Uh oh. With only eight days to go until release, Battlefield 3 has been leaked to the internet. Could this mean some disastrous news for DICE and their purported Call of Duty-killer? Or will this have little-to-no impact on day one sales for one of the biggest shooters of the year?

Weighing in at 9.96 GBs, the leaked copy of Battlefield 3 features the single player campaign in its entirety. Why so big? Well, Frostbite 2 is capable of a lot of rendering and graphical heavy lifting, so it's easy to think that a majority of the space is dedicated to DICE's new graphic engine. Nobody has taken responsibility for the leak yet, but the easily inferred reason could be somebody got a copy early at a retailer and decided to take action to "share" the wealth on the internet.

It isn't the first time this year that a AAA game got leaked. Crysis 2 experienced a leak earlier in the year, but didn't suffer too much of a hit in the sales department. A Gears of War 3 early build was also the victim of a leak, and Epic Games responded to ensure the affront would not go unpunished.

We at Game Rant do not advocate any kind of piracy. Remember, DICE put in a lot of hard work to make sure the game is worth your hard earned money, so don't pirate the game.

DICE has not yet commented on the leak and what it will or will not mean for the final release for Battlefield 3. Seeing as the leak is just the PC version, console sales might still be safe from any kind of effect. In the end, most people will buy BF3 for its multiplayer experience, which is safe and sound from the leaked version.

Battlefield 3 releases October 25, 2011, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

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Source: DSO Gaming