When it was announced back in early January of this year that the Beta for Halo 3 would be somehow attached to the upcoming Crackdown, many gamers immediately began to accuse Microsoft of charging $60 for the Halo 3 beta, completely neglecting Crackdown itself. Of course, this was not the case nor was it ever the case.

With statements like “Buy Halo 3 Beta, get Crackdown free”, it’s understandable that Microsoft and more importantly RealTime Worlds would be a little peeved as to people discounting Crackdown from the get go. Well, it looks like Microsoft felt the need to defend the choice of putting the Halo 3 beta on the back of Crackdown.

“I can understand why people might think that,” said Craig Evans, Microsoft’s director of marketing. “But the bottom line is that “Crackdown” is a game that stands on its own.”

Crackdown definitely stands on it’s own, but it doesn’t help that Halo over shadows everything. The decision to bundle the two together will definitely help the sales of Crackdown, but at the same time it may well hurt it at the same time. Time will tell if Crackdown will be bought buy people who don’t get into the Halo Beta or don’t get a copy with the beta accessible will give Crackdown a chance.

[via Reuters]

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-