As far as analysts are concerned, the ongoing Halo 3 beta is less of a bug finding necessity and more of a clever way to market blockbuster games. Speaking to Reuters, Michael Pachter from Wedbush Morgan had this to say about the game that helped move over 700,000 copies of the golden ticket to the Halo 3 beta we collectively call Crackdown.
"This public beta is clearly just to promote the game. It's highly unlikely there will be material added to the game because of this."
While the concept of using demos and betas to attract gamers is hardly news to anyone who has played a video game in the past few years, Pachter expands on the notion some more.
"In addition to raising brand awareness of one of the most popular games in Microsoft's arsenal, the Halo 3 beta has the added benefit of bringing in thousands of lapsed Xbox Live players.
Microsoft is masterfully building this. It builds loyalty, it promotes online and most important, it makes loyal customers feel special. It's the beginning of a new trend in the console world."
With the recent announcement that Halo 3 will be available on store shelves in September, the idea that bug fixes are not the real reason behind the sneak peek called the Halo 3 beta might not be much of a reach. For what can only be described as a rare occurrence, I find myself believing what an analyst is preaching from the fiery pulpit of the church of projected misconceptions.
Quick! Somebody summon Captain Obvious and see if he makes house calls. I just might have located a mythical unicorn an aberration in the fabric of the time-space continuum. After all, this guy actually plays video games, unlike a lot of the "experts" out there.
[Via Reuters]
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Contest:
12:38 AM on 05.25.2007 | 
So I wasnt expecting much from the beta(I bought crackdown for crackdown)but something made me give it a try.Im no pro but I actually could translate my Clancy-no-jump-for-you run and gunning after twenty or so matches,now I cant get enough!
But you don't need a group of analysts to tell you that Halo 3 is going to be a seller.
Thank you man with no pronunciation of his name ;)
wait i'll try one...Max-Yees-Pot-Luk
But like modifiedbears said, there are plenty of weird quirks that (I hope) are going to be fixed.
BUT if Bungie doesn't change your starting weapon to a Battle Rifle instead of the machine gun, the Beta didn't fix any balance issues, only bugs.
you got me man, hope its revealed in podtoid cause I always want to say Mitze's Potluck.
The pronunciation is on my profile page actually, but for your and Dan's benefit here it is: Miks-yez-pit-lik. As long as you get vaguely close to that, it's all gravy. It's way easier to just type "Mxy" and pronounce it "Mixie" They've actually mumbled through it a few times on earlier podtoids, I like to think they haven't answered any of my questions lately because it's so obnoxious to pronounce. But deep down inside I know it's really because my questions suck.
@Mxy
ummm, those sumarian demons arent gonna watch me 'Bait like the ceiling pig are they?
im so fucked
Just use "mixie" :)
fucking gmail's been in beta for almost 3 years, its the best web based mail service going. still in beta!
Except for the stuff they left out.
They were also never shy about this being more of a stress test than anything else, and also said in one of their weekly updates a week or two ago that Halo 3 was feature complete and they were just optimizing. Go figure.
Anyway, yesterday some servers were out for a few hours because "tweaks" were being made, also the forums (although filled mostly with clutter) receive attention from bungie reps on certain issues found. Per example the Bubble shield not showing in all screens, and a see-trough part in valhalla. Suposedly those have been fixed.
So.. basically.. IF they are finding bugs and fixing them, then it is a BETA test, right?
I don't see any form for submitting "errors" you might come across. Sure there's probably a thread on the Bungie.net forums for that, but we know most everyone is playing just to get a suckle off Bungie's teat.
Ahem (clears throath)
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=10926404
Some issues submitted there HAVE been fixed during the BETA TEST.
I know is hard to believe but it seems like "Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta" actually is a beta test of some sort.
My condolences