Ever managed to get a copy of Bungie's Halo 3 before its street date? Better think again before playing the game, if you don't want to suffer the same fate of getting banhammered all the way till year 9999 like these two unfortunate blokes.

Not even logging out of the internet before playing Halo 3 can let your cover your tracks either, if you're really bent on playing the game before its release date. A Microsoft representative said that consoles will also contain information about each and every games played by the console owner, along with timestamps. If they found out that there's a record of your console running Halo 3 before its launch, BAM! Banhammered.

However, since Microsoft can only detect your console's game information upon connecting to Xbox Live, there's a possibility that you can still play Halo 3 before its September 25 street date and not compromise your account. There's just one condition: never access Xbox Live, ever again.