As the guys at Bungie have recently wrapped up their server upgrade, the question on everyone's mind now isn't "how well is Halo 2 Online running?" The real question is "when will the Halo 3 Beta be available?"

Nobody really knows except for Bungie when the dry run for the highly-anticipated third installation of the Halo series will hit or who will get chosen, but it's certainly in the minds and mouths of everyone who ever knew the joys of the game.

Nobody really knows how Bungie will select the people who will play the beta but one thing's certain: the makers of the classic FPS will choose a variety of testers who can point out flaws in the pre-release version. A blog at Tied the Leader explains the essence of what betas are made for and what beta testers can expect to get and not get from the experience.

Probably the biggest and most important gain of participating in the beta is the fact that there will only be a handful of people who will get the chance to tinker with the game before everyone else. That means a lot of bragging rights in the schoolyard or in message boards. A mini-celebrity status is gained that should last about the same amount of time that "Halo 3 is gonna flop!"

You are sadly mistaken, though, if you think you can make a quick buck out of the experience. Game testers used to be paid, but that was way back when online play was close to non-existent. Essentially, testers in the online play get to play the game and are expected to cough up feedback without any strings attached.

Being a game tester is a privilege but there are responsibilities that come along. If you want to know about beta in a concise and easily-understandable manner, follow the read URL.