Consumer check: Halo 3 limited edition may have scratched discs

Happened to me... Bought it at Blockbuster/GameRush, so they gave me a rental copy disc as a replacement (brand new, no rentals, obviously). Just gonna' call support for the second disc...

My limited edition copy was all scratched up. I went to trade it out and the kid in front of me had already gone through 3 and was settling on a standard version. I managed to get a good game disc on my second run, but the DVD had some minor scratching... I'm gonna see if Microsoft will just replace that.

thank you for telling me about this problem. I opened my case up in circuit city parking lot and was scratched all up so exchanged it for another one and this one is fine.

I'm getting mine in the mail tomorrow (European launch) and I hope that we don't have this problem over here. I really really hope.

Thanks for the heads up- as a result of your on the spot journalism, I opened my copy of the Legendary Edition this morning while I was still inside Sam's, and to my dismay found that the disc was loose and appeared to be scratched. I had the foresight to apprise the retail monkey of the issue, who stood by me and watched me do it, so when I discovered the flaw she dutifully went back and retrieved another copy for me. When I opened the second box and discovered the same issue, I decided to take the disc and wipe it down with my tie- and to my suprise, what looked like scratches were actually smudges caused by the rubber baffles designed to keep the game in place- the disc was pretty much pristine after the wiping. I attach a lot of ceremony to opening my games, so it was a bit of a bummer to do it inside Sam's, but I'm glad I did and I'm glad they now know of the problem. To all of you getting the Legendary Edition, try wiping the disc (if they will let you) in the presence of the retail clerk, and you might be suprised by the results. It's easier than opening seven dozen boxes.

Limited Edition here, both discs loose, minor to moderate scratching. Both still played, so I'm probably not going to mess with a return, or at least I'm not going to mess with it right now.

Thanks for the heads up...just got back from Fry's. The copy of the LE they brought me rattled so I opened it after paying. Sure enough it was scratched. They gave me another one immediately that didn't rattle and all is good...

I picked up my limited edition last night, both disks were loose in the package and both disks are scratched exactly like the picture shows. Luckily, the game disk is the better of the two and didn't seem to have any problems playing.

I got the Limited as well and both discs were loose. Thankfully I didn't see any scratches and the game played fine.

i went to future shop at midnight to pick up mine, and luckily i had read this story ahead of time...as we were waiting in line one guy came back to the store and started to show the store manager the disc...it didnt take me long to realize what was going on and why the manager had to eventually open 4 other copies of the game to find an undamaged disc.

when it was my turn to get in, i still planned on getting the limited edition but after picking up at least ten different copies you could clearly make out the sound of the disc loose inside rattling against the case. i decided to play it safe and get the regular edition, but as i did the guy next to me grabbed a copy of the limited. i gave him a quick warning about the possible scratched disc and he kind of just shrugged it off and got in line to pay.

as i turned to get in line, one of the staff who had overheard what i said or saw me carefully tilting game cases to listen for loose games told me the sound i was hearing was the special art book inside that was shifting around. i responded telling him he was wrong and that there was a problem with the disc coming loose and getting damaged. he looked at me like i was an idiot.

after paying for the game, my friend and i came across the guy i had warned. he was just outside the front of the store opening his copy and it was infact loose and damaged.

Dear Joystiq,Engadget,
Since you guys are supposedly "media", do your job and start harrasing Bungie and Microsoft for an offficial response to the scratched disk issue. The last thing they want is more negative press after the whole RROD problems. If we get a big enought uproar now, while the press is already focused on Halo 3, maybe the will do the right thing and make customers happy.

Yep I walked into my local Walmart here in Canada this morning and was surprised to be able to just get a copy like that. I drove my buddy to work and opened it at a red light. Both of the disks to my LE were off their nubs and scratched to hell. I said fuck that, I'm not paying $90 for a game brand new for it to be scratched. So back I went to Walmart and they went through 5 more LE copies (all they had left) and all were scratched! Also I would like to point out that all the tin containers on the LE had ugly scratches on them as well. First the Red Ring Of Death, now this! Microsoft really needs to learn a thing or two about quality control! Oh well got the regular edition and it's in mint condition. Though I must say I'm a little bummed, it seemd like the extras in the SE were woth the extra $10. Microsoft are their own worse enemies, is it any wonder why Sony does not put that much money into advertising for the PS3? I mean could Microsoft make it any easier for their rivials? Oh well, not that it matters to me, I have all 3 next gen systems and love them all! Well off to play Halo 3, the game better make up for this royal fuck up! Ah who am I kidding, I'll be 5 minutes into the game and will have forgotten all about it! lol

WTF - obsessing over the box is half the fun!

I went to my local Fred Meyer this morning. And every single one of the Standard versions was loose in the case. We opened 5 in the store and all were scratched. I just send screw it and took the least scratched one and buffed most of the scratches out. I haven't played the game yet because I had to goto work.

PS My case was also cracked but I didn't notice this until I got to work

Returning my copy at Gamestop today. Got the Limited Edition and the Game Disk is scratched. They'll just have to open up a regular copy and exchange it. THIS GAME KICKS SOME MAJOR ASS!!!!!!

Just got my Limited Ed. in the mail @ work and both of my disc were loose with minor scratches. Hopefully both will play just fine as it's very undesirable to have to send it back and wait another week for another Limited Ed. that will probably be scratched as well.

Yup. I got the same issue last night. Called Gamestop a few minutes after finding it out and was able to get a new game disc. All while still keeping the extra stuff.

I do love my limited editions, though...whether it's a broken Big Daddy finger or a scratched-up disc, I always seem to have it. I think I'll buy limited edition from now on just to see how many more screw-ups happen.

Just got it during my lunch break at work and the disk is all sorts of scratched up... gotta take it back and hope i get a good one..

Remember, if you have a scratched disc, a quick polish with Brasso will usually cure what ails you - brought my Forza 2 disc back to life, and countless PS2 games...

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/gameplay/discreplacement-games.htm

Guys, if your disc is playable, keep it now, and send it here in November or December. XBox is gonna replace these discs for free until 12/31. My disc only had very superficial scratches on it and plays fine, but I'll still take advantage of the deal.

I just purchase my LE and the disc was scratched and the metal case was bended in. I walked back in the store and found another person at the Customer Service for the same this. He just bought his LE 10 min before me. The store pulled a full shipping box of LE and they went through and opened ten LE before finding one that wasn’t scratched. For that box with about 20 total, only 2 LE packages had good disc. I feel sorry for the people that didn’t open the game before leaving the parking lot.

Add my name to the list. I bought a copy of Halo 3 LE at the Circuit City in Kalamazoo MI at lunch today. I got the disc back to my office and found this post... I decided to open my copy and check, sure enough, both discs were scratched pretty bad.

I went back to the store to get an exchange. As soon as I put the case on the counter without even saying a word they instantly knew why. "The discs are scratched aren't they?" "Yep." They've had 10 or so returns so far as of noon.

The customer service guy was cool about it and went through box after box trying to find one that wasn't scratched. He opened 10 or so boxes with no good discs among them. I ended up walking out with a standard edition and a refund for the difference.

He said that they had 18 or so preorders that were on the shelf, and that he wasn't looking forward to telling all of those people that their discs are more likely than not crap. He also mentioned having a friend that worked at the Best Buy up the road that called him after the first 5 or so returns and asked them if their discs were the same way - all the LE discs they had were too... tons of returns already.

This is sure to cause a stink. If I get home and this disc red lights my 360 (this will be 360 #2 for me - Forza 2 killed my other one) I'm seriously buying a PS3 and not looking back.

Mine is scratched as well, although not that badly. Going to do the whole exchange program... in a couple months.

It's not a rumor. I just picked mine up and it was scratched really bad. I went back in to let the guy know and he said he'd find me a good copy. He opened up 4 of the limited editions until he found me one without scratches. My gamestop rocks!

I'm pretty sure after everyone gets their copies of Halo 3 home today after work/school and finds them scratched to hell there will be no insurgence from blogs needed. Scratch stories are all over broadcast news already, and I'm sure they're going to hear it from consumers on their customer support lines... AND, even with them replacing the discs for free, people aren't going to want to wait 2 weeks for new discs PLUS pay for shipping.

Sucks to work a retail store that took pre-oders come 6 or so tonight. It almost makes me want to go in and watch the fun that I'm sure will ensue.

this one guy yesterday at launch opened his and it was scratched luckly they gave him a new one

This is true about the limited edition. The way it is packaged can cause the disc to dislodge and get scratched. However, the legendary edition doesn't have this problem. It is packaged in a case just like the regular edition. Don't believe the rumors about the legendary edition having this problem too. It was started by the SonyDefenseForce website.

so apparently every single tin case has this problem. wow that's some shitty quality control

Picked up my halo 3 limited at BB in San Francisco at the midnight launch.. got home.. scratched to hell.. got "unreadable disc" error when put in the drive. Spent time buffing the disc, eventually got it to play. Then I exchanged it at about 3pm for one that was pristine... sweet

you know, this still doesn't address the root issue: the Limited Edition packaging is terrible.

even if we do get replacement discs, even if we are given refunds at retail, we're still stuck with the same case. there's still a very good chance it's going to get scratched up again.

so, they should re-issue the LE case, otherwise, we're all stuck with shoddy packaging.

I actually pre-ordered the LE from Amazon.com.
I am so angry at them right now. I paid for two day shipping. I got one with both discs loose and very scratched up. I called them and was told to contact Microsoft because they are not refunding or replacing.
Microsoft tells me it will be a week turnaround time, but Amazon won't refund my shipping for a defective product.
Way to go Amazon!! Way to look out for your customers!!

In following up with my previous comment...
I called Amazon back and got a full refund since I didn't want to wait for replacement discs. I guess sometime today, they decided to start issuing refunds for price AND SHIPPING. Yay!! However, last night we headed down to the local Walmart. They had plenty of copies of Halo 3 Limited and regular.
We sat there with the manager and opened every last copy of Halo 3 Limited edition and all of them except one had the Essentials Disc intact, but the game discs were all loose and scratched up. Oh.. by the way the ONLY exception was one that had both discs loose and scratched up like mine.
So, in the interest of making an 11 year old happy to play his Halo 3, we opted for the standard edition Halo 3 and he is a happy Halo 3 Camper today.

... i just got my halo limited edition amazening enuf it was scratched lol iono if it works thou as i havnt tried it lol ...