Halo 2: Out Now?!

According to joystiq.com, reports have come in saying that one particular retailer has broken the November 9th street date and has already begun distributing Halo 2.

Meijer is a grocery and general merchandise retailer with stores across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Several rumors have been flying around the net this morning that lucky SOB shoppers in the east have alreayd picked up their copies.

Internet rumor is as solid as smoke, so we called to several Meijer stores in Ohio and Michigan. Speaking with Dorothy at the Toledo Store on Central Ave, she very succinctly put it that she could not comment on the rumors and had no authorization to speak with the media. She reffered to me Meijer’s public relations number to which I received fast busy signals.

My subsequent calls to other stores returned similar answers and referrals, however a call to a second store in Toledo on Alexis Way resulted in a very rushed and well rehearsed answer. Posing as a typical customer, Laura informed me that “Halo 2 for the Microsoft Xbox will not be availble until Tuesday November 9th. Is there anything else I can help you with?”. I tried to dig a little deeper, but she only suggested that I check back next week.

We’re calling shenanigans. Someone might have seen a display going up and assumed the best, but we’ve seen no solid confirmations and being in California ourselves, it wouldn’t be worth the flight to check anyway. If this came to be true, its assumed there would be a hefty fine imposed on the Wal-Mart like retailer by Microsoft for breaking contract, but it wouldn’t be the first such occurence by a retailer. Several companies were slammed for putting Xboxes on shelves days before it’s initial release.