At Microsoft’s X10 media event, the gaming giant will be announcing Bungie’s latest creation open for beta. Coming as soon as May 3rd, owners of the Halo: ODST game discs will be able to access the multi-player beta of Halo: Reach. This comes from a post on Major Nelson’s Blog.

The beta will give these gamers exclusive (as long as you have the discs) access to the former world of Reach. Consider this a prequel you may well do, just remember that it will most certainly be the crowning technological achievement of Bungie.

What’s new? Well Steve Scott, the lead effects artist of Bungie, was recently quoted on Bungie’s homepage as saying, ““If you remember the shield effects in Halo: CE, when you took damage, it would swell and eventually burst. We lost that functionality in Halo 3. In Reach, we’re bringing it back. You can see perturbation around the vertices now. It’s an extrusion of the render mesh.”

How do you get at it you ask? Starting March 3rd, players will find that the “extras” tab on ODST’s main menu is now visible and click-able. So fire on up that disc of yours and get to work testing them for them, mmmK?