Halo 3 Hits eBay Early

By Gregory Mone Posted 09.11.2007 at 10:20 am 4 Comments

Two weeks before Halo 3, arguably the most anticipated game of the year, is due to go on sale, a pair of apparently legitimate copies were posted for auction on eBay. The seller, an Australian, opened the case and snapped a few shots of the cover (seen at left) and the disc itself to prove the items were for real, but the asking price makes you wonder.

Gamers have routinely been commenting not so much on whether this was right or wrong, but why in the world this person would only try to sell it for $125. People are seriously itching to push Master Chief, the hero of the series, through the next phase of the epic game, and would probably pay hundreds of bucks to get an early chance.

According to gaming site IGN.com, Microsoft had no comment on the early release, but you can imagine they're not exactly clapping gleefully.—Gregory Mone

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4 Comments

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popsci

09/11/07 at 9:01 pm

Considering all the crap on the internet about Halo that turned out to be viral marketing, and the fact that this sale was picked up by hundreds of MS oriented media agregates and the seller didn't ask for a reasonably high price, I can safely assume that this sale was made by Microsoft, perhaps to its own buyers, to stimulate demand and raise awareness of the sale of Halo 3.

Viral marketing is lame, but then, so is Halo, with graphics you might find on a wii. IF the game makes you happy, then go for it, but obviously the ebayer would be shut down for selling stolen property if Microsoft didn't want this story.

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popsci

09/12/07 at 2:07 am

Dusty you clearly have not played either Halo or a Wii. Halo I has better graphics then a Wii.

That said I do think its just viral marketing.

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popsci

09/12/07 at 8:52 am

Dusty, better graphics than the Wii? Have you ever picked up a controller after the N64 came out? Honsetly...

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popsci

09/12/07 at 12:19 pm

Viral marketing is very lame indeed. However, having worked at a distribution center for music CDs I can testify to the fact that in order to meet mass-market demand, products do have to ship early. And every hotly anticipated product will have a "Do not ship before XX/XX/XXXX" sticker on the outermost container. It's possible that this Halo 3 copy "fell off a truck" and into the hands of a warehouse employee.