The latest instalment of the Halo game franchise has been leaked.
Microsoft placed Halo: Reach on its Xbox Marketplace website, downloadable at a cost of 99,999 Microsoft points, a price PC Mag described as "seemingly impossible".
It was intended to only be accessible to approved reviewers, but a group of hackers managed to bypass the security, and download the game in full.
The proof came from videos showing intro screens and gameplay uploaded to YouTube.
Halo: Reach is not due to be released until September 14.
The hackers have agreed not to distribute the game, but there it is reportedly available on torrent websites, and plot spoilers are appearing on gaming forums.
The previous edition of Halo, Halo 3, leaked two months before its release in 2007. Microsoft banned any consoles running the game before its release from its Xbox Live service for 7,992 years – by which time the future setting of the game would be 7450 years in the past.
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