Thousands of lucky gamers around the world won their way into the Halo 3 beta via the “3 ways to play” Microsoft sweepstakes earlier this year. Beta access codes were sent out to everyone on Wednesday 5/16 but we understand that apparently not everyone has received that mail. However, the majority of winners received a mail and are playing Halo 3 right now. The only explanation we have is that many people likely had the mail blocked by their ISP or they ended up in a junk mail or spam folder. The first thing you should do is check to see if the mail was intercepted and might be buried in your inbox somewhere.
Microsoft is going to send out beta codes one more time to everyone who won at 3 p.m. PDT today.
This will be coming from the email alias halo3beta@microsoft.com. Please keep an eye out for this mail. This is a second mailing and is NOT a new code. Anyone who originally received a mail the first time can disregard – this is the same code you already have. The original mail was sent from halo3beta@bungie.com. This is the same mail, different alias.
We understand many of you have been waiting and hopefully this secondary mailing will clear things up. If you still do not receive your code, you are advised to contact Xbox Support – unfortunately there isn't anything we (Bungie) can personally do to assist you. Once the Xbox support team verifies your identity, they will attempt to retrieve your code for you.
ADDITIONAL LAST MINUTE UPDATE!!
In order to help circumvent ISP spam filters, a sneaky tactic is being implemented that may or may not improve your odds of receiving these emails. The mails will be staggered and sent out over the span of approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Also, groups of mails will be separated by slightly different email addresses. This means you can expect to receive a mail that will come from halo3beta-X@microsoft.com where "X" is any number between 1 and 30. It's not known if this will actually work (surely the free VIagra people have tried more devious methods than this) but it could theoretically help with some of the stricter mail filters.
If you haven't seen a mail by 4 p.m. PDT then it's probably safe to assume it was intercepted by the Spam Police.