Microsoft has officially announced today that Halo 3 will be available on 16 May for download and multiplayer beta testing.
Registration for beta testing closed officially yesterday but Microsoft had marked some boxes of their Xbox 360 game Crackdown with special Halo 3 stickers.
Those who have purchased Crackdown will be able to use it as a key to download the Halo 3 beta from Xbox Live Marketplace and play the multiplayer. Beta testing for Halo 3 will run until 6 June.
The Halo series has “changed the face of console gaming forever”, said Shane Kim, corporate vice-president of Microsoft Game Studios.
“Gamers from around the world have logged more than 800 million hours on Xbox Live playing Halo 2 and years after its launch it remains the No 1 title on our Xbox Live network.”
He said of beta testing the multiplayer aspect of Halo 3: “Bringing an early look at the multiplayer elements of Halo 3 to our passionate fan base is tremendously exciting for us.”
When beta testing begins on 16 May, gamers can expect to play three different medium- to large-scale combat areas called Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla.
New vehicles and weapons such as the Spartan Laser and Spike Grenades will also be available for testing in the beta.
Halo developers Bungie will use valuable information from this beta testing for future development of new games and improvements.
By Marie Boran