Pirates Take Halo: Reach Early From Microsoft's Servers

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As you may have seen, a few days ago some fans discovered that ‘Halo: Reach’ was listed on the Xbox Live Marketplace for $1,250. It wasn’t a glitch. The fall’s most anticipated Xbox 360 game was being early listed on the Marketplace. But, despite it’s high price, it was merely away for media outlets to acquire a copy of the game for reviews. Unfortunately for Microsoft, some pirates have gained access to the game early.

The game was listed for 99,999 Microsoft Points, roughly $1,250. According to Joystiq, even people who loaded up their Xbox Live account with over a thousand dollars worth of pretend money would be informed that they needed the 25-character code given to reviewers to get the game.

Modders/Pirates from the website Game-Tut.com found a way to get the game Halo: Reach off of the Xbox Live Marketplace without the code, and probably without paying $1,250 as well. They have yet to release the scheme to the public, but others have done it as well. Various gaming boards are filled with screenshots and spoilers of Halo: Reach content from people bragging about how they got the game.

It’s really baffling as to why Microsoft distributed the game to the reviewers in this way. Traditionally, gaming media outlets are given a debug (programming) Xbox 360 console that allows users to play unfinished or non-retail copies of a game. Microsoft offended a few people by dangling a $1,250 carrot over the Xbox community, and just opened themselves up to piracy by listing it publicly.

Something tells me that the next big Microsoft game won’t be publicly listed pre-release on Xbox Live Arcade.