Next week, Halo fans will be treated to something special – the beginning of the multiplayer Halo 3 beta. In preparation for next week, Microsoft and Bungie threw a shindig in San Francisco tonight, which offered six-plus hours of hands-on with the anticipated and much-hyped Halo 3.
AMN was on hand at the event, and we played an unhealthy amount of Halo 3. Though the event took place in a shady part of town, which was crawling with more weirdoes than you can shake an energy sword at, the Foreign Cinema – the venue that housed the party – provided a great setting for a huge, loud (and delicious) Halo 3 LAN party.
Bungie had the Halo 3 beta running over Xbox Live on 16 Xbox 360s, each hooked up to a 60-inch HDTV and thumping stereo system. During the first half of the evening, most people stuck to playing full-screen, which meant a lot of people were left standing around, drinking it up and chatting. However, attending press eventually realized that you could play two-player split-screen, which meant more people could get in on the Halo 3 action.
Foreign Cinema bombarded attendees with cute, attractive waitresses, serving treats like chicken, bits of steak, grilled cheese and the collective personal favorite of the event, mini-hamburgers. Throughout the evening, we snacked on these magical treats from the heavens, not to mention the occasional – okay, abundant – brownies, chocolate chip cookies and other high-calorie goodies.
During the evening, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Shane Kim, VP of Microsoft Games Studios, and Brian Jarrard, director of franchise and community affairs at Bungie. We’ll be uploading both audio and video versions of the interviews. But for now, we’ll be playing some more Halo 3 on Xbox Live, as Microsoft was kind enough to hook up all attending media with early Halo 3 beta registration codes. Don’t hate, celebrate.
