Halo 3

To be honest, I think it's both to test it, and as a publicity stunt - for something that's already as hyped as Halo 3, a public beta that is open to everyone (that is, the invites are available to anyone) will get the hype train rolling even more. From all accounts, Halo 3 is finished, and just needs a bit of tweaking and polishing here and there to make it the best game of the year. In this case, with a game that is the third in a trilogy, with an online feature that is probably built on it's predecessor, there's not that big a need for the network load to be tested, nor for them to see the public reaction - that's already pretty much known.

There are very few games I can think of that have had a public beta like this. Most seem to be things that specific people take part in (for example, the Sony Games Advisors Panel, or GAP), rather than something open to the masses.

There are very few betas that ever show the game in its entirety, otherwise there's not a whole lot of incentive for the testers to buy the release version.

The current Beta of Warhawk is apparently the full game. And those who are on it (once again, it's an open beta which, to be honest, is probaby Sony's response to the public beta of Halo 3) can play the whole thing... except it's only a month long.

I only went over basics, mate, I wasn't aiming to go into full blown detail.

Also, from my experience, games that are complete in beta are the exception, not the rule.

A beta is a full version of the game that isn't the release version. It's the version where all code testing, compiling, alpha testing, and the like have already been completed and are being tested for bugs. It would completely negate the purpose of beta testing were the game not fully complete already, because then if huge content was added then you'd just have to retest the game with that content as well. Halo 3 right now seems more like the alpha phase from what you guys are saying about what is still missing. It seems like the engine is there, and it's a compiled version with a few maps, weapons, and vehicles.

I'm sure they have a larger version with a rough single player campaign already worked up and all sorts of maps that they will definitely test separtely from this publicity stunt.

A beta is a full version of the game that isn't the release version. It's the version where all code testing, compiling, alpha testing, and the like have already been completed and are being tested for bugs. It would completely negate the purpose of beta testing were the game not fully complete already, because then if huge content was added then you'd just have to retest the game with that content as well. Halo 3 right now seems more like the alpha phase from what you guys are saying about what is still missing. It seems like the engine is there, and it's a compiled version with a few maps, weapons, and vehicles. I'm sure they have a larger version with a rough single player campaign already worked up and all sorts of maps that they will definitely test separtely from this publicity stunt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_test#Beta

Not always.