After news of gamers getting copies of Halo 3 before its actual street date surfaced, Microsoft quickly moved to curtail the spread of some early Halo 3 gaming.

Earlier reports stated that the company would freeze the accounts of those caught playing Halo 3 before the game's official release date. Video game news site Pro-G, however, reports that Microsoft has backtracked on the ban. Here's a snippet from a Microsoft statement issued early this morning:

We can confirm that Microsoft is not taking any action (such as banning Xbox Live accounts) against gamers who are playing Halo 3 before the official street date. Any rumours or speculation to the contrary are false.