Halo 3 Beta Broken

Or dare we say... 'cracked'

Posted by Staff
After all the months of hype and anticipation, the Halo 3 beta has finally gone live, except for all those people who thought buying Crackdown would get them access.

Bungie has posted on its website, “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.

“With any luck this will be a short delay. People enetering the Beta through other methods - Friends and Family, Rule of Three and so on, are unaffected.”

As gamers attempt to access the beta through Crackdown they're finding the download greyed out with a suggestion that that they check back later.

The beta should have gone live at 1pm today.

It's a bitter pill to swallow for all the Halo fans out there who rushed out to buy a copy of Crackdown solely for the beta access. SPOnG thinks it serves them right for treating what's actually a pretty decent game in its own right like a cheap whore.

To find out what SPOnG thought of the Halo 3 beta while you're waiting for access, click here. You can find out more on SPOnG's dedicated game page.
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Comments

Saga 16 May 2007 17:01
1/9
Hey personally I bought Crackdown (and won a copy from an energy drink company as well) to play Crackdown, I looked at the Beta as an added bonus. Most people who have played Crackdown agree it is a great game.
Steve Elbows 16 May 2007 18:44
2/9
Its been even worse for me, I still have not come to terms with my bad luck today. I switched on my 360 before 1pm, with crackdown in the drive, and it said an update was available. I downloaded it, crackdown worked but obviously the halo beta was still greyed out. So I went on the net to see what time it was due out, and switched off the 360 whilst I waited. Now Crackdown wont load, it tells me to clean the disc. It seemed like a bit of a co-incidence that Id just updated it, but when I look at the disc there are some scratches. Either way, now I cant play Crackdown or the halo 3 beta when it finally emerges, argh, I'll probably have to buy Crackdown again. It does not make me feel any better to know there are thousands of others who are unhappy today because of this halo 3 beta cockup, and I cant even play crackdown to take my mind off things. I should of stayed in bed today. OK thats enough of feeling sorry for myself, hope everyone else gets the beta real soon now.
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Halo 3 Beta Victim 16 May 2007 19:07
3/9
"SPOnG thinks it serves them right for treating what's actually a pretty decent game in its own right like a cheap whore."

SPOnG, I don't think that this is a fair comment since Bungie and Microsoft saw it as an opportunity to attract people to a new game that many would not know was potnetially good unless there was soemthing to be attracted to it. I personally wouldn't have given it a second thought without this level of marketing. Those unaffected people on Friends and Family as well as Rule of Three participants would feel the same way if they followed the prescribed rules regardless of their motives and then awaited the beta only to get nothing in return for their loyalty to the Halo franchise. Right now it does suck to be us but it will come back full circle to M$ and Bungie. Before you go on saying that they do not owe us anything - Remember AOL. False advertising at its most obvious. We don't care that they screwed up by not testing the Crackdown method for a larger sample; the masses can see that we spent money and we are not getting what the "specially marked" boxes told us we would for our money.
Jeremy 16 May 2007 20:37
4/9
I have xbox360- and aside from the sports games- i play pretty much only halo. It's the reason I got xbox- so YES, i bought crackdown solely for this live beta test. I did enjoy gears of war- but regardless- gaming geeks who play every game and pretty much nothing else- why the need to take cheap shots at those who have the money to spend on a game for the sole reason being it's promotion of the opportunity to play the best game series for any gaming system for 3 weeks.

ps- not as much what u said on this blog- but what ive seen on other blogs while searching for answers as to why the beta is not downloadable yet
joodogg 16 May 2007 22:43
5/9
Oh my God!, Bungie...Delay...Halo... What did everyone really expect. By the way, I also Bought Crackdown Cause It is a FUN game. The beta IS a bonus. I work For GAMESTOP (lamestop), sadly over the past few days the Crackdown sales jumped like 300%. And in about 3 weeks I'm sure we'll see about a thousand trade-ins. It's too bad because Crackdown is one of what I consider to be one of Five Titles worth owning a 360. The others just to toss them out there are Gears of War, Oblivion, F.E.A.R., Lost Planet. soon enough there will however be more than enough to count. BioShock Baby!
PreciousRoi 17 May 2007 04:04
6/9
Apparently its working now, hallelujah, the download is taking forever though...

As to Crackdown...Oh boo hoo hoo...its a fun game.

At least MS didn't 'trick' people into buying some piece of garbage for the beta.

and I'll put my bad day up against anyones...did my decades quota of Serious Manual Labor today (I do it about once every 10 years or so, just to remember why I only do it once every 10 years or so) forgot the sunblock on my legs...and thats the least of my problems (putting a roof on a friend of a friend's fathers house, two septagenarians, an onery Union Carpenter, and me being, of course the only one without a history of back problems, of course they're trying to induct me into the club)
joodogg 17 May 2007 20:01
7/9
Word. The beta is okay. More of the same if you ask me. By the way, Love the handle Precious Roy. I think you are the only other person on the net that will know what I mean When I say Sifl & Olly SHOW ROCK! You should also check out all the music from Dethklok, Brendan Small is a genius. Snootchie Bootchies.
PreciousRoi 17 May 2007 21:45
8/9
The Panda Song is cres.

Pirate Cripplers...Best.Thing Ever.

My handle is actually a fusion, its full given name is Daigogi Roi an homage to both the Sifl and Olly character, and Daigogi Gai, a character from the anime Martian Successor Nadesico. Roi also works in the French and as an acronym, but I actully just thought it looked more Japanesey. (Vive le Roi!!)

As far as the beta goes, it was pretty rough going the two hours or so (12-2am CST), but then it stabilized and connecting to games consistently was no problem.

I like more of the same. Make it more prettier, improve the online stuff...the party system should rock, even though we couldn't get it to function at first...but then not much was working at first, so we all split up and never tried it after everything stabilized. The gadgets could prolly be saved, but I guess the HAD to do something newish.
PreciousRoi 17 May 2007 22:13
9/9
Plus I mean, any online personality could envy one with a jingle as cool as mine...

Also under category of more of the same and thank you, Forza 2 demo. Took me a minuite to readjust and remember my tech (ABS, TCS yes STM no) then it was almost like I never left, much of the bitterness at being locked out of transferring my Forza save melted. Still, I wish I could transfer my custom cars over, when I could afford to buy them. I'm especially fond of my Porches, one done up like Herbie the Luv Bug and one I guess I'd call 'Death on the Interstate'. Man, I can't wait to get some of those cars back...the Ferrari F355 (one of the most fun cars to drive in the game), the old Porche, Lotus Elise (or two, I think I had two in different tune, A1 and B1 I think)
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