Those of you who bought Crackdown desperate to try the Halo 3 beta (and were surprised that it's actually a great game) will finally get to download the beta on May 16th (1pm GMT). The beta period will run until June 6th and will give you a chance to try three maps, Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla which apparently offer a mix of large and medium scale combat environments. It's still possible to enter the beta by purchasing copies of Crackdown that have the Halo 3 beta sticker on them.

Bungie have also released another video doc. today that can be downloaded at bungie.net and also at xboxyde.com. The video shows a 'ton of new stuff' from a alpha build, not the beta.

More at bungie.net


As a side note on the subject of release dates, the Xbox Live Spring Update (the one that allows instant message from an Xbox 360 to Windows Live Messenger users) has been penciled in for May 7th. More on the update at xbox.com.