Bungie’s Halo slips

SOME OF the $200+ million worth of Halo: Reach discs sold don't blooming work, meaning that rather than be able to play as Noble 6, users have to suffer the ignominy of trawling through forums for help.

Halo: Reach has been shifted in huge numbers, and according to statistics from Bungie, which is behind the XBox cash cow, its already been played millions of times for thousands of gamer years, within just a week since it was released. However, some players have been unable to take part.

According to the Bungie forums, some users have been greeted with a disc error message which, when you have been waiting a couple of years for a game to come out, is rather frustrating.

There are suggestions that the problem is the result of dirty discs, or users playing on original XBox machines, but so far the reasons behind it as well as any solutions are rather vague.

There are 68 pages in the Bungie forums all under the less-than-illustrious "Disc Not Reading?" thread title. The thread seems to have been updated at some point with the suggestion that users call an Xbox support number for help, a sentiment that was echoed in Bungie's weekly news update.

"If you find yourself lumped in with the 'small number' of people who find relevance in this portion of the update, you're probably finding that five letter moniker more than a little frustrating," the firm wrote.

"We feel your pain (we want you to play Reach, too!). If you're receiving a disc read error with Halo: Reach, or any other title for that matter, Microsoft customer support is your path to resolution."

We've asked Microsoft in the UK whether this is a disc problem or a hardware problem, and requested information about what frustrated users should do if they don't want to call a US phone number.

We are still waiting for a response from Microsoft. µ