Halo 3 Epsilon cheaters banned until 9999 AD

Microsoft is apparently making strong examples of anyone trying to sneak into the Halo 3 Epsilon test. The crackdown came to light when a 17-year-old Minnesotan who goes by the handle "Scar" posted a tale of woe on the forums of the Halo-focused modding site Se7ensins.com. His post was accompanied by a photo of his ban notice from Xbox Live, which expires on December 31, 9999 AD--some 7,447 years after the events in Halo are supposed to take place.

How did the eternal banhammer fall on Scar? "A friend said he got the Epsilon from a friend and offered me to glitch it onto my account with what you call the two-controller exploit," he told GameSpot. "I downloaded it from Marketplace and played it for maybe six hours or so all alone, in custom games and campaign. [Then] it would kick me offline every time i tried to play Epsilon. It wasn't until the next day when i signed on that I found out i got banned."

Despite being a self-described "achievement whore" with a GamerScore of over 61,000, Scar--who doesn't want his real name made public--has no plans to appeal his ban. "Other people i know that had this happen to them at the same time as me called support and had no luck," he rued. "I know of at least 10 others that downloaded it and got banned till 9999."

When asked for comment, reps for Microsoft said the company was not officially commenting on the 7,992-year bans. However, a source close to Bungie said the ban screen "looked legit," wryly adding, "Sorry, great, great, great, great grandkids."