Aussie Battlefield 3 street date broken

With just hours to go until the official release of Battlefield 3 in Australia, EA's highly anticipated military shooter has jumped the gun early. Some retail stores are now selling the game early, after retailer Target at Chatswood sold the game earlier today (as first reported by Kotaku AU). Megaretailer JB Hi-Fi has now followed suit, sending an email to all their retailers telling them to start selling the game.

GameSpot AU contacted staff at Target in Chatswood and was told that the game was no longer on sale until tomorrow. Regardless, the game is now widely available around the country, although stock seems to be a bit haphazard. A JB Hi-Fi employee told GS AU that while they've received stock for both the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, Xbox 360 stock isn't slated to arrive until tomorrow morning.

A source close EB Games Australia told GS AU that while they weren't currently selling Battlefield 3, they were sending out employees to scout the situation. According to EB Games' company policy, the retailer has to wait until they have physical evidence that another retailer has broken the release date before they are allowed to start selling the title. The source also confirmed that the initial leak came from Chatswood Target where one copy was sold before EA intervened and pulled the game from sale. At this stage, it's uncertain how the leak will affect EB Games' planned midnight launches around Australia.

GAME Australia also confirmed the street date via Twitter, announcing that its midnight launches are still slated to go ahead tonight despite the early launch. The tweet also indicated that it was looking to start selling the game early.

UPDATE: EB Games Australia and GAME have both announced that they're now selling Battlefield 3 early. Selected midnight launch events are still happening, but you should call the store before you head out.