Halo 3 leaked online by the thousands

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 21st 2007 at 11:30AM }

Before the cries of "OLD" start filling the comment threads, yes, we knew that Halo 3 was leaked several days ago. We chose not to propagate the story, but it seems to be reaching critical mass now, so there's no point in ignoring it. And before you ask, no, we're not telling you how to get it. The game data, which clocks in at about 6 gigabytes, is being shared and downloaded on a number of file sharing sites. According to gamesindustry.biz, the file has already been downloaded in the thousands. Of course, the file is only playable on modded Xboxen, which means that online multiplayer will likely incur a hefty swing of the Microsoft Banhammer. Considering that multiplayer and online co-op are more or less the heart and soul of Halo 3, downloading an illegal copy seems a little on the lonely side, thrilling though it may be to put one over on The Man. At any rate, the leak is sure to be an upsetting, if not unexpected, blow to MS and Bungie.

Tags: bungie-studios, bungiestudios, hacks, halo-3, halo3, mgs, microsoft-game-studios, microsoftgamestudios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

nerrrrrrd @ Sep 21st 2007 11:37AM

this was expected.

Intentless @ Sep 21st 2007 11:38AM

One of the things I was looking for was playing without the fear of mods. Apparently that seems to be something I now do need to worry about... If they can get online with a modded box which I had heard was impossible that means they can get on with modded boxes that contain aimbots and bull... curses...

Mike @ Sep 21st 2007 11:38AM

Was it the damn French again?

Tim @ Sep 21st 2007 11:38AM

This is how my Xbox 1 was banned. I downloaded Halo 2 early, played some campaign (offline only.)

Come pre-launch day I put in Links to play around online before I go pick up my preorder, console was mysteriously banned. Didn't go online with the chip. I feel that it was the Halo curse.

This is why I didn't mod my 360. I need Live.

Titty Pink @ Sep 21st 2007 11:38AM

Well they can't kill off everyone, so some sort of sequel will have to come forth. What kills me is that people say that the leaked ending was a fake. Well if it was, why did M$ try so hard to remove all copies from Youtube? They should have leaked a fake ending, just for this purpose. I saw it, and it wasn't really epic, fairly predictable. I mean its a cash cow, they'd be dumb to kill it off so soon...

Arm @ Sep 21st 2007 11:38AM

Hear no evil, see no evil.

Tim @ Sep 21st 2007 11:39AM

Oh and I went a returned my preorder that night. It was a sad day.

NoVA @ Sep 21st 2007 11:39AM

unexpected? what? Every game leaks like this prior to street date! I had my Halo 3 mid-day Wednesday, and there is no ban in sight.

Falkinator @ Sep 21st 2007 11:40AM

The pirates will still be online. MS hasn't been banning (maybe not even detecting) those running the latest DVD firmware mods. Oh well, I can wait 3.6 days, sure would be cool if they could ban all those people.

BrianM @ Sep 21st 2007 11:40AM

Just like every other game

Tony @ Sep 21st 2007 11:41AM

Same with even games that don't get much attention. For awhile I know even Persona 3 had thousands of sharers. It's a lot more rampant than I would have normally thought.

Titty Pink @ Sep 21st 2007 11:42AM

I don't know about needing Live, especially for Halo. XB Connect had better games, and more options. For instance, if I wanted a TS game no radar with 15 people I could search for that on those terms, not being thrown into random shit just to be ranked. Plus, my buds could come over and we could all play online...together...for free. Can't beat that with a bat. If you download video and use the marketplace often, sure, but if it's just for Halo there are better options...

xenocidic @ Sep 21st 2007 11:43AM

how are they going to differentiate a modded console playing H3 online between someone who bought it from a retailer who broke the street date?

NoVA @ Sep 21st 2007 11:43AM

rampant? theres 110 people on xbox live in halo 3. Thousands downloaded? Ok, lets assume 5 thousand did. Half of them are probably morons and won't get it to work. so lets say 2500 people get this early? How many pre-ordered again? This is a minute issue, blown up because its Halo 3.

Richard Mitchell @ Sep 21st 2007 11:45AM

"unexpected? what? Every game leaks like this prior to street date! I had my Halo 3 mid-day Wednesday, and there is no ban in sight."

You might want to read the article again...

"if *not* unexpected"

TORO @ Sep 21st 2007 11:46AM

I don't care as long as there are no cheaters on Live (wishful thinking at best)

Justin W @ Sep 21st 2007 11:46AM

This was expected. I have friends with modded boxes that play online regularly. Even though they are my friends, i hope they get banned. I think alot of people that downloaded it will get banned when they try to go online.

ericdrum @ Sep 21st 2007 11:51AM

I hope they catch gonorrhea and die.

Tony @ Sep 21st 2007 11:55AM

@14 - I'm talking about strictly in terms of game piracy here. Several thousand people trying to download any random game (and not just Halo 3, regardless of how well it will sell overall -- we all know that number is going to increase when it comes out as it is) is pretty damn "rampant". I mean, take this number and multiply it by all the other games out there. It's a lot and probably a lot more than the average person realizes, in addition to the traditional channels of just selling back-ups at stands and seedy stores.

That's what's "rampant" about. Beyond which, I somehow doubt the "I couldn't get it to work!!!" argument is going to hold up in any court if someone was charged with pirating copyrighted material.

NoVA @ Sep 21st 2007 12:08PM

"You might want to read the article again..."
If not unexpected...this implies it was most likely not expected, but assuredly a blow.

Sam @ Sep 21st 2007 12:08PM

Argos in the UK broke the street date by mistake a week ago (I think you guys even had a news story about it).

A pirated copy appearing on the web was 90% guaranteed, even without a big mistake like that. With a mistake like that...its 100% sure.

And people have been playing pirated games online for nearly a year now without being banned or detected.

Sorry guys, its just the way it is.

Golfa @ Sep 21st 2007 12:12PM

who is that big of a loser they can't wait until the release? And who would want to screw Bungie out of some profits after the put countless development hours into what promises to be one of the best video games ever. We should be doing nothing but supporting them.

These people are idiots who have no lives and should be banned quickly.

James McPhail @ Sep 21st 2007 12:17PM

I wonder what percentage of 360s have actually been modded. I can't imagine it is that high really. So Bungie & Microsoft probably aren't going to lose much business over it.

John @ Sep 21st 2007 12:27PM

Titty Pink, what did your comment (#5) have to do with the article? I hope you die a slow and painful death.

Tim @ Sep 21st 2007 12:37PM

@17.

Maybe your friends need to reevaluate your friendship. You wouldn't be my friend.

Tim @ Sep 21st 2007 12:41PM

Wow, people are really angry about this. Funny how I don't hear anything about piracy AFTER a major game comes out. Jealousy is a ugly trait, folks.

johnathon @ Sep 21st 2007 12:49PM

@22 wrong.

these people either wanna save money or just want to play before everyone esle

ericdrum @ Sep 21st 2007 12:49PM

@Tim, no it's mostly because after a major game comes out, we don't have time to bitch about theives anymore. Right now, we are all wringing our hands waiting to get on the goods.

Ransom @ Sep 21st 2007 12:52PM

Thanks a lot for crediting the person who emailed you guys about this yesterday...real nice.

Richard Mitchell @ Sep 21st 2007 12:54PM

Ransom,

We got more than one tip about this story, believe it or not.

tripdoutreality @ Sep 21st 2007 12:56PM

game over before it came out hahahahahah..... pretty cool ending i do say so

ejb @ Sep 21st 2007 12:58PM

well you dont need to worry about cheaters, yet. the game files cant be edited. the only thing the modded xbox lets you do is play backups/pirated games

Milly @ Sep 21st 2007 12:59PM

X3F is my one stop source for most info related to gaming news. I hate that this article has to start by justifying that it's old news but still relevant.

My comment is aimed at all you homos who seek attention just because you were the first to submit a piece of news or you're pissed because you're not recognized. Who gives a shit? Are you so retarded that you need an ego boost gained from being recognized for submitting an article on an internet blog.

I respect that people submit articles to be covered on this blog and recognize that it's a great thing because it makes this site more useful but try to be respectful and less gay about it. And maybe the bloggers here will have to worry less about qualifying shit and focus more on information.

Milly @ Sep 21st 2007 1:02PM

While writing my comment, a few more people posted. Ransom proves the point nicely, loser.

Gemini Ace @ Sep 21st 2007 1:08PM

I'll say it a million times. If the retailer has it, it should be on the shelf. Eff the street date!

xenocidic @ Sep 21st 2007 1:25PM

lol @ milly. it is a little silly and juvenile, but i'll admit i've done it.

MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Sep 21st 2007 1:27PM

6gigs? wow thats pretty small. so there was room for more?

Golfa @ Sep 21st 2007 1:28PM

@27 - If someone wants to save money, why would one buy a $300-400 XBOX with games that are $60 a pop? makes no sense.

As they always say: "You gotta pay to play"

xenocidic @ Sep 21st 2007 1:38PM

@38 they save money by pirating all the games... that seems pretty clear ?

Knight Marquise @ Sep 21st 2007 2:05PM

John,

Titty Pink is a Sony Fanboy. Most his 360 comments are harsh, and he's been quite the douche about Halo 3 and trying to cleverly throw spoilers out there. Perhaps it's his penis envy because the PS3 has nothing to touch the sales behemoth of Halo 3. I don't know, but it sure as hell is wearing thin.

hotdogsplinter @ Sep 21st 2007 2:10PM

weak sauce.

Pos @ Sep 21st 2007 2:19PM

I think the bann hamer is coming. Its looks to be a MS tradition to bann as soon as a halo game gets done. Firts halo2 then halo 3 beta and now halo 3 complete version. Did read somwhere that live will be free also for 3 days when the game launches? (corect me if im wrong) the 3 days are a good way for evry one with hacked FW to go online and player their downloaded version. And then the hamer will come.

Marty @ Sep 21st 2007 2:30PM

I'll admit that I had a modded XBox 1, but how can one justify messing up their xbox 360 that costs almost double? I will be waiting for my pre-order and hope I don't see any of these people spoil the campaign for me. If you already spent $400 on a console why risk getting banned from Live just to save 60 dollars??? bungie is getting my money because i'm a reformed pirate, don't believe in it after seeing how much work goes into games.

Zed_Leppilin @ Sep 21st 2007 2:31PM

Holy Sh*t, you guys rock, oh by the way....gimme gimmme gimmmmmeeeeeee

MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Sep 21st 2007 2:54PM

@40 kind of harsh dont you think? from what i've seen halo seemed to be the only reason why anybody bought an original xbox i dont see your point in the fact that why would that change now. the reason why people bought a PS2 was because there were multiple standouts "to each his own". you had your racing, you had your rpgs, brawlers, fighters, 3D platformers, strategy, puzzle, flight, adventure, at that point i dont think anybody cared for an FPS on a console. People now hope to see that happen on the PS3, as slow as it may seem its happening. Xbox was the first to have a good online multiplayer base so its only natural they continued and thrived in that area. When you look at upcoming PS3 games you see a dash of everything, trying new things, improving on old things. i like the onimusha and zone of the enders series i cant even find a soul willing to compare theories on what was gonna happen next unless im online(but im a gamer and im open to every genere out there). I've been places where everybody in the room owned PS2s but yet nobody had anything in commen when it came to gaming either on what games they wanted or what they had(but then again im a gamer). when you ask an xbox owner what they want usually your gonna get Halo on the top. This time around the 360 seems to be following the PS2 formula by having some variety but it still needs work its still too close to the hardcore fanbase and needs to break away to stay alive.

joealanjones @ Sep 21st 2007 3:24PM

All you people are morons. They should all be banned. Why?

Are you saying you've never ilegally downloaded music or movies?

Does that mean that you should be banned from listening to music or watchin movies? I think not.

And how many of you can honestly say that you wouldnt do it if there were to be no repercussions. if you could get a copy of this game early and for free and play online without any issues.

I say we should be thankin the downloaders for reducing the funds in Microsoft's "take over the world budget".

Peace out.

Knight Marquise @ Sep 21st 2007 3:24PM

Myps3...
I don't think what I said is harsh at at. TP has been posting the same crap all week, dropping spoilers on Halo 3 and basically trashing it and/or MS or a combination thereof about the "cash cow".

You don't have to like/enjoy/play Halo 3. But if you are in the camp that doesn't care for it, why in the hell would you bother to post shit about it and try ruining other folks enthusiasm. And when I say "other folks", obviously I'm talking about million(s) of people.

ssuk @ Sep 21st 2007 3:59PM

It should be noted that the 'file' they refer to is a disc image. A disc image which is in one big Xbox 360 formated file to stop people from ripping the disc (it was inevitable) and then getting direct access to the contents of the disc.

@3: It's most likely us damn Brits. Several coppies leaked out thanks to Argos and some other small-time retailers leaking coppies early.

ericdrum @ Sep 21st 2007 5:24PM

@46 Just because you're corrupt, doesn't mean everyone else is. I don't download illegal music, movies or software. EVER. You must not have a real job with any real vested interest in it. Otherwise you might understand why someone who spent a lot of money making a product might not want people to take the product that they made for free. You see, I'm a person that realizes that my dollars spent on the games that I like, translate to the production of more of the games that I like. I like to contribute to this cause and effect, rather than be a scab who leeches off the hard work of everyone else and doesn't contribute anything. I provide value to the gaming ecosystem unlike Halo 3 pirates.