- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
The Following is from www.1up.com
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Halo 2 Pirated Already?
Kids these days, they don't waste any time...
By David Smith
10/14/2004
In what has become an unfortunately regular ritual with the arrival of a high-profile game, a pirated version of Halo 2 appears to have leaked onto the web. Several trackers for the Bittorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing program recently registered the availability of a three-gigabyte disc image of Bungie Software's new Xbox game, which was released to manufacturing last week, but won't see retail release until November 9.
Microsoft, of course, is not happy, and released a fairly scathing statement on the subject.
"Microsoft has learned that a version of Halo 2 has been posted to various newsgroups and websites," the statement reads. "We consider downloading this code or making it available for others to download as theft. We are currently investigating the source of this leak with the appropriate authorities. Pending the result of our investigation, we do not have further comment. Microsoft takes the integrity of it intellectual property extremely seriously, and we are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act. The launch of Halo 2 worldwide remains unaffected."
The pirate version is reportedly a copy of the French edition of the game, which likely leaked out through a manufacturing facility. The French version seems to be on a slightly quicker manufacturing timetable than other European versions -- it's scheduled to hit the market on November 10, one day before other PAL territories.
It would be unwise to play a pirated version of the game on Xbox Live at present. While some console modifications are able to hide themselves from Microsoft's online detection routines and still connect to Live, any online game set up without Microsoft's authorization before Halo 2's release would raise just a bit of a red flag (although some slow-witted pirates could be just dumb enough to try it).
Nevertheless, the knowledge that pirates are enjoying the single-player game is no doubt galling to Microsoft. We'll update further if its investigation yields any interesting results, and gamers looking to pitch in are advised to e-mail piracy@microsoft.com.
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So what do you guys think? I think it is compleatly unfair. While I think overpricing for software is bad, and thats why most software is pirated, this is compleatly different.