Betas

Cryptic Studios' upcoming sci-fi MMO Star Trek Online is less than three months away from launching from its virtual drydock If you are not picked to take part in the game's current closed beta test, there's no reason to worry as Cryptic has now announced that they will hold an open beta for the game.

According to a post on the game's official web site the open beta will begin on January 12 with beta keys to be given out on a first come, first served basis. The open beta period will last until January 26 which will give Cryptic a little breathing room until Star Trek Online officially engages (hehe) on February 2.

Last August Ubisoft announced that it was taking sign ups for people to beta test their upcoming and pretty unique looking WWI RTS game R.U.S.E. Today the publisher announced that the beta will begin on Monday, November 30 with a select group of folks chosen to take part.

Steam will be used as the service to distribute the multiplayer beta test client with two factions (the US and German armies) and three maps as part of the initial release. Updates to the beta will be released over time adding up to four more factions (UK, Italy, USSR and France) along with more maps and more gameplay modes. There's no word yet if the beta version will support the previously announced Windows 7 multi-touch features.

Looks like GameSpot has the exclusive this time on a new PC closed beta test. It's for Electronic Arts' latest RTS title Command and Conquer 4. The multiplayer beta will let selected folks try out the new 5 versus 5 gameplay modes, the new units, the persistent leveling and more. However the beta is restricted to GameSpot's Total Access members which means that if you want in you will have to pony up at least a $5.95 monthly fee.

The site states that the beta will allow all GameSpot members, paid and free alike, to have access to the open beta test but that won't be coming until early 2010. So if you don't feel like paying a gaming web site a monthly fee you can wait a couple of months before access is granted. C&C 4 is due for release in stores on March 16.

Publisher Uforia has held two closed beta tests for their upcoming free to play first person shooter Mercenary Wars. Today they will start the third such closed beta for the game at 5 pm Pacific time (that's 8 pm Eastern time). The beta test is scheduled to run until Thursday where it will end at 5 pm Pacific time.

The third beta test for the game will include some new content including two new maps, the museum map (which you can see at the screenshot above) and the Watercourse map. It will also add the Desert Eagle to the game's number of weapons. Finally the beta will give players a way to check out Mercenary Wars' Cash Shop to purchase items for their player character. Don't worry about money during the beta test; the Cash Store items will all be free during that time period.

Fans of the free-to-play fantasy MMO Warrior Epic now have a chance to expand their horizons. The game's publisher True Games Interactive has announced that the game's first major expansion, Warrior Epic: Battlegrounds, has now launched its open beta test. The expansion will add a ton of new content to the game including four new PvP maps, a new hub city, a new swamp region to explore and more.

The expansion is being developed by True Games Interactive's newly launched development studio in Beijing, China who will be in charge of supporting and expanding Warrior Epic from now on. The game's original developer, Possibility Space, is no longer involved in Warrior Epic's development.

Usually when you hear about a game that's in closed beta testing you think of something like a first person shooter or a big MMO game, not an indie-based kart racer. Yet the three man development team at Nimblebit are doing exactly that with their upcoming game Zero Gear.

The game, which looks like a cool variation of the Mario Kart formula is currently taking sign-ups for people to beta test the title before its official release. The beta, which requires that one have a Steam account, is currently underway. The full game will have four gameplay modes, several weapons, a dozen race tracks and lots of customization features for your character and kart.

If you were hoping that maybe, just maybe, Blizzard might give its long suffering StarCraft II fan base an Christmas present by launching the multiplayer beta for the long awaited sci-fi RTS game before the end of the year . . . well, it looks like it's not going to happen.

Fan site StarCraft Legacy, getting info from a Russian games convention that Blizzard attended this weekend, is reporting that the game's lead producer Chris Sigaty admitted during a presentation that the multiplayer beta, previously planned to launch last summer, won't start until sometime in 2010. As we reported last week, Blizzard has now said they are targeting a release date for the full game for the first half of 2010. If the multiplayer beta doesn't start until 2010, that likely means the full game won't be released until sometime in the April-June 2010 time frame.

[Via Eurogamer]

This trailer invites players to join the PlayStation 3 beta of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but it also gives viewers an up-close look at the intense graphics that will be featured. The PC beta is expected to start in December and the game will release in 2010.

Download HD Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta Trailer (133 MB)
Check out all Battlefield: Bad Company 2 downloads

You may remember a few days ago that folks were getting scammed into sending their personal info thanks to a fake Battlefield Bad Company 2 beta sign up dealie. Well today we have some official news about the beta test for the upcoming first person shooter.

First the bad news: Folks who have a PS3 will get first crack at the beta test for the Digital Illusions-developed game. The PS3 beta begins on November 19 via a code that folks can get when the pre-order the game from several retailers. The good news is that the PC version of the beta will be launched sometime in December and a full blown multiplayer demo will be released for all of the game's platforms in early 2010 ahead of the game's release on March 2.

Looks like some folks are using Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as a way to get a hold of your personal info. Apparently there's been some reports of some fake beta sign ups for the upcoming first person shooter and the folks at the game's developer Digital Illusions want those people to know that those sites are not being run by them.

In a post on the game's official blog site, producer Gordon Van Dyke states, "As of today there is no official Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta and I wanted to warn people out there of fake/hoax sites perpetrating to have a sign-up for one." He adds, "Please do not let these e-tards take advantage of your enthusiasm for BFBC2 in their scam and only give them the middle-finger if anything." As usual if a beta for the game really begins sign-ups we will report on such a beta at Big Download.

We are going to put this next item in the rumor column since, at the time of the posting of this article, it has yet to be officially confirmed. However, sources at both Eurogamer and Kotaku report that folks have received email confirmations that the closed beta test for All Points Bulletin (APB) has now begun.

Developer Real Time Worlds has hinted that the beta would be beginning very soon for their urban themed shooter MMO. The unconfirmed reports state that the closed beta is very limited in terms of its time periods; there's only three days out of the week where the beta testers can actually sign on to play the game. However with the title due out in the first quarter of 2010 it looks like APB is sticking to its release schedule for now.

[Via Massively]

Just a couple of weeks after shutting down its closed beta test, the free-to-play first person shooter Alliance of Vailant Arms from publisher NHN USA has now entered full open beta testing. The test will be run until November 11. The near-future themed game uses the Unreal Engine 3 tech and features a conflict between the fictional factions of the European Union and the Neo Russian Federation.

You can download the full beta client right here at Big Download. NHN USA has a couple of other first person shooter games they plan to launch later including the long awaited sci-fi title Huxley.

This client installs the open beta for Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A), a new free-to-play online shooter. Visit the official webpage for more information about the game and to sign up for an account.

"Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A) provides heart-pumping fragging action in an Unreal Engine 3-based game. The modern warfare experience promises multi-player online gaming and twitch-based fast action first-person shooter (FPS) action, resulting in visceral, intense combat unlike any other. In A.V.A, war has broken out in modern Europe between the European Union (EU) and the Neo Russian Federation (NRF). As countries across the globe declare sides, the United States and China are locked in a politically fueled stalemate. When China folds and joins the ranks of the NRF, the US comes to the aid of the sieged EU. Tensions run high as the two factions square up for unprecedented blood-and-guts urban warfare."

Download Alliance of Valiant Arms Open Beta Client (1.35 GB)

NCsoft and Paragon Studios are ramping up for the annual Hero Con event where fans of the super hero MMO City of Heroes will get together with the game's dev team, learn more about upcoming plans and in general have more fun than fans of MMO titles are allowed to have under law. This week, NCsoft announced that all attendees of Hero Con will get a chance to receive a special item.

That item is an invite to the closed beta test for City of Heroes: Going Rogue, the upcoming commercial expansion to the game that was announced earlier this year. The expansion itself will be shown in a "sneak peak" panel at Hero Con for the first time in public. Tickets for the event are still being sold; it will be held at October 24-25 (with some pre-con activities on October 23) at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, California. By the way you have to physically attend the show to get your closed beta invite. That's because NCsoft wants you to sign an NDA on site before you get the beta invite.

[Via Massively]

A few days ago, the one man creator of the upcoming MMO Love released a test client of the game to check to see if the game would run on PCs. Now the creator has released a new client that now allows players to actually sign onto servers to check out the indie game for themselves.

There is a catch, however. While most alpha and beta tests of games are free to play, playing in the Love alpha will in fact require a fee of 3 Euros. In this case its someone understandable (one person, Eskil Steenberg, is making the game all by himself). However if you don't feel like paying some money to play an admittedly unfinished game then you might want to hold off.