No ban for playing Halo 3

Microsoft confirms only its own employees are under scrutiny, not its paying customers.

Microsoft has confirmed it won't ban the Xbox Live accounts of those who have snagged a pre-release copy of Halo 3.

There were widespread panic, arm-waving and forum threads with far too many exclamation marks when word was going round that Microsoft had started banning those on Xbox Live who had played a pre-release copy of Halo 3. With copies floating around eBay, Argos breaking the release date and some rogue videogame stores in Norway also selling the game early, it turns out quite a few people have now appeared online with 'Recently played: Halo 3' showing up on their Xbox Live accounts.

This was followed by stories that Microsoft was banning those who had played Halo 3 before its release date and even if those players had played it without being connected to Xbox Live, Microsoft would be able to backdate when Halo 3 was played when they did connect to Live and catch them that way. This sparked a spate of "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU LOL" reactions but Microsoft is only banning its own employees for breaking Halo 3's street date, not you.

In other words: if you do have a pre-release copy of Halo 3, you're safe. Though it's best wait for the actual release date and join in the euphoric fun and an entire community coming together to celebrate Halo at the same time, no?