I have refrained from playing the game, because of the quabbles I have witnessed…
How much of a traitor can I be, I just got UBER lucky???
Right??? or Not???

You know that last night, there were over 6000 people playing Halo 3? On Friday night, over 1000 people playing? And you believe that because 50 South African’s (if that) bought Halo 3 early we’ll now be punished or blackballed? Really, get a grip.
I was playing Halo 3 last night and there was 1 tiny, tiny dot on the map where SA is. There were thousands of dots in the Americas (north and south) and europe.
That’s THOUSANDS of slipped copies.
Why do you think we don’t have Live? Cos we are a tiny market. They don’t give a shit about us.

Yet somehow, because we have to kiss Microsoft’s ass to launch Live (which we will have to PAY for, they’re not doing us a favour), we somehow must resist the urge to buy a game we’re excited for, to save Microsoft’s face? Or we must switch our status to offline so that we won’t get judged?

I bought Halo 3 early cos I was excited to play it. I sped off to the shops when I heard the release date had slipped. But, I paid for it, I didn’t steal it, nor did I pirate it, so I have NOTHING to feel guilty for. Microsoft made money from my purchase.

So can everyone please put away the pitchforks.

Regarding the retailers, this is a third world country, where the majority of the people working in the stores that slipped it early, don’t even have a high school education.
Put it down to bad management or communication from the head offices.
But in all honesty, I really doubt we’ll get punished cos a few games broke the street date.

Only people who can feel angered about this are the few stores loosing money from pre-orders and such that bowed down themselves and released it as scheduled.

If Microsoft and/or the distributors had contractual agreements set with the retailers that they supply, this would not have happened. I’m sure if they in fact have these regulations set in place, the big bosses at these respective retailers would’ve stepped in and warned their regional managers not to sell prior to release, in fear of potential lawsuits/penalties or whatever.

So what I’m asking from you is for who are retailers screwing up the release, because certainly the gamers who enjoy from this premature release from these stores are very happy indeed – the exact opposite of feeling screwed… those who do not, it doesn’t make a difference for them.

I don’t know, it could be that YOU feel left out because you had the opportunity to pre-play the game before release at Microsoft’s offices, and now fans who are less eagerly anticipating this title are playing the game already…(Truth be told, I would’ve felt the same way if it was GTA IV)

Yes I bought it.
No I hadn’t pre-ordered so no cancellations from my side.

As a promise to a friend, CraigN, and to Microsoft, I said that I wouldn’t log into live until release date on Wednesday morning to prevent giving away any achievements etc etc etc, and I will hold to that promise.

I can understand why MS wanted to stock in store early but should’ve explained properly that under NO circumstances should ANY copies be sold.

GO CRAIG! Please let us know what happens to these retailers!

Steve AKA “TrivZA”