AfterDawn: News

Contrary to how previous releases of the much vaulted Halo series, Bungie together with Microsoft have announced that sometime next year, Halo 3 will test it's multiplayer functionality through open beta. The public beta session will exist within Xbox Live geared towards the Xbox 360 owners. Additionally, Bungie announced that additional Halo 2 maps will be available to Xbox 360 owners, but not players with the original Xbox.

Brian Jarrard of Bungie stated on their website, "We can confirm that our fans will have an opportunity to play Halo 3 multiplayer over Xbox Live before the final game is available." When asked about how Xbox owners might feel towards the maps not being made available to them, Mr. Jarrard replied with, "We can't really blame you for potentially being a little upset at this news. We have the opportunity to give our fans some new content over two years after the game shipped but ultimately, when it comes to pricing and timing and distribution and exclusivity, it's not up to Bungie."



The Halo series is Microsoft's most profitable franchise for their console market. This move is being called an action that will keep fans loyal to their platform.

Source:
BBC

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 16 Nov 2006 5:20