If it seems like there are a few too many empty desks in your office, it could be some of your co-workers are leading a double life as beta testers of the most anticipated video-game release in years: Halo 3 starts a three-week public beta period Wednesday.
Microsoft's Bungie Studios handed out 13,000 beta spots for free in early February, and some 900,000 more have been sold with the Xbox 360 shooter Crackdown. The test features three maps from the multiplayer mode of the game, and it's a safe bet that some 360 owners will be playing hooky from real life to do battle over Xbox Live on opening day.
"I've never participated in a beta before but I'm such a big fan of the Halo series that I had to get in on the action," says student Emmy Melton, who has a final exam at 8 a.m., and then plans on spending the rest of the day playing the beta with friends.
Few game franchises are as important to the world of gaming as the ongoing tale of the Master Chief, his battle with The Covenant, and the mysterious ring world known as Halo. The original Halo: Combat Evolved, developed by Bungie Studios, was the killer app credited with moving countless thousands of Xbox consoles. Together with the sequel, Halo 2, the franchise has sold a staggering 14.7 million games worldwide. Novels based on the game's mythology have been New York Times best sellers, and Marvel is publishing an ongoing Halo comic this summer. Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson was tapped last year to bring Halo to movie screens, though the big-budget project's status today is uncertain.
"Halo isn't just a game, it's a fully fleshed-out fictional universe," says Bungie Studios' writing director Joseph Staten. "Even as (players) are focused on making kills and capturing flags, they still feel like a 7-foot-tall cybernetic supersoldier out to save the world, that they're the hero in an epic sci-fi story."
Halo's addictive multiplayer mode has been a component of the franchise's success from the beginning. When the first Halo shipped without support for Xbox Live -- Microsoft's online gaming service hadn't yet been launched -- fans developed tunneling software to extend local network play to the internet. The system supported other titles, but Halo play dominated.
To date, players of Halo 2 have logged more than 800 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and Bungie recently announced the 5 millionth player of Halo 2, some two and a half years after the game's release -- a remarkable feat in an industry where the shelf life of a typical title is six months.
Bungie has dedicated a section of its online forum to the beta, giving players a space to pick apart perceived game flaws, compare strategies or simply bask in the glow of a shared Halo experience. Halo fans don't just play the game, they connect with it.
"I could charitably be described as a sub-mediocre Halo player, but in spite of that some of my fondest multiplayer gaming experiences have come from the Halo games," says fan Ian Dorsch, who bought Crackdown for his beta ticket. "I'm excited to have the opportunity to take part in something that may shape the way this next installment plays."
With Microsoft's Xbox division locked in fierce competition with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, Halo 3 is certain to give the company a boost when the final version is released this fall. "It will sell 360s, primarily because of the hype," says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "It will be the biggest-selling 360 game ever. Anyone who was waiting for an excuse to buy a 360 will soon have one."
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