Were you one of the Xbox fans that missed out on the Xbox One launch on November 22? If so, you might be at the point where you just accept that you wont get your hands on one until next year. While stock will certainly be more readily available in 2014 after the launch rush dies down, Microsoft does have a few tips on how to score an Xbox One this holiday season.

Xbox’ Major Nelson shared the following tips today on how to score your very own Xbox One before Christmas:

While all of the above are excellent ideas, the best ideas are the second and fourth. Stores like GameStop and Target can generally tell you when a new shipment of consoles are going to arrive. While they can usually give you a day, it’s hard to pinpoint a time when the trucks come wheeling in to deliver fresh stock. That’s why it’s best to take a day and stalk around your local store waiting for the shipment to arrive. If that’s not possible, you can always try to see if an employee will let you reserve one of the consoles ahead of time, but most stores are first come, first serve only.

As for the fourth point, smaller towns are an excellent source of new video game hardware. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve found a hot ticket item still in stock at a rural Wal-Mart. These stores get a few units in stock and then never sell them. You also might want to check out stores in the poorer regions of smaller towns as well. Oftentimes, these stores run into the same scenarios with stock arriving and nobody lining up to buy it.

If those options just don’t cut it for you, Major Nelson recommends that you follow sites like Xbox One Locator and Now In Stock. These sites monitor stores to let you know when stock becomes available. Major Nelson will also be alerting fans via Twitter when he’s able to find a store with Xbox One units in stock.

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[Image: Xbox Wire]