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Halo 3 beta has split-screen

And saved films feature.

Halo 3's public multiplayer beta will allow you to play split-screen on one console in addition to all that online tomfoolery.

You'll also be receiving your first look at the "saved films" feature. And then your second, third, fourth, etc.

That's all according to Bungie's latest weekly update, which also adds that split-screen on high-definition screens will be slightly different to what you'd expect.

"Instead of stretching the horizontal or vertical axes into big, scary too wide or too tall horrors, we've sensibly windowed the action, maintaining lots of screen real estate, but preserving a proper, playable aspect ratio," the update reveals.

As for saved films, "The version you'll try in the beta, is very, very, very limited. We just want you to play around with the general concept. You'll be reading more about this in the gaming press in the next month or two, and of course you can try it out for yourselves in less than a month."

On 16th May, in fact, when the Halo 3 beta first goes live, bringing with it three maps (Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla), new weapons, new vehicles and even new controls.

We're quite excited. So's Bungie, since this past Friday's weekly update is gigantic, and also crushes various rumours, and includes the developer's latest news on the recent Halo 2 maps release and some of the teething troubles they're still experiencing.