Well, they are right next door to the French...

[Kornman00]

On HBO (http://nikon.bungie.org/news.html?item=19766):

When Shipping Departments Screw Up
Wow. nash--housewares found a thread (http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=829544) on an Italian forum with some pictures (http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=829544) that, if they're what they look like, do NOT bode well for keeping Halo 3 secrets until launch day. We're looking into this - but if it turns out to be what it looks like, I'm thinking we'll probably close the forum down for 3 weeks. Starting... really soon. Stay tuned. (Louis Wu 19:29:26 UTC (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=8&day=31&year=2007&hour=19&min=29&sec=26&p1=0))


Please gawd, let this not turn into another French incident :/

[Syuusuke]

That's just great.

[Zeph]

OH SHIT!
Hahaha, I was right that it would be leaked by the end of the week.

[TIA Gangsta]

That's fake. They're display cases that are to be put up on store shelves to promote the game as the release gets closer.
I've heard it's in shops like Gamestop, and they're shrink wrapped too.

You can tell also cos the real case wouldn't have that sticker on the front saying what's inside. Clearly it's there to promote the Collectors Edition by showing it's contents. Plus one store wouldn't get that many Collectors Editions, and even if it was real why don't they have the regular edition or Legndary edition?
They're just trying to screw with us.

[et_cg]

Well, if everyone knew the situation I was in, I could just say; my ex-girlfriend was Italian.

Edit:
Gangsta, you wouldn't need 50305283495-23495722395725 display cases just to market a game in a small shop like that.

Seriously.

Edit Again: I've seen those display cases in stores before, and they aren't wrapped, and they don't have any stickers. And even if it was a large store, I'm sure they still wouldn't need that many cases.

[Zeph]

Why would display cases be wrapped in plastic?

[Dal]

OOoooh, this is bad. :X

[TIA Gangsta]

Well, if everyone knew the situation I was in, I could just say; my ex-girlfriend was Italian.

Edit:
Gangsta, you wouldn't need 50305283495-23495722395725 display cases just to market a game in a small shop like that.

Seriously.

Edit Again: I've seen those display cases in stores before, and they aren't wrapped, and they don't have any stickers. And even if it was a large store, I'm sure they still wouldn't need that many cases.

Hmm...I guess your right, but I doubt that many copies of the Collectors Edition will go to that same small store either.
And I highly doubt that sticker would be there in the final copy, cos it just doesn't seem like something that would be in a retail game. Plus the Special Edition Halo 2 (which had an identical design - except the backround was silver) didn't have it either.
It just doesn't seem neccassary to put the contents of it slap bang in the front cover. It definately looks like a showcase version to me, but your theory does question this.

Meh...I dunno, maybe that box was from somewhere else? I saw the picture of the cardboard box full of Halo 3 cases somewhere before all this Italian stuff - they could have easily got it from another source and posted it there to boost believeability.

Eh, well we'll just have to wait and see. It seems weird they didn't even open the box or show the back of it.

[TIA Gangsta]

Why would display cases be wrapped in plastic?

Well it's a tin, so unlike a normal game case, if it was open there would be two parts, and irresposible customers may just leave parts lieing around the place, so they put that around it to keep it in once piece.

[Zeph]

Why would they waste metals and the ink you use for it just for displays? My local game stores just had cardboard boxes for the H2 LE preview boxes.

[Kornman00]

They may box them in the masses and just ship to each retailer's "district" HQ that will then disperse to their worker shops. This is after all, a world wide game.

[TIA Gangsta]

Well whether it's fake or not, I think it's clear that nobody who shouldn't have it has it.
If they did, they would have ATLEAST shown a picture of the back of the case or inside it. Or better yet, the disc.
If they had it, what better taunt would there be than showing a picture of you holding the official Halo 3 disc, without spoiling anything to do with the game?

[et_cg]

They had Tin here... but I doubt they'd waste that much.

[Kornman00]

Then there may have been better security of each copy implemented this time that made the employees dare not risk stealing a copy so they just taught the public with the fact that they can play with the cases.

[et_cg]

Gosh darnit, these pages keep screwing up on me.

Yes, Korn, I believe the security has not only been raised, but the business that those guys work for may not allow them to just take or buy a copy early due to implementation of Halo 3 into their databases. Right now it may be on pre-order and any employee that put the full price down would not be allowed to take it home simply because that would be stealing.

I'm sure a week before we'll start seeing more Gamertags with Halo 3 on their names, and employees and other... bad sources, leaking much of Halo 3 with copys that are being released due to database protocols. (Halo 3 instead of being a pre-order item, would be a full retail item that can be registered in the system.) Even then, I'm sure there's going to be people fired from their jobs, lol.

[DaneO'Roo]

I went down to EB Games just the other day, they have all the game cases and tins in the store. Im talking like, 40 of them. They even had a display halo 3 xbox 360 bundle pack as well. Halo 3 xbox 360, 2 different halo 3 controllers, headset and Halo 3 Legendary for $888 Australian.

[Dole]

Update: MGS marketing has confirmed that those pictures are the EMPTY pre-order/promotional boxes. No game discs have shipped to any retailers yet. Thank goodness!.

[DaneO'Roo]

^ lul

[Love De Lux]

Mwahah,

I'll be not surprised if Halo 3 get leaked by some of my compatriots >__>

[TIA Gangsta]

.

Told ya ;)

[Zeph]

That's crazy. I wish I had the money to ship tins for promotional use.

[jcap]

Would Microsoft actually say "yes, the real game is inside"? That would be like saying "HEY EVERYBODY, TRY AND STEAL BUY A COPY OF THE GAME AND LEAK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[TIA Gangsta]

But I don't think any developer would send any game, let alone Halo 3, to the retailers this early. It just doesn't make sense.
Plus they only started manufacturing it this week for all we know of. Bungie announced Halo 3 going gold this week, and bare in mind "going gold" means it's finished and AWAITING mass production.

[jcap]

The game actually went gold last week, Bungie just didn't announce it until earlier this week. Regardless, your point still stands. It is pretty early still for them to be sending out shipments, but the flipside of it is that they are printing millions of copies of the game to sell worldwide. They're probably not going to stock them all up until the last minute, but ship them off to retailer's warehouses for storage.

[Kornman00]

Its just another ARG actually. Halo 3 isn't even half way finished. Its just another marketing ploy for moar hype :-3

[TIA Gangsta]

The game actually went gold last week, Bungie just didn't announce it until earlier this week. Regardless, your point still stands. It is pretty early still for them to be sending out shipments, but the flipside of it is that they are printing millions of copies of the game to sell worldwide. They're probably not going to stock them all up until the last minute, but ship them off to retailer's warehouses for storage.

Yeah you got a point there. I mean, they can't just store millions of copies in the factory. They'll have to ship it somewhere to make room and keep production steady.

[n00b1n8R]

anyone have that first image?

it would appear that it's host took it down for excessive bandwidth use D:

[jngrow]

It kinda annoys me that the "XBOX 360" banner is at the top of the collector's edition.

[Hotrod]

I went down to EB Games just the other day, they have all the game cases and tins in the store. Im talking like, 40 of them. They even had a display halo 3 xbox 360 bundle pack as well. Halo 3 xbox 360, 2 different halo 3 controllers, headset and Halo 3 Legendary for $888 Australian.

They have EB games in Australia? I remember seeing the Spartan Helmet at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, and my brother saw it at EB games around the same time. I guess that they do have a part of the package...

[Teroh]

God I love the Italians. Fooling all of you. I also love being able to understand what they say in the thread. Forza Italia.