Today marks the fifth anniversary of Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved. To celebrate (and run interference on their competitors both launching new consoles during this week), Microsoft and Bungie made three announcements that will probably make some Halo-fans tinkle a lil' bit.
- Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta -- Spring 2007: While the release doesn't go into specifics about how the multiplayer demo will be distributed -- it will be available in Spring of 2007 -- it does promise that "Through the resulting feedback, Bungie Studios will be able to further refine and hone the end result of Halo 3." Will the demo be distributed over Xbox Live? Will this be a beta that you pay incrementally for? Could it be a software or hardware pack-in? Playing Halo 3 multiplayer early is good news, but how will we get it?
- Halo 2 Xbox 360 Exclusive Content -- Spring 2007: New multiplayer maps (yeah, it's plural in the official PR) are headed to Halo 2 exclusively for the Xbox 360 (sorry to still-using Xbox gamers) this spring.
- The first Halo 3 television ad will air on Dec. 4: The 60-second spot will air during the Dec. 4 ESPN Monday Night Football game. The spot will be made available for Xbox 360 users to download via the Xbox Live Marketplace. In the wake of the spot, the second video documentary of Halo 3's creation will be released with new music from Marty O'Donnell.
Oh, and that image above? That's just the first image from Halo 3's single player campaign regular player.
