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Numerous reports surfaced Tuesday on both Microsoft and Bungie support forums claiming that Halo 3 is causing freezing, disc read errors, and even system failures. The issues are not related to whether a disc has been scratched according to persons affected.

The problem appears to happen at different stages in the game; first with the game freezing itself, followed by an inability to continue play once a "disc is unreadable" notification displays. The error could stem from poorly manufactured discs, inherent Xbox 360 hardware issues such as overheating or unreliable DVD drives, or even extended periods of play.

"I'm on my third copy of Halo 3," said Matt Gibbs on the Bungie user forum. "After my second Limited Edition copy was found to be scratched I upgraded to the Legendary Edition hoping it would yield a clean disk, and it did. The surface is perfect."

"But... I'm still getting read errors intermittently at various points... this is happening on a spanking new Xbox 360 Elite -- four days old."

Some owners reputedly exchanged their copies of the game two or more times in an effort to bypass the disc read error to no avail. Others fared even worse.

"I had the problem all of a sudden, and it ended up breaking my 360," a Microsoft forum member wrote. "I can no longer play any of my games," he says before concluding, "This is my third Xbox 360. At this point I'm debating whether it's even worth my time to seek out a new console."

"Maybe it's a futile effort," writes another Xbox 360 owner in frustration shortly after his console allegedly broke after playing Halo 3.

The total number of Halo 3 owners experiencing problems is currently unknown, however. According to first day sales receipts, Microsoft may have already sold more than two million copies of the game, opening up the possibility that a few thousand issues could still fall within an acceptable range of product failure (less than 3 percent).

Regardless, the gaming world and electronics industry are slightly on edge after Microsoft announced in July that an "uncomfortable number" of Xbox 360 units fail. Some reports estimate failure rates as high as 33 percent.

Microsoft and Bungie officials were not immediately available for comment. A video of the issue can be seen below.

-- Blake Snow

Disc Read Errors?

Having problems with Halo 3? Here are a few steps that may help in the short term.

1. Remove the hard drive.
Some users are reporting that removing their Xbox 360 hard drive is allowing them to play campaign and online matches. If you've got an Xbox 360 Memory Unit, try dumping your saves onto it and playing from there.

2. Restore to Initial Settings.
You'll find this option in the Dashboard, under System Settings. It forces your 360 back to its default starting settings -- it seems to help some players.

3. Check the disc for errors.
Make sure your disc isn't dirty. If it's damaged, return it to the store or use Microsoft's Halo 3 L.E. disc replacement offer.

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