GristyMcFisty, Quakester2000 and JJDanger51 all reported to us that according to reports, the eagerly awaited "Halo 2" Xbox game has been released yesterday, but not via the official channels. Four weeks before its official release a pirated copy of the French PAL version of the Halo 2 game can be found on various warez sites.
It's most likely that the game was stolen from a European manufacturing plant, used to press Xbox game discs. As you can imagine, Microsoft is not happy with this and they threaten with severe penalties against anyone who downloads a pirated Halo 2 copy off the Internet:
| "We consider downloading this code, or making it available for others to download, as theft," the company said in a statement. "We are currently investigating the source of this leak with the appropriate authorities. Microsoft takes the integrity of its intellectual property extremely seriously, and we are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act." The original "Halo"--created by Microsoft acquisition Bungie Studios--has been by far the biggest-selling title for the company's Xbox video game console. The sequel to the shooting game is one of the most anticipated game releases of the year and is expected to help cement customer loyalty to the Xbox as Microsoft prepares a new version of the game machine. Microsoft announced earlier this week that "Halo 2" had "gone gold," meaning the final code was ready to ship to disc manufacturers in advance of the game's scheduled Nov. 9 release. Microsoft representatives said the emergence of a pirated copy would not change the release date. |
Source: PC Pro
