We reported earlier this month how the release of Halo 2 for Windows Vista was being listed by UK retailers as having its date pushed back by a week - from May 18 to May 25. Now, however, Microsoft has confirmed that the first-person shooter has been pushed back yet again to June 08. And the real reason for this delay, you ask? Partial nudity no less.

In an e-mail statement sent to Next-Gen, Microsoft wrote:

"It has come to our attention that an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity was included in our initial production of “Halo 2” for Windows Vista. As such, we have updated the initial game packaging at retailers with a label, so customers are aware before purchasing the game. Additionally, we’ve developed an online update, which can be downloaded from www.halo2.com to remove the content. 

“At Microsoft we take the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) guidelines very seriously and hold ourselves to high standards, with our customers always in mind.”

And Microsoft isn't messin' about either. Over at Halo2.com in the support section is a patch dated 5/22, although the fixes it, erm, fixes, aren't detailed. Of course, some might not consider the hold up to be at all necessary, especially given that Halo 2 is already an 'M for Mature' rated game (17 years and older) anyway. How bad could the partial nudity be, we wonder?

Image captures of any revealed Spartan nudity should be sent directly to our editor at... just kidding, Stevie.