Delayed launch leaves Halo-3 fans disappointed

An unexpected crash in the launch of the highly awaited beta version of Xbox 360 title Halo 3, scheduled to be launched simultaneously across the globe at 10 pm on Wednesday has left excited gamers all over the world disappointed as the delay extended to over 15 hours.

Having been advertising the full version of Halo 3 multiplayer beta for months now, Microsoft also promised the anxious gamers a small demo version before launching the full version hitting the Xbox liver servers on September 25. Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie studios held two media events in both San Francisco and New York Friday evening inviting selected gamers and editors from gaming publications to test the the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise.

The beta was scheduled to be launched on May 16 at 5 a.m PDT and last for three weeks till June 6 at 11:59 p.m PDT offering the addicted gamers a three-week trial run of the game in online multi player mode provided the gamers have a copy Xbox 360-exclusive title Crackdown, which was launched in February, connected to the Xbox Live online Network in order to facilitate the 971-megabyte game download.

But due to some technical defect, the launch was delayed and wasn’t fixed for at least 15 hours until around 1 pm leaving the 400,000 Halo aficionado’s logged on awaiting the new levels, vehicles, weapons and game types disheartened. The download menu button on the site was disabled leaving the people trying to download the file baffled.

The gamers vented their rage by posting comments on Xbox and Halo 3’s creator, Bungie’s sites.

"My button in Crackdown to download the [Halo 3] beta is still grey," a gamer going by the name "atelaphobic" wrote on a discussion board on the Xbox.com website Wednesday afternoon. "Anyone know why?"

"Once everyone is playing the game they will forget the small delay and enjoy the extra four days," a Microsoft Australia spokesman said.

Microsoft refused to reveal much about the reasons for the breakdown and only briefed the furious gamers about downloading an updated version of Crackdown to resolve the problem promising them to run the test version for an extended period till June 10, 11:59 PM PDT instead of June 6.

They posted a message on the company blog shortly after 10 p.m saying that the problem had been repaired but it would still take around 4 hours to download the necessary update.

"It's been a long day for a lot of people but we're happy to announce that effective immediately, a title update for Crackdown is available on Xbox Live that will fix the issue that previously prevented you from downloading the beta," Bungie wrote in a note on its website.

"Please note that it could take up to four hours for your console to receive this update based on various factors.", he added.

During the test period, Microsoft intends to evaluate how Halo 3 and its Xbox Live network interact, an official told CBC News Online.

"The multiplayer beta will be focusing on multiplayer testing," Justin Miers of Microsoft Canada said. "We have a very robust system for testing, so we won't be requesting direct feedback from players."

Halo is an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon packed with action sold more than 14.5 million units worldwide.

The Halo3 test version also includes three new maps including Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla, which represent a mixture of large- and medium-scale combat environments in "Halo 3."