Hi. I'm Chris. I'm the new staff writer around here. I like gadgets, and long walks on the beach, and snuggling up with a good boo...

Oh. You want to know about the Halo 2 leak. I'll get to that in a minute.

So anyway, I like snuggling up with a good book when it's cold outside. Right now, I'm just devouring Wil Wheaton's "Just a Geek." It's really quite...

Halo 2 leak? Yeah, I know its important, but I'm sorta introducing myself here.

...

Fine.

According to BBC News, a complete (albeit entirely French) version of Halo was leaked late last night, and has been making the rounds on warez sites and P2P networks. Furthermore, Microsoft has all but admitted that the game is playable, although it lacks the apparently astonishing Xbox Live component. Weighing in at a relatively paltry 3 gigabytes (paltry for warez, anyway), it is currently unknown how the perpetrators got their dirty mitts on the game.

Understandably, Microsoft has been more than a little ticked off, although the report states that they do not expect the incident to hamper sales of Halo 2 when it hits store shelves November 9. If you managed to get your hands on a copy, you'd better watch out: Microsoft "takes the integrity of its intellectual property extremely seriously, and [they] are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act." Offenders are expected to be fined up to $100,000 (!).

Hmm... play Halo 2... get fined 100 grand... play Halo 2... get fined 100 grand...

Tough decision, huh?