Gamers who pirate Halo 3: ODST will face the unpleasant surprise of a permanent ban from the online Xbox Live service.
"Hrm. I spy with my little eye some *illegitimate* ODST players," according to the Xbox Live's Policy and Enforcement Director, who posted a tweet on Twitter. "No early play for you. Commencing permabans."
The problem originated when a French store accidentally began selling the game, which isn't scheduled for release until Sept. 22, leading to the game quickly finding its way to peer-to-peer networks.
The latest Halo game is a standalone expansion to Halo 3 from a couple years ago, with gamers playing as a human UNSC soldier from the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) team, instead of playing as Master Chief or the Arbiter.
Microsoft also bans people from Xbox Live for cheating, offensive behavior, modding their Xbox 360 game console, and fraud. As long as a gamer avoids these types of behavior, it's extremely unlikely they'd face a ban, Microsoft previously said.
Microsoft officials urge gamers to avoid the pirated copy -- wait a couple of weeks -- and be able to enjoy the game in a legitimate manner. The latest Halo video game has been heavily hyped by Microsoft, which received praise for its live-action trailer.
Since Halo is eventually going to find its way to the big screen, then it's nice to see the company able to produce such neat trailers.
If you're an Xbox gamer, are you looking forward to Halo 3: ODST?
