Today's the day that Halo fans have been waiting for. Not only have Microsoft announced the release date for Halo 3 - 26th Sept in Europe, 25th in US - but the Halo 3 multiplayer beta will be available to download on Xbox Live from early afternoon (UK time). Prospective fraggers will need a copy of Crackdown - the beta is accessed through the downloads menu - and a lot of patience as they wait for the file to download. Early shots look a little underwhelming but judgement will be reserved until we've played the thing.
Personally I've never bought into the Halo hype, partly because getting sniped by over-caffeinated teenagers is not my favourite pastime and partly because I always felt I was missing something with the game generally. Sure the AI was impressive on the harder levels and yes some of the innovations - such as the shield regeneration - worked well. But essentially you're just shooting aliens again, in much the same way we've been doing since Space Invaders. Is this still enough in 2007? Microsoft's Peter Moore describes Halo 3 as the, "biggest entertainment event of the year". Let's hope the hype finally matches reality. Let us know your thoughts on the Halo 3 beta.
