Halo 3 beta

Buen de la mano de gameinformer http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0315.1215.33382.htm
se han hecho 10 preguntas a bungie sobre la beta y dice asi:


Ten Questions For Bungie: The Halo 3 Beta


rying to squeeze out any Halo 3 information out of Bungie isn't the easiest thing, however, we got a little lucky. We recently spoke with Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrard about the upcoming Halo 3 beta and got a few nuggets about the whole beta process, what will be in it, and how many people will begin to finish the fight this spring.

Game Informer: How are things progressing with the development of the Halo 3 beta?

Brian Jarrard: Things are progressing quite well, thanks for asking. We recently concluded our internal Multiplayer Alpha test with Microsoft employees, and we're in the process of readying our internal beta build. Then the next evolution will be our delta, which is what will become the public beta this spring (public delta didn't quite have the same ring to it).

GI: Does creating a beta keep you less focused on the final project, much like a demo for E3?

Jarrard: Not necessarily. Iterating with alphas and betas and deltas for test purposes is something we did for Halo 2 and had already planned out for Halo 3. It's a normal and crucial part of our development. However, sharing our work-in-progress game with the public is obviously quite new, and with that comes a lot more scrutiny and the need for more polish and more testing, even if it is "just a beta." There are a lot of people working hard to make that experience as good as it can be while ensuring our test needs are satisfied. The biggest difference is that our work towards the beta is work towards the shipping game (even if some aspects get polished sooner than would otherwise happen). An E3 demo, on the other hand, usually consists of a one-off demo, built specifically for that show and as a total tangent to the game itself. In that case, it's a lot of work for what usually amounts to a fairly limited gain for the overall project and often times derails part of the development team for the months leading up to E3.

GI: What was the cap for people signing up for the beta through the Web site? How fast did it fill up?

Jarrard: That's actually something that was managed and orchestrated by the MGS worldwide marketing team. A variety of promotions were taking place simultaneously around the world to give lucky gamers a chance to participate in the public beta. As I understand it, response on Halo3.com for North America was overwhelming and several thousand gamers were ultimately chosen to make the cut. Of course anyone who didn't get their name drawn out of the hat can still participate through Crackdown if they desire.

GI: All we know about the beta is that there will be quite a bit of content, which is still quite vague. Anything you can elaborate on? Will there be multiple modes? Vehicles? Stat tracking via the Web site?

Jarrard: It's all relative, really. Considering the public has yet to experience ANY Halo 3 content, you can certainly say it's quite a bit of content or even a lot of content. The reality is that the final scope isn't quite locked yet but it will ultimately only be a representative sampling of Halo 3 multiplayer. Naturally we have to leave people wanting more and some aspects just won't be ready for public consumption yet. There will be more than one map but far less than the total we ship with and yes, there will be some vehicles available where appropriate. In addition you can expect to see some of the new toys we've already revealed like Spartan Lasers, Spikers and the Mongoose. As far as stats go, some of our test needs will revolve around data uploads so we are looking to have a minimal stat component on Bungie.net (something along the lines of what we had for Halo 2). Naturally we have grander plans in mind for the final game.


You're a little vague on spring. Can Cortana and I still go on spring break?

GI: How many players are currently in the alpha?

Jarrard: The MS internal alpha just recently concluded but at its peak we saw several thousand participants from around the world. By the beginning of February, we had nearly 35,000 total games played and an impressive 1.8 million kills. The highest number of games played by a single employee was 792 and the highest number of deaths by a single person was a staggering 7,124. Ouch.

GI: Is the beta you'll be releasing this spring basically a tweaked version of the alpha you're playing now or something completely different?

Jarrard: The public beta will essentially be our internal delta - which means it's an evolution of the alpha that started last year. However, the internal alpha and beta will have some content and features that may not necessarily make it into the public release.

GI: While you'll slowly enter registered users into the beta, will you eventually open it up completely?

Jarrard: As far as I know, the only ways to participate in the beta are the existing Marketing sweepstakes and worldwide promotions and via the Crackdown interface.

GI: In a previous Bungie Weekly update, you guys reported that the Beta could arrive in "Late Spring." Spring is technically March 21 - June 21. So potentially, are we looking at a June release for the beta?

Jarrard: Pulling together all the various pieces for something of this magnitude is no small order. Everyone is working hard to make sure we get the beta into the hands of our fans sometime this spring as promised. You'll have to stay tuned for further details.

GI: Will there still be a demo for Halo 3 if you're planning on releasing a beta?

Jarrard: "Still" implies there was already a demo to begin with. To date we haven't announced any plans for a demo.

GI: Now that Xbox Live has matured, can you tell us what kind of features you're able to incorporate into the multiplayer experience that you couldn't on the Xbox?

Jarrard: Halo 2 really set the bar in many ways for allowing friends to get together quickly and easily and stay together across games against opponents of equal skill. For Halo 3, we'll be building on what we've learned from Halo 2 as well as incorporating some of the new Xbox Live hotness like Achievements. Most of our other new Live features are still highly classified, so I can't spill those details quite yet.




Viene a decir algo asi como que las cosas están progresando muy bien,hace poco terminamos la fase alpha Multiplayer interna con los empleados de Microsoft.Cuando terminemos la beta interna,entonces la iremos a por la delta,que sera el siguiente paso,y se convertirá en el beta público de esta primavera.


¿Habrá varios modos multijugador? ¿Vehículos? Todo eso es relativo, en vista de que el público tiene todavía experimentar el contenido del halo 3, puedo decirte que habran muchas mas cosas en la version final. A decir verdad, todo se esta haciendo aun, y no representara lo que de verdad veremos en la version final de halo3. Tenemos que dejar algunos detalles y cosas para la version pública,la comercial,claro está.. Habrá más de un mapa y sí, habrá algunos vehículos disponibles. Además puedes esperar a ver algo de los juguetes nuevos que hemos revelado ya, como los lasers spartan, de Spikers y del Mongoose. Tenemos naturalmente planes más magníficos en la mente para el juego final.


mas o menos es lo mas importante que he podido leer...

edito: segn vidaextra,y para los que aun no lo saben:
En primavera, cuando la beta esté disponible, los propietarios de un 'Crackdown' con acceso a Xbox Live Gold, sólo necesitan introducir el disco del juego en la consola, a modo de clave, y descargarse la beta desde el Bazar de Xbox Live para unirse a la batalla multijugador de 'Halo 3'.


un saludo!!!