Are you able to have 4 people online with only one Xbox live account? Most games have pissed me off by making your friends have more than one account to play with you...

All you need is one account.

I have heard they can fine up to $100,000 but how would they know?

how about talking and bragging about how you have played it already on internet forums. It is a starting point.

Good point, I personally wouldn't play it untill after the full game comes out (why ruin the "surprises"?) But I have to admit I know people that are really eager to get some extra practice to get an edge...

Funny bit I read somewhere on the internet...

The true story behind the Halo 2 Xbox leak:
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First of all, you need to be aware that this game is a leaked beta! The guy who leaked it is a friend of mine who works on the factory that prints the xbox-dvds of Halo2! (for claritys sake, let us call him Saint-Germande!). Alright, here is the story; Saint-Germande (S.G. from now on!) hates his boss on the factory, so I had an easy time convincing him to steal it for me! Ever since it went gold (they print one master dvd in 24 karat gold, coz gold dvd's are better quality!) - I begged my friend to steal it. But alas! - He was nervous... Then one day the boss yelled at him and things started to happen. He said 'fuck my boss' and 'i will give it to you for 1 bag of weed'. So done deal. So now we all have Halo2 and life is good... OR IS IT? See; coz Bungie knew this could very well happen (they are not stupid!) - so they put in some safemeasures! I will try to list the known issues with this game, issues that you as a pirate need to be aware of!

1. This game installs a tiny program in your bios. When the game loads, it flashes a tiny part of the xbox bios, a blank space which M$ made JUST for such events! Now why is this important? Well, I will tell you! : Here goes: I use dialup for my xbox, so this is how I noticed: One day in the middle of the night (4am) I heard my modem started dailing to the INTERNET! If i had broadband, i obviously wouldnt have heard, as broadband is silent! (fuck you, i want dsl!) So I was like 'wtf!?' and stormed outta bed and into the living room! There it was! Proof! In the middle of the night, this aforementioned tiny program in the bios, had booted the xbox and turned on my TV! I could see all sorts of data being transmitted, and the next thing i know my phone rings... yes... you heard me... i was panicking!!! 'OMG' I said and trembled as I walked to the phone... Then!: I picked up the phone (sweat was now dripping from my shaking body). "THIS IS MICROSOFT, ANTI PIRACY DEPARTMENT! WE HAVE DETECTED THAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR POSSESION A LEAK OF HALO2"... I hung up... I have been living at my moms house ever since... Dunno if it was a prank call, but who knows? I dare not return...

2. This isnt final software! The smart people at the dvd factory only burn 99.9% of the dvd's and then stack em up! When they are ready to leave the factory, they quickly burn the last missing 0.1% in a few hours. Hence this game cannot be completed!

3. As an extra, Microsoft has decided that this game (HALO2 J00 Ph00L!) should be released with the new spyware 'Bonze Buddy XB'. This software will (besides eating your bandwidth!) monitor your gaming habits and report them back to MS! I have already experienced several POPUPS during my gaming! THIS SUX! WHYYY MS!??? WHYYYY? I was in the middle of a game of when these advertisements for VIAGRA started popping up on my TV!

4. Misconception! I repeat! THE GAME IS NOT (!!!) IN FRENCH! Let me explain to you idiots; as i said in section 2 (see section 2!) the game still needs a final 0.1%! In this case the missing part is the 'reverse bit'. Allow me to go on; All the samples were stored on the dvd in REVERSE! Hence, the last 0.1% to be burned was the REVERSE BIT which was supposed to arrange the sound FOREWARD instead of BACKWARDS as it is now! result? the game has strange sound when the characters speak! To some this has been interpreted as the french language! THIS IS NOT SO! It is just ENGLISH in reverse! Im french, so I KNOW!

Wow, that's the dumbest thing I've ever read. How did a Bios edit to the XBOX turn on his TV automatically? I want my 2 minutes back.

It was a joke the guy is not for real. I find it pretty funny was a fun read.

What is going to be real funny is when poeple don't get the joke and turn him into bungie.

Whoa! Now I know why my xbox calls to me at night. I thought I was just an addicted gamer but now I know it's something Microsoft planted in my xbox.

Besides, in the French version you portray Master Chef.....I don't know about you but I will wait.

I didn't even finish the above cause it was so stupid, but to anyone with legitmate questions as to weather it is the final version or not, why would they pay the translators for a non-final version?