A first for the acclaimed Halo franchise, the limited public beta was an overwhelming success, seeing more than 820,000 unique participants and more than 12 million hours of online gameplay in its short test period, equivalent to more than 1,400 years of continuous play by one person.
Now that the beta has closed, consumers worldwide can gear up for the games release with a variety of new merchandise, including two new Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Controllers designed by Spawn and McFarlane Toys creator Todd McFarlane, as well as an Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Headset, which lets gamers talk with friends over Xbox LIVE.. The controllers and headset will be available starting in early September and can be preordered at select retailers today, allowing Halo fans everywhere to prepare for the launch of this year's biggest game.
"The participation in the Halo 3 beta was staggering," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "Witnessing such a great reaction to a small portion of the game has been inspiring. It's a testament to the fervor and anticipation that surrounds Halo 3. Were confident that on Sept. 25 Halo 3 will drive an unprecedented wave of new gamers to the Xbox 360 platform and Xbox LIVE."
The Halo 3 beta, an early look at parts of the multiplayer gameplay of Halo 3, debuted to Xbox 360 owners worldwide via Xbox LIVE on May 16. The more than 820,000 users who played the beta resulted in more than 350 terabytes of data downloaded from Xbox LIVE, equivalent to more than 82 million digital music downloads from the Internet.* Also telling was the players' response to an exciting new saved-film feature, which provided them with the unprecedented ability to record their games and share them over Xbox LIVE with friends for the first time on Xbox 360. The feature, which was unveiled in the beta, saw more than 580,000 saved films created by users, representing more than 2.7 terabytes of data. Because of the tremendous participation in the beta, Bungie now has an exhaustive amount of data that will be used to improve the overall game experience.
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