Pirates get their hands on 'Gears Of War 2'

Xbox 360 exclusive Gears Of War 2 has been illegally distributed via filesharing websites two weeks before its November 7 release, Team Xbox has reported.

The copy was forged from the NTSC version of Epic Game's third-person shooter and is comprised of 73 RAR files totaling 6.67GB. A modified console is required to run the pirated copy, which is said to be the handiwork of a group known as "x360inT".

Gears Of War 2 is the second Xbox 360 title to fall into the hands of pirates in recent weeks, following Bethesda's Fallout 3 a fortnight ago.

Epic's lead game designer Cliff Bleszinski recently revealed that the reason the title did not appear on the PC was due to the risk of piracy.