You do not want to be at Lunabean HQ on May 16th. A groggy, hairy, grumpy monster will be waking up at 4:30 am, lumbering to the TV and will inevitably end up yelling at the cats because the Halo 3 beta won't be downloading fast enough. Until coffee is brewed it will be a real nightmare.

That's right. The Halo 3 beta will be available for download to your Xbox 360 at 5 am (PDT) on May 16th if you a) have a Gold Xbox Live account b) secured a beta invite via a copy of Crackdown and/or c) got an invite via the "Rule of Three" promotion.

The beta itself consists of three multiplayer maps (Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla) which give you a sampling of large environments and close-in combat. You'll be able to test out some new vehicles, like the Mongoose (an all terrain vehicle) and weapons like the new Spike Grenades.

Our gamertag is LUNABEAN, so if you see us playing, say Halo.

Production and gameplay video

The announcement