Catalogue retailer Argos has begun selling Microsoft's highly-anticipated Halo 3, a week before the official release.
The news comes from the forums of Eurogamer.net, where users have been posting pictures of boxed copies of the game, along with receipts.
Argos' online store shows which locations currently have the game in stock, and users are able to order a copy of the game with collection dates of "Wed 19 September – Thu 20th September."
Both Microsoft and Argos were unavailable to comment at the time of writing.
UPDATE: Argos has issued a statement clarifying that it does not endorse breaking street dates.
"We are aware that a genuine administrative error has resulted in a small number of cases where Halo 3 has already been sold. We are currently ensuring that there are no further sales of this product in-store until the official release date, Wednesday 26 September. We have already taken steps to ensure that Halo 3 is unavailable on the Argos web site for reservation or purchase until the correct date."
"We accept that this incident falls short of the usual high standards we aim to achieve and operate within and we will be taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future."