Hackers Claim to Have Grabbed Halo: Reach From Microsoft Site

[Logan Westbrook]

Hackers Claim to Have Grabbed Halo: Reach From Microsoft Site

A team of hackers has allegedly broken Microsoft's security and got its hands on Halo: Reach a month early.

Remember that twelve-hundred dollar Halo: Reach listing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102835-Microsoft-Explains-Twelve-Hundred-Dollar-Reach-Listing] we told you about earlier in the week? Well, it looks like it's gotten some attention, and not just for its hefty price tag. A group of modders from the Game-Tut forums have claimed that they were able to trick Microsoft's servers into letting them download the game and have been taking it for a spin.

The group said that obtaining the game had been a challenge, but even though they'd been successful, they had no plans to distribute it. Bungie is yet to comment on these reported leaks, although its forum moderators have reminded posters that discussing leaked details was a surefire way of earning a permanent ban.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has issued a statement about the leaks, saying it was aware of the group's claims and was "aggressively investigating" the matter. If Reach has indeed been leaked - and there is other evidence besides the team's comments to suggest that it has - then it will come as something of a blow to Microsoft. It's not going to stop the game selling a bajillion copies, but it may make Microsoft reconsider using Xbox Live for sensitive material in the future.

Halo: Reach gets its official release on September 14th.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/20/halo-reach-snagged-early-from-microsofts-servers/]




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[V8 Ninja]

Y'know, I should be surprised, but I'm not.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Go on Microsoft, financially bitchslap these hackers into next week., I will support you on this.

Seriously I'm glad they're not going to distribute it. But that still sucks... if it's true this is quite huge.

Go team Microsoft!

 

[zombie711]

This happened with halo 2 and 3. Also if a 360 game is pirated and put on the Internet don't you need a blank 360 disk to play the game, which essentialy means you need a moded 360 and when an update comes you get banned and have to stick to single player

 

[oktalist]

The history of Microsoft is paved with mistakes like this. You'd think they'd have learned by now.

 

[Motiv_]

I look forward to the 16 page debate about piracy.

If what these fellows have done is true, then Microsoft seriously needs to step up their security. It seems that every Halo game since #3 has been leaked and played in advance. It's cute really, but pre-release leaks are nothing new.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Who would risk being sued by MS for a Halo game? If it was something like Kotor 3 I could understand.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Well looks like the Modio community strikes again, first the big GTA 4 leak and then this? Microsoft must be PISSED.

 

[MagicMouse]

Good for those Hackers, that must have been a fun project.

As long as they don't distribute and plan to buy the game(you know they will) then this is harmless fun.

Though they are gunna get slammed for it inevitably.

 

[Cabisco]

God damn it, I do hope they don't distribute this because I hate the idea of having too stay away from the internet until the 14th.

 

[THAC0]

I'll bet the modders only got the game so they could see if they liked it enough to buy it. that is how pirates work right? Micro$oft just can't stand it when someone supports there games enough to steal them before they come out. Shameful Micro$oft, really.

 

[mad825]

was it logical living it on a open network (on the sense of making it connected to the mesh,the internet) anyway? surely they must have seen something like this coming.

 

[tunderball]

Microsoft run the world! all these countries you hear about are just countys within the kingdom of Microsoft. But no in all seriousness they'll find them and fine them millions of pounds all because they couldn't wait a month. I feel sorry for them.

 

[soapyshooter]

Torrent sites...the good ones get games at least a week ahead. StarCraft II made it to a "certain" site a week and a half before the release. At least these guys are not planning on releasing Reach.

 

[sheic99]

I don't really understand half the comments in this thread. This is one of those times, when I feel that schools don't teach reading comprehension enough.

Even if they did do this, Microsoft won't have much grounds to sue to for damages, as this game wasn't released to the internet yet. If the get caught, they're looking at a federal crime, as opposed to a civil suit.

 

[Therumancer]

Hmmm, well my immediate thought on this is to call "BS".

From the way things sound Microsoft probably let the game be leaked in order to generate hype. I mean the story is getting our attention isn't it? Upon reading this tons of interested people going to go around searching for copies, and probably run into 30 tons of advertisement and in the process whip themselves into a frenzy for something they probably won't find, and then wind up anticipating the release even more as they run out to buy the game.

I say this because it strikes me as bloody unlikely that a hacker group would admit something like this, but then not release the game. It sounds like a way of experimenting with having their cake and eating it too, all the publicity from a "we were hacked" stunt without giving away a few thousand copies via torrents before they "catch on" and stop it.

 

[Shycte]

If they just did it for sport that's kinda cool I guess.

Good that they won't torrent it.

 

[Dyp100]

Halo Reach has been leaked for about...2 weeks, I think now. Check the Reach forums on B.Net, spoiler tags everywhere. I'm gonna "go dark", as they say, the closer it gets.

Check youtube comments on Bungie videos, spoilers all over there, I caught a couple, but I already guessed the ending, Bungie haven't really been secretive about the end, I mean, we KNOW what happens from the books, so I was k.