Yes you heard correct, halo 3 beta is available to download as of 1pm this afternoon to Crackdown game owners or some "family and friends" members of the bungie forums that were randomly sent codes they could redeem on the marketplace!

CANT WAIT!

 

Official launch date has also been announced, earlier than I thought it would be:

Xbox.com | Xbox News - Halo 3 Release Date Announced

 

And we thought the Forza 2 demo was slow to download

 

Odd, Forza 2 took ½hour for me to download (2meg line).

 

It took nearly 3 hours to download for me, and that's on a 10meg line. Download rates to seem to vary wildly. I guess it depends on which download server you get connected to (and the network traffic).

Not bothering with the Halo3 beta myself. I'll wait until all the bugs are removed and the final graphics are put in before I bother with it

 

but dont you have to have crackdown to be able to download this...

 

anyone managed to start downloading the beta test yet??

i keep geting told to check back later

 

Yes...

 

According to Bungie they are having a few problems, oopss..

Folks are reporting problems downloading the Halo 3 Beta via Crackdown this morning. We have alerted the appropriate Live authorities and they are taking care of the problem as we speak. More news as it comes in.

 

Yup,im sat here on the Crackdown download page, nothing as yet

 

Same here, bollox

 

24hrs is what Bungie is saying ....

Majornelsons site is FUBARED because of the traffic.

 

LOL, so much fuss about playing an unfinished game (and it's probably bug ridden - as they've already had to release a patch). The power of hype strikes again

 

Is that not what a 'beta' version is ?

No hype here, I don't recall seeing much said or given away about Halo3, I'm certainly not expecting anything ground breaking over Halo2. Simply enjoyed 1 & 2 and looking forward to this one..

 

Depends on the company releasing the software. When we release beta software externally, it's usually complete and almost bug free

It's one of the most hyped games of the year

 

Crackdown has now been patched and the download is working - 911mb

 

Downloaded it this morning, went to play it and its says its ether unavailable or that the beta's expired

 

downloading now ....

 

Mine did the same, reboot the 360 and it will work.

 

Downloaded this morning, took about 40 minutes.
Had a quick root around (movie menu etc) but not many people playing at 06:15 ;-)
Wouldn't mind a pound for every "server busy" message over the next 4 days related to H3-beta

 

BTW, you can background download it if you want to start it running and have the 360 switch off when done.

Just start it downloading via Crackdown, then stop the download and return to the dashboard. Under the Marketplace tab, Account Settings, Download History, you can resume the download and shutdown your console (presuming you have Background Downloads activated).

 

Cheers Dunk just been home to do that

 

downloading now

 

it's Halo 2.5 but still a good multiplayer giggle

 

i noticed the other day when i put in halo 2, the front screen says its 1.5. Im sure that number wasnt there before...

 

Talk about frustrating! Load Crackdown, 2 minutes later, load Halo 3 beta. Wait up to 10 minutes for xbox live to 'match' you a game. Finally get to play but sometimes game kicks you off after a minute or finishes after about 3 minutes. Then it's back to boring old matchmaking again.
The game is great but xbox live is just **** - I'm on a one month gold trial but no way is it worth £5 a month.
Is it this bad for everyone?

 

Xbox live isn't s**t it does have a bit of a problem on halo 3 but it is a BETA so they are having to work out the problems.
Play stuff like Rainbow 6 online to find out how good Live is.

 

so how was it if anyone played it?

so if i borrow a copy of crackdown will i be able to download it, though i bet you need the disc in each time to play it.

 

you need the disc as it loads from it but it's fantastic played it for about 3 hours yesterday.
It's more Halo 1 multiplayer then Halo 2 (which i didn't like) new weapons (Spartan Laser,Spiker pistols,geo sheild,trip mines,Minigun,new style Rocket launcher),new vehicle (mongoose basically a quad bike).