1:46pm and I spent my lunch break setting it up. It was an exciting moment, the thrill that only kids at Christmas get when they run down in the morning and see presents under the tree.

Now the installation process… I’ll update soon with more information on this beautiful new console, but for now, I’m going to see what it can do!