Bungie Warns Would-Be Halo: Reach Xbox Live Cheaters: Don't Mess

The fall video game rush begins tomorrow with the release of Halo: Reach for the Xbox 360. That’s the key—tomorrow. If you somehow got a copy of the game at the weekend—perhaps you know a friendly GameStop owner, or maybe you yourself have the Wal-Mart storage room key?—then I’ve got some bad news: your credits will be wiped out. Sorry.

Bungie, the game’s developers, says (ctrl-f for brave new world) it will delete any credits you may have gained before the game’s official release date. (Credits are used to buy cosmetic armor upgrades.)

More importantly—and this probably should have led this post, but oh well—Bungie says that it’s got its eye on you online cheaters out there. Let’s not mince words: pirated copies of the game have been available online since last Friday, and these pirates have already found exploits and whatnot in the multi-player game.

So, Bungie will be keeping on eye on you. At its dispel? “Voice bans, host bans, console bans, gamertag bans, credit bans, and the automatic habitual quitter penalty are but a few of our sharply honed weapons hungering for blood.”

In short, don’t cheat online while playing the game, or any other game for that matter. Nobody likes a cheater.