Warning, this story (or elements of this story) may or may not be true. Regardless, it's almost worth reading this great big Pandora's box of silly over at game board megalopolis NeoGAF, if only to ogle the blurry photo of the allegedly leaked disc (did these guys get their digital cameras out of a cereal box?). Oh, and if you're willing to brave the dialogical effluvia (Warning #2, above link may contain strong language), to have a look at some of the most "creative" Mario avatars going.
News site Evil Avatar -- where I first noticed the story courtesy GameTab -- isn't hedging any bets. They pulled their summary for reasons unknown after reporting the leak and citing Qj.net (who in turn cite "reports from the NeoGAF forum") concerning an EB Games employee who may have leaked the game using an in-store demo copy. The Qj.net story is still up, as is this abstrusely sourced entry at PS3News.com.
A demo copy? Huh?
According to Qj.net, the Nintendo store demo has a 10-minute time restriction, but that 10-minute limit only applies when played on a store's proprietary demo machine (don't ask me how or why, unless it's simply a hardwired kiosk reset). Plug the game into a consumer-grade Wii, however, and surprise! It rather astonishingly plays the entire game.
Counter-claims affirm the leak is real, but that the pirated copy throws errors. Said counter-claims are just a couple anonymous message boarders, i.e. survey says consult your magic eight-ball for verification about any of this. (I'll chime in again if/when my Nintendo contact gets back to me.)
If it is true, of course, it's a fairly devastating three-weeks-early blow to Nintendo. If it's not, it's an amusing example of (a) terrific viral marketing, (b) internet hype, or (c) some serendipitous collision of both.
Super Mario Galaxy ships to stores on November 12.
Source: PCWorld Blog