Bungie have just announced the imminent release of Halo 3 beta for the Xbox 360. The beta test is only available with specially marked copies of Crackdown (a decent looking game in itself), one of which is being dispatched to me by Amazon today.

They’ve also released a vidoc – “Is Quisnam Protero Damno!” (roughly “He whom I trample underfoot and defeat!”) – which demos some new levels and weapons, along with the significantly improved graphics and sound effects.

Given the superb playability of Halo 2, probably the best first-person shooter ever made, three more years of development and the power of the next generation Xbox 360 is bound to produce a stunning game.