Gamers can't get enough of Halo 3. It hasn't even been a full week yet since Halo 3 beta was released and already several thousand Halo 3 games have been played in just a few short days. Makes me wish I had Halo 3 beta, but I guess for those of us who aren't participating can hook up with a friend who is or just wait for the full game to be released Sept. 26.

Bungie, developer of the Halo franchise, recorded on Mon. that more than 351,000 games of the new Halo 3 beta have been played on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 351,818 games have been played during the past day. The Halo 3 beta launched on May 16.

In addition, 246,200 players have been logged in the past 24 hours. As of Mon. afternoon, 46,000 players were in Halo 3 game sessions.

The beta introduces players to three all-new maps to be featured in the final game. Players can also record their matches on the Xbox 360 hard drive.

Last week, the beta debut was hampered by a technical issue that prevented owners of the action title Crackdown to participate in the beta until the evening of May 16. The issue was resolved and the beta was extended by several days in order to allow players an extra weekend of play.

The previous installment of Halo, Halo 2, generated $125 million in sales within the first 24 hours of release. The franchise has sold more than 11 million copies to date.

Halo 3 will be released to U.S. stores on Sept. 25.

Supernouva via news.punchjump.com »