Halo 3 Beta Potential Yet Unlikely System Crash Today

There is a slim yet possible chance we may experience some system crashes playing Halo 3 Beta today. The Bungie team assures us that it’s unlikely, but there’s still the chance. They are basically flipping switches and doing tests today between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. PST. We’re probably not looking at any major problems, but you never know.

Thanks for the tip ’somewhat’. I look forward to some more Halo 3 matches before our time runs out and we’re sitting around waiting for the real deal.

“Tomorrow, May 23rd, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. PST, we are flipping a switch (temporarily) that probably won’t affect you one iota. But if it does, this is what will happen:

Should your game encounter a rare crash, your Xbox 360 will give you an alert screen, explaining that it’s uploading data to Bungie servers. We actually need this data, and we need your cooperation too. Although you probably won’t see that screen, if you do, let it finish uploading the data. It may take some time – upwards of 10-20 seconds and perhaps longer. So we beg your patience. When the process has completed correctly this is the message you’ll see, “File upload complete. Visit http://www.bungie.net/forums/halo3beta for more information (safe to reboot).”

After 1 p.m., we’ll flip it back to normal, and if you do crash after that time, the data upload process will be much shorter. Helping us collect valuable crash data like this is one of the ways you can help us make Halo 3 a better game. And of course, we’re only collecting data on “natural” crashes, so please don’t try to make your 360 crash”.