Thanks to the thousand other sites that already reported this news! Thanks busted RSS reader, College hours and my haste to bring you the awesomness that is the news!

An Australian copy of Halo 3 has broken away from its tightly-guarded brethren and found its way onto eBay according to Spanish blog Ecteia. Presumably stolen from a mountain of PAL versions waiting to ship, Halo 3 joins its younger brother as a Halo game that refuses to go quietly into that good street-dated night.

Halo 2 faced similar issues with multiple broken street dates and the French version leaking online for download.

While no official word from anyone claims it to be a legitamate copy of the game, the image on the auction exposes its innards to squash any speculation (looks legit to us!).

Before the item could go to the highest bidder, eBay removed the auction and has since disabled your ability to grab the copy.

Halo 3 is set to ship in the Americas on September 25th, while the PAL version will hit retail on September 26th.

[eBay Auction Listing: Now Removed]

[JoyStiq : Kotaku]