With the Halo 3 ad blitz starting, Best Buy is getting into the excitement in a special way: a price increase that the Internet has already dubbed the "Halo 3 Tax." Probably timed more with the recent Xbox 360 price drop, Best Buy is now listing various peripherals for $3 above MSRP—mostly batteries and charging kits, but also cables and the official Microsoft headset.

Of course, customers can still price match to drive these prices down to normal levels (or just shop somewhere else), but the move to inflate Microsoft merchandise prices when Microsoft is actively lowering prices is disheartening. Later adoption is supposed to be cheaper, Best Buy. So what gives? Maybe, and this is a stretch, the price increase is Best Buy's retailer response to Microsoft blocking third party peripherals on their system? [filefront via digg]

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