Play Halo 3 early, get banned?

via Computer and Video Games


Seen the pics of those lucky shoppers who've managed to get Halo 3 early? Well don't feel too jealous as according to unconfirmed internet reports they're about to get a hefty Xbox Live ban.

According to various reports Microsoft will ban anyone found playing its shooter before the official September 26 release date next week - even if they're offline when they play it. Your Xbox will magically detect whether you've been playing it or not.

Microsoft recently dropped the ban hammer on two unlucky gamers who managed to sneak onto the Epsilon beta test, the cheeky buggers.

In an email to Next-Gen, Argos blamed an administrative error for the early sales of Halo 3, saying that it now intends to strictly honor the UK street date.

"Argos would like to make it clear that it does not endorse breaking street dates and continues to be committed to preventing pre-release sales through its stores and web site.

"However, we are aware that a genuine administrative error has resulted in a small number of cases where Halo 3 has already been sold. We are currently ensuring that there are no further sales of this product in-store until the official release date, Wednesday 26 September. We have already taken steps to ensure that Halo 3 is unavailable on the Argos web site for reservation or purchase until the correct date.

"We accept that this incident falls short of the usual high standards we aim to achieve and operate within and we will be taking steps to ensure this doesn't happen in the future."