Halo Reach Costs Only $1,250 On Xbox LIVE

This isn't the first time that a game has appeared in Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Marketplace ahead of its launch. And it's not the first time that, even if you had the required amount of money to actually download that said game, you wouldn't be able to. Digitally distributing games for review isn't a new concept, but it definitely does add something quite entertaining to the whole mix. That's exactly what's happening with Halo Reach right now, which you can find in the LIVE Marketplace right now, ready to download. But, as usual, there's a catch.

The first, big catch is that price. As the image clearly shows, the price for Reach is listed in Microsoft Points, and that's a whopping 99,999. Or, about $1,250. Now, why we don't imagine that many folks out there actually have that many Microsoft Points just sitting on their account, waiting to be used at any given moment, even if you do have that much, and you're aching to spend it on game that doesn't launch until next month, you still won't be able to download it. Unfortunately, as Microsoft puts it, you'll need a special (and obviously limited) 25-character pre-paid token to get your hands on this download.

It's pretty much assumed that this is going to be the same digital download that reviewers all over the place are going to be able to use for their final retail reviews. Just like Crackdown 2 in the past, digital downloads were handed out to reviewers, but the casual public is still unable to download the game via Games On Demand. So, we don't expect Microsoft or Bungie to let customers download the prequel that way, either. At least, not any time soon. Anyone out there a big enough Bungie/Halo fan to actually be willing to pay this much to get your hands on the title early?

[via Joystiq]