No charitable action goes away without leaked information

Dec 14, 2009 19:01 GMT  ·  By

The first proper look at Halo: Reach since the very brief one at E3 has just been released for the whole world to be amazed by. Along with the trailer, a news release has announced that, while it will take a while before we'll be able to drive our bare hands through some Covenant skulls as the mighty Spartan troopers, we will get a glimpse at the multiplayer beta a little bit earlier. Official word is once again undermined by leaks and rumors, and it looks like the date for this multiplayer beta session has been greatly narrowed down from a generic “Spring” description, to a more accurate and somewhat disappointing end-April, most likely May, 2010 one.

In a very charitable disposition, Bungie hosted the Child's Play Charity Auction Dinner, where the company gave a little something to the Spartans of tomorrow. Besides games and all sorts of Bungie-emblazoned merchandise, the developer also offered a special tour of the main base of operation and promised a special “access to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta before it goes live to the public.”

The exact timestamp offered for the event is “Valid only between 4/8/2010 and 4/28/2010 – any day within that range is acceptable.” So, if we link this with the “before it goes live,” it could only mean that the earliest date that the beta will be available to the masses is April 29, 2010, with not a lot of room to accommodate the Spring 2010 interval.

The big man, over at Microsoft, has been contacted by Kotaku and, of course, all the gaming blog managed to get out of them was the “no details available at this time” routine. “We're excited that there is so much interest and enthusiasm for the 'Halo: Reach' multiplayer beta coming this spring,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “We're not able to confirm any details about the exact timing or content of the beta at this time but we look forward to revealing more details in the future.”