Pre-orders for the Xbox Series X and Series S next-gen consoles went live earlier today, with each region starting its process in turn.

Next up will be the US and, if experiences in the UK and other countries are anything to go by, potential buyers should get in early.

Stock of the Xbox Series X especially went quickly - in mere minutes, in fact. While some UK retailers, such as Game and Smyths Toys, saw their websites crash entirely.

Best games console 2020: Should you get an Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Switch? photo 14
Xbox Series X

The most powerful games console ever.

Xbox All Access, in particular has been hard to sign up for.

It's a bit better news for those after an Xbox Series S, as some stock of the cheaper of the two machines still seems to be available at some retail sites. You can check our list of retailers here.

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Xbox Series S
$275.99 $299.99 Save $24

Great for those who want to spend less for the latest games.

Whether Microsoft will add more stock later today or in the coming days is yet to be revealed. It will definitely have some available in stores on launch day - 10 November 2020 - although we're not sure how queuing will work considering the current pandemic measures.

The Xbox pre-order rush is aping the similar frenzy of last week, when PlayStation 5 pre-orders opened. Considering both brands have proved extremely popular on their respective ordering days, it's hard to say right now which is doing better.