The Xbox 360 version of EA and Bioware’s hugely anticipated sci-fi RPG Mass Effect 2 has been leaked to international torrent sites a week before the game is scheduled to hit shelves on January 26.

Despite Microsoft banning over 1 million Xbox Live accounts linked to chipped consoles in late 2009, publishers  continue to face the problem of piracy on the console, and more worryingly, of games being leaked before their release date.

Local distributors will to an extent be protected by high bandwidth prices, but there is no denying that piracy remains a serious problem for the gaming industry both internationally and locally, with a significant increase in piracy on the Xbox 360 over the past 2 years.

It is supposedly impossible (or at least very difficult) to pirate games for the PS3, a fact which will comfort EA SA knowing that PS3 holds the majority of market share in local HD console gaming. 

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