Halo 3 street date broken, players will NOT be banned [update 2]

[Update 2: Pro-G now reports that Microsoft has backpedaled on it's threat to ban Xbox Live users for playing Halo 3 before its September 25th street date. It seems the bans reported earlier only apply to Microsoft employees. So, if you are not a Microsoft employee, enjoy your new pre-release copy of Halo 3. Thanks to ejb for the update.]

Reports are flying, literally flying into the X3F Report Catcher® that UK retailer Argos has broken the September 25th street date for Halo 3. The news originates from Eurogamer, where users of its forum noticed a message on the retailer's website claiming that they could pick up their reserved copies of the game today. First of all, if you live in the UK, you're probably out of luck now as the retailer has caught on to the mistake. Second, if you did manage to snag a copy, you still might not want to play it, as Pro-G is reporting that players are having their Live accounts banned by Microsoft. Why Microsoft would punish consumers for a retailer's mistake is beyond us, but we'll wait for an official response before casting judgment. In the meantime, keep that DVD out of your Xbox! Alternately, make sure you tell us if your console has been banned.