Seen on Xbox Live: Halo 3 Epsilon

by Ross Miller { Aug 14th 2007 at 5:28PM }

If you've been on Xbox Live lately, there's a slim chance you noticed players romping through Halo 3 Epsilon. According to Bungie forum members and GamingTalkHQ, the gamertags belong to Bungie and Microsoft employees.

X3F, the Little Sister to our Big Daddy, has been scouring the internet for information on Epsilon, even sifting through their Big Book of Greek Letters. (Epsilon is the fifth letter in the alphabet -- following alpha, beta, gamma and delta -- implying this would be a near-final build of the game.) An anonymous source tells Xbox-Scene that the Epsilon features six maps, four-player co-op for one campaign mission, saved film testing and some customization options with the games and maps.

While we can't confirm the details of Halo 3 Epsilon, would it really surprise anyone that the developer and publisher of a first-party title are playing a few deathmatches weeks before its September 25 launch date?

[Via X3F]

Tags: bungie, epsilon, halo, halo3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neebs @ Aug 14th 2007 5:35PM

Yep, I saw that about a week ago. Generally, greek letters after Alpha and beta are not used, but sometimes they can refer to release candidates. It's entirely possible there may be more to H3E than just that little bit. Do we know? No.

Patrick @ Aug 14th 2007 5:51PM

i offered this theory on x3f, if you were to count all the halo games, there are 4, episilon means 5 in greek so this could be a new halo based game

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 14th 2007 6:00PM

I guess we'll never know.

Jeff @ Aug 14th 2007 7:19PM

"i offered this theory on x3f, if you were to count all the halo games, there are 4, episilon means 5 in greek so this could be a new halo based game"

Except that it says "Halo 3 Epsilon". Would be kind of weird if they were calling the 5th game in the Halo universe "Halo 3 Epsilon", but I suppose stranger things have happened.

It's almost certainly just a near-final build of the game.

-Jeff
http://alinktothefuture.com

Dragod @ Aug 14th 2007 5:38PM

Yeah, I actually figured a lot of this out before all of the recent posts. I have a friend who's dad works for MS and he started asking about how to hack games, and if he did he'd get rewarded. I've heard of this but only from really high profile games. Then I started thinking about Halo 3 Beta, MS got it before F&F and I figured out it had to be Halo.

He says you just get a download code and it's a gigantic download. I didn't have him actually on my Xbox Live friends, but I knew it was Halo. Then a few days later this "Halo 3 Epsilon" business happened.

Vamps @ Aug 14th 2007 5:43PM

It's good to know that is good to go :)

Peace out

Vamps @ Aug 14th 2007 5:45PM

I hope they make map customization really good.

DaveC @ Aug 14th 2007 6:23PM

This doesn't make me jealous because I know that these guys are making it better for us. The next time I want to see Halo 3 next to my gamertag is sans "Beta", "Epsilon" or any suffix. :)

mr nimblewick @ Aug 14th 2007 7:05PM

What about Halo 3: Ultimate, Halo 3: Here's a Free Kitten, or Halo 3: Nookie Evolved?

DaveC @ Aug 14th 2007 7:18PM

Gimme that free kitten one and I'm sold! Kitty suffixes mi haloes!!

Bloo @ Aug 14th 2007 6:31PM

They already announced days ago that epsilon is by invite only and includes 6 (I think) MP maps with near final matchmaking in place as well as 1 (I think) campaign level to try with 4p co-op.

FiveOn @ Aug 14th 2007 6:41PM

*yawn* I'm glad I passed the chance of beta testing this crap out. I still tell me friends in the studio that it's a pretty mediocre game. I prefer H2. In fact, I don't prefer any really. Shitty games.

Eric @ Aug 14th 2007 7:18PM

What does that even mean? You didn't beta test it, but you tell people you know that it's a mediocre game? Are you just trying to tell us all that you're mentally incompetent, or that you're a habitual liar?

dynamik @ Aug 14th 2007 6:44PM

You realize this was on Kotaku days ago, right? And they figured out what it was.

Schoon @ Aug 14th 2007 6:45PM

As a dev, I hope I can explain the "Epsilon" tag. It's what we generally refer to as a "release candidate". Neebs is right - generally alpha and beta are the only Greek letters used. Usually release candidates are named RC1, RC2, etc. -> until the game goes gold.

Essentially, any bugs that are going to be fixed are fixed by this point. Also (and this is the good part) all content that's going to be added is in. This is probably just "reaction testing", or seeing how people like it now that it's ready to go.

FiveOn @ Aug 14th 2007 7:30PM

@ Eric

"What does that even mean? You didn't beta test it, but you tell people you know that it's a mediocre game? Are you just trying to tell us all that you're mentally incompetent, or that you're a habitual liar?"

Neither. I've beta tested the thing and I'm one of those playing the videogame right now. Being utterly honest with you, the game isn't impressive. I'm always amused when people prove their idiocy by bringing in some kind of stab against your mentality, or your maturity. Kudos to you!