Halo 3 beta on 16th May

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 April, 2007

Three maps promised.

Halo 3's multiplayer beta will go live on 16th May at 1pm GMT and run until 7th June at 7.59am GMT, Microsoft said this morning.

You're promised a look at "new levels, weapons, vehicles and game types, as well as a chance to provide valuable data that [developer] Bungie will use in continued development".

The maps available will be Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla, while you'll get to pootle around in the Mongoose all-terrain vehicle, using the new Assault Rifle, the Brute Spiker, the Spartan Laser and Spike Grenades to take one another out.

That's assuming you're on the beta. Gamers who secured a position by buying a specially marked copy of Crackdown, through the "Rule of Three" promotion or via another competition (or by ceaselessly begging friends at Bungie), will have no problems.

Microsoft reckons there should still be some copies of Crackdown on sale with a beta sticker on them, so keep an eye out.

In the meantime, why not take a look at a new behind-the-scenes trailer on Bungie's website or Xbox Live Marketplace? Called "Is Quisnam Protero Damno!", it offers a glimpse of Halo 3 multiplayer maps being made.

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 (41) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • Yossarian #1 5 years ago

    yayayayayayayayayayayayay

  • DUFFKING #2 5 years ago

    Not a huge halo fan but I'll be checking this out, simply because it's Halo.

  • dbeamish #3 5 years ago

    I think a lot of people are going to get very hyped up over this and then play it and even if it is a good game, feel let down after all their self installed hype. It's only an FPS and I can't see there being that much in the way of changes - if it ain't broke don't fix it as it were... that said I wasn't a big fan of either Halo tbh. Giving people the beta to play whilst is good for the final game, does take the edge off of the final release imo.

  • symmetry #4 5 years ago

    Only the multiplayer though.

  • Yaster #5 5 years ago

    Great, at least I know when I'll be able to trade Crackdown in.

  • Yossarian #6 5 years ago

    downloading new vidoc now!!!!!!!!

  • Yossarian #7 5 years ago

    26% complete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Yossarian #8 5 years ago

    89%!"!!!!!

  • neilka #9 5 years ago

    "16th May 2007 - that was the day the internet exploded."

  • Yossarian #10 5 years ago

    bubble shield confirmed! also trip mines!

  • Yossarian #11 5 years ago

    excitement +1000

  • Inquisitor #12 5 years ago

    Wow, the first part of the video is a bit meh, but the snow level looks so gorgeous, and the shield and mines look fantastic.

    The fact that you can record matches and watch them back is great aswell, they mentioned AI aswell, hopefully that'll be included in the final game for offline splitscreen (unlikely, but pdz is one of the best splitscreen games on the 360 just because of the bots).

  • neilka #13 5 years ago

    Bungie's site says it's released at 12am PDT, which is 8am BST/7am GMT - rather than 1pm GMT as in the EG article.

  • Yossarian #14 5 years ago

    in some parts the framerate is pretty dodgy, and it doesn't generally have the same gritty realism of something like Gears, but the sheer scale of some of the maps makes you look twice. it still fundamentally looks like Halo, but high-res, high-detail Halo on a bigger stage.

  • GitSomE_UK #15 5 years ago

    Woohoo \0/

  • Eighthours #16 5 years ago

    Less than a month's worth of play time. Ah well. :(

    I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, seeing as it's free!

  • The_Inquisitor #17 5 years ago

    I'm patient and can wait for the main game. Well, that's what I said before. Damn how I regret it now. : (

  • Inquisitor #18 5 years ago

    Argh, bloody hell, your usernames a bit shit isn't it?

    ;)

  • Yossarian #19 5 years ago

    from neogaf:

    "Graphics (with the exception of Snowbound's soft surfaces) are missing lots of the things that make them look cool.

    All of the water you saw, for example, is placeholder. No decorators are in those maps. The frame rates are all over the place. Some of that footage has correct lighting, some of it doesn't. All of that footage is olde. Although Snowbound looks about the most recent, it's missing new shaders and wind effects, as well as more subtle touches in the architecture.

    The textures on High ground are very old, as is the general appearance of Valhalla.

    Bubble Shield and Tripmine are just two of the X-Button Equipment deployments. They are not grenades."

  • pbdarko #20 5 years ago

    348mb on marketplace if anyone wants to know

  • Eighthours #21 5 years ago

    No player matches, only matchmaking in the beta. Curses.

  • space_ace #22 5 years ago

    halo is doomed

  • Yossarian #23 5 years ago

    presumably it still has the party system so you can take friends into matchmaking though

  • Cloudane #24 5 years ago

    That video takes me back to the days when I played Halo on multi-player quite often.

    The graphics may not be on the level of Gears of War but the style is good enough and allows other greater features such as the physics (love them!) and other particle effects that were non-existence in Halo 2.

    You can see every bullet and gunfire from all angles on the video too.

    I cannot wait.

  • Yossarian #25 5 years ago

    [link url=http://grapefruit.quickshareit.com/share/picture1a5291.png
    ]http://grapefruit.quickshareit.com/share...[/link]

    curved HUD!

  • rhinoxious #26 5 years ago

    Dammit, it only runs for less than a month! I was expecting to be able to play the beta up until the actual game came out!

    Plus I'm on holiday from the 6th to the 26th of May. so I'll miss the first ten days too. Curses. Curses. Curses. Curses. Curses. Curses. Curses. Curses.

  • Cloudane #27 5 years ago

    I still think Halo has the best HUD for any (console) FPS and the new sleek curved HUD is lovely. It is nice to see all the icons being put as far out of the center-view as possible to keep the distractions to a minimum and allow a greater sense of view.

    Yes, I'm excited and so should you be.

  • gizmo #28 5 years ago

    I've put HOURS into Halo multiplayer, but that all looks very average to me, I have to say.

    I have grown to HATE games where you can bunny hop all over the place. I'm hoping that footage is old, the frame rates are horrible.

    Verdict: Less excited than before I had watched it :(

  • GitSomE_UK #29 5 years ago

    Hmm is it me, on the video it looks like they are all playing on Black Xbox 360's.

    BTW looks good BUT bunny hopping yowling yanks I'm not looking forward to.

    Playing with the guys who are members of the EG League Of Civilised Gamers... Oh yes! :-)

    Edited by GitSomE_UK at 10/04/07 @ 12:49

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #30 5 years ago

    Have I missed a step, or is this the first time bubble shields and trip mines have been properly revealed (apart from the shield in the trailer)? And are these indeed x-button items or what?

    Oooooh, it's all so exciting!

  • perspex #31 5 years ago

    "Hmm is it me, on the video it looks like they are all playing on Black Xbox 360's."

    those are dev kits

  • Dizzy #32 5 years ago

    Oh boy.. watch the internet crawl on the 16th ;)

    Looking forward to this.... getting tired of WoW. I need a new online time addiction.

  • Ares #33 5 years ago

    I've always been a massive Halo fan. Since having become totally absorbed in the campaign mode of the original, the story element alone has made my future purchase of Halo 3 a certainty.

    But after having lost countless hours of my miserable existence (sniffle) to marathon sessions of Halo 2 system link with my neighbours and friends, the prospect of the, all of a sudden, gorgeous looking Halo 3 multiplayer has me giggling like a school girl.

    Oh we longed for the ability to view replays as we passionately discussed and argued over the prior proceedings of double kill rocket devastation, impossibly unlikely sniper headshots, and the mystery of somebody surviving multiple energy sword hits... No longer will protestations of BULLSHIT!!! go unproven. Hooray for Bungie, developer Gods. Along with Valve, Nintendo, Epic, (and for a while Rare), they are amongst my most respected game-maker-people.

    That video rawked!

    Edit: Spelling
    Edited by Ares at 10/04/07 @ 15:23

  • Kosumo #34 5 years ago

    Please, exam be before this! Please, exam be before this! Please exam be before this!

  • Xerx3s #35 5 years ago

    in some parts the framerate is pretty dodgy, and it doesn't generally have the same gritty realism of something like Gears, but the sheer scale of some of the maps makes you look twice. it still fundamentally looks like Halo, but high-res, high-detail Halo on a bigger stage.

    Isn't that basically what people wanted? ;)

  • stuarty_2003 #36 5 years ago

    I'm assuming that you can still play as the Elites?

  • enzima #37 5 years ago

    I' ve never played a halo before in my life, i didn't see the video, i only read the posts and.....i'm starting to get excited about this. I'll blame YOU people for this!

  • Saltefanden #38 5 years ago

    enzima:

    Then you're missing something unique! Buy the games, play them and step on the hype train ;)

  • polymorph #39 5 years ago

    Have the halo triple pack, although i bought both on release, and sold them soon after( i was still bothering to upgrade my pc then!!) Played halo 2 again on my 360 still got bored a long time before the end, is it just me?
    Just downloaded the new doc from live, Mmmm that looks good, im glad i bought crackdown, cause it's a quallity game, but also i like the look of that multiplayer halo beta.
    Lets just hope the single player is as good eh?

  • enzima #40 5 years ago

    Would you guys reccomend it even now? (i'm a bit of a graphic whore, so i dont play anymore ps2 and my wii is used solely to collect dust!)

  • Xerx3s #41 5 years ago

    Halo 1 might look a bit outdated but still has it's moments (the drop ship or beach landing are timeless it seems) but Halo 2 still looks good.Especially the later levels on the covenant city and the map room are very atmospheric.

    EDIT: Hell, you can wake me up for the mausoleum fight any day. That music just gets me pumped up thinking about it.
    Edited by Xerx3s at 10/04/07 @ 19:25