GTA V pre-orders mistakenly ship early in the UK, more evidence surfaces on PC and PS4 versions of the game

Tomorrow marks the official release of Grand Theft Auto V on Xbox 360 and PS3. But someone at Amazon UK must have gotten a little over enthusiastic as pre-orders were being dispatched and delivered to customers’ doors ahead of time. It's unclear just how many gamers managed to get an early crack at the sprawling world of Los Santos, but Rockstar has confirmed it’s investigating how and why those deliveries occurred.

Whether that scales up to a full-on legal mess for those involved or not, it was certainly a nice surprise for buyers of the game. But the excitement was short-lived for some. After footage started to emerge on sites like Twitter and Instagram Microsoft reportedly began banning Xbox Live accounts of people it could identify.

Typically, having your system banned from Xbox Live means you’ll have to buy another one to access the console’s online component again. That certainly seems like a harsh penalty for legitimate paying customers who just happened to receive their copy one day in advance due to a shipping error. In fairness, though, pirated copies of the game were in the wild days earlier so it's unclear if Microsoft specifically targeted those.

We’ve reached out for an official statement on this and will update when / if we hear back.

In other GTA V news, calls for a PC version of the game might be answered in the not-too-distant future, as code from a configuration file posted on Pastebin and allegedly coming from a pirated Xbox 360 version of the game points towards PC and PS4 releases. We can’t vouch for the leak’s legitimacy but it seems to have been validated by a legal request sent to Cinema Blend asking them to remove links to the XML.

The site also mentions it’s not uncommon to see PC related code on a console release, as “most developers build games around a general code base and configure the game's specifications per platform within an single config file, as opposed to building new code or separate config files for each and every platform.”

Grand Theft Auto V is expected to smash sales records for the current generation of consoles, with some analysts predicting it could push up to 20 million copies by March of next year. Some have estimated the game's development and marketing budget at $260 million or more, right up there with big Hollywood blockbusters.

Microsoft beefs up Xbox Live's security to combat online fraud

With services being hacked left and right, Microsoft has acted on user feedback submitted in recent months byintroducing new security measures to Xbox Live. Along with unexplained "security enhancements" implemented behind the scenes during Xbox Live's spring update, the company increased notifications to accounts that may be compromised, encouraging them to update their passwords.

Microsoft has also begun sending unique codes to security phone numbers and secondary email addresses used to verify authorization for account changes and charges that don't come from a trusted device.

The company is working to reduce incentives for criminal activity such as trading stolen accounts as well as committing identity theft and credit card fraud by using legal action to have such material pulled off the Web. Individuals caught illegally buying or selling gamertags, usernames and passwords gathered from malware and phishing schemes risk criminal prosecution.

The advice has been beaten to death, but Microsoft mentioned that users should change their passwords frequently and use unique credentials for every service, noting that "password" and "12345" are still the most commonly used passwords when login data is dumped online after breaches. The company also encourages members to check their security informationregularly.

"The Internet has transformed the way we purchase goods and services and added layers of convenience to our lives. Yet, disappointingly, online fraud increasingly victimizes millions of unsuspecting consumers each year. The organized groups of criminals involved do not care about the time or expense experienced by individuals they've attacked; or the billions in currency global companies and financial institutions absorb each year from their illegal activities. In the end, all of us pay a high price for online fraud," said Xbox Live General Manager Alex Garden. "That is why our resolve at Microsoft to battle fraud and our commitment to account security is stronger than ever. I hope you’ll take a few moments to protect your account today."

Xbox.com getting Metro UI ahead of Xbox Live dashboard update

Microsoft will be making some changes to Xbox.com in the coming days in anticipation of the next Xbox 360 dashboard update. The familiar “My Xbox” section will be replaced by a forward-thinking “Social” area, complete with Metro UI styling.

Social builds on the current My Xbox by allowing you to see more detailed information regarding what your friends are doing. One new feature is called Beacons which lets you to mark games you wish to play with others on your friends list.

Your friends will see the Beacon and can decide if they also want to play the game, rather than you having to send multiple game invites or arrange playing together through traditional means. You can have up to three Beacons active at a time and you can optionally add a description to each one indicating things like what time you want to play or what game mode you are interested in.

Social will also display links to Xbox LIVE events, preview articles, new video and game releases, Gamer Spotlight and more. Quick links on the left of the Social screen show you things like how many friends are online and how many messages you have. Below your avatar are links to common tasks like redeeming codes and adding Microsoft Points.

Xbox.com users will also be able to search the Zune catalog and buy television shows and movies directly from the web browser.

A leaked internal email sent to PayPal employees in September revealed that Microsoft is planning to launch thenew Xbox dashboard on November 15, marking the 10-year anniversary of the original Xbox launch in 2001.