Halo 3 beta has split-screen

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 April, 2007

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.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • onyxbox #1 5 years ago

    sounds good

  • gizmo #2 5 years ago

    "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,"

    /runs translator

    we couldn't get split screen to run at a decent framerate, so we made the windows smaller.

  • valli #3 5 years ago

    gizmo :D

    At least they know how to turn bad news into good news.

  • joeking #4 5 years ago

    Looking forward to it. If it's half the online game that Halo 2 is, it will be amazing.

  • tomwhitaker #5 5 years ago

    "we couldn't get split screen to run at a decent framerate, so we made the windows smaller"

    Reminds me of Stunt Race FX on the SNES :)

  • foamy #6 5 years ago

    So.. Everyone's downloading this on 16th May. teh internet will be teh crash.

  • Aurifex. #7 5 years ago

    Yawn. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, wake me up when the game is out.

  • stuarty_2003 #8 5 years ago

    Split-screen? Does this mean after the beta has finished that it will still be possible to play 1vs1 on the same xbox?

  • J0YCIE #9 5 years ago

    @DAMAGE.INC.

    You do KNOW what a BETA is don't you? And alot of screen shots and videos are ALPHA versions of the game. So no. There wont be anything too special about graphics. Even though it doesn't need amazing graphics because its Halo, therefore, it's amazing anyway.

    @stuarty_2003

    The BETA will have an expiry date, and will delete its self from your hard drive when it runs out.
    Edited by J0YCIE at 30/04/07 @ 13:19

  • GitSomE_UK #10 5 years ago

    /spanks monkey

  • Kosumo #11 5 years ago

    Do you think you will get away with changing the date on your 360 and not connecting to live for a while just to continue playing for a bit longer I wonder.

  • SomaticSense #12 5 years ago

    "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."

    WOW. Fuck me, I'm definitely getting that game now! OMFG, I MUST get this game cause of the slightly different controls! I can't bear the wait anymore!!!

    /shakes self violently, to dry off the drenching sarcasm

  • Sorb #13 5 years ago

    Damn thatīs a nice wallpaper on Bungieīs site, good thing I clicked on the link!

    With only 17 more days to go until the beta is out I think itīs high time for Bungie/Microsoft to get started with that next competition for beta keys they promised (More ways to get Halo 3 beta) for us Europeans! Iīm not looking to buy Crackdown in the next 2 weeks.

    (Edits to fix the link)
    Edited by Sorb at 30/04/07 @ 18:05

  • captainrentboy #14 5 years ago

    Well fuck the majority of you moaning bastards :) I'm looking forward to the Beta immensely, that vid online of the reworked Zanzibar level (My fave from Halo 2)looks pretty darned groovy.
    Does anyone know if the Beta will actually have proper matchmaking, or will you be thrown into a match with a load of randoms every time you play?

  • captain-future #15 5 years ago

    What about the aspect ratio?

    Ah never mind, saved films (replay?) feature sounds fun.

  • Jas315 #16 5 years ago

    What happens to 360 after Halo 3 is out in stores for over a year?

    Ohhhhhh...

    It dies.

    /Grabs coat.

  • davisorle #17 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012