Bungie has released new details on the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer beta, in an FAQ on its official website.
While its hesitant to reveal the full list of maps and game modes for the multiplayer beta - saying only that there will be "enough to get the testing data we need while providing a fun game experience."
Bungie also confirms that the matchmaking party system will be included, and even the mysterious functionality of the X button will be uncovered ("it won't be all that surprising", Bungie says).
As for what it's looking to learn from the Beta, Bungie says it's looking for "mainly the kinds of things that you cannot otherwise accomplish without the mass of people we'll have, such as stress-testing all of the backend stuff and networking.
"We'll be keeping an eye on our forums for general feedback," it continues, "but the primary goal is to gain valuable technical information that's only possible when we have tens of thousands of simultaneous players across the world." Looks like we're in for some seriously balanced Needlers, then.