Betas

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.

We've been told that the launch of the closed beta for All Points Bulletin is very,very close with developer Realtime Worlds telling press folks at last month's PAX 2009 that the beta launch is coming soon-ish. Now comes word that the upcoming urban shooting-themed MMO could launch the beta test as soon as next week.

That's the word from VG247.com who reports that Realtime Worlds boss Gary Dale stated exactly that at a UK-based conference today. Of course there's no official word yet from the developer or publisher Electronic Arts yet so considered this story as a well sourced bit of rumor for now. It's still not too late to sign up for the beta at the game's official web site.

BioWare must have known that announcing beta test sign-ups for Star Wars: The Old Republic would likely generate a huge response. But apparently the appeal of trying out the upcoming MMO was so big for so many people that the game's official web site went crashing down after the beta sign-up reveal was made earlier this week.

In an update on the game's official blog, BioWare states, "While we are still experiencing a high degree of traffic, we have brought the service back up and are accepting new accounts and Game Tester applications." If you are still having issues with the sign-up form, this forum thread on BioWare's message board has some answers to some of the bigger problems. So far BioWare has not yet revealed exactly how many people have signed up to beta test the game.

If you want to play in the closed beta test for Mercenary Wars, you had better hustle. The latest entry in the flood of free-to-play first person shooter titles is in the middle of their beta test but it's scheduled to shut down at 5 pm PT (8 pm ET) today. The game was first announced last August.

Developed by NM Productions and published by Uforia, Mercenary Wars has also revamped its web site with more info and media about the game. The back story takes place in the near future where the economy has collapsed (which could never happen in real life) and groups of mercenaries apparently run the world. Yes, the A-Team are apparently your new leaders. I pity the fool who crosses them.

Electronic Arts has now nailed down an exact release date for the Macintosh version of their fantasy MMO Warhammer Online. The Mythic Entertainment-developed game will be released as a native Mac product on October 28 for $19.95. That includes 30 days of free game time on their servers.

EA announced their plans to make a Mac version of the game some time ago and there's still time for folks to check out a beta version of the Mac port that can be played for free for 10 days. If you want our opinions on the Mac conversion based on playing the beta client check out our recent Mac Monday column on the subject.

It's one of the most anticipated, if not the most anticipated, announced future MMOs and now it appears it has move one step further to its release. Today BioWare's official web site for Star Wars: The Old Republic has announced that it has begun taking sign-ups from folks who are interested in beta testing the long awaited game.

Of course, there's no word yet on when beta testing will actually begin but the fact that BioWare is now accepting applications for the test is a sure sign that they are getting closer to giving folks a chance to play the game for themselves. Community members for the game are apparently getting first crack at the beta test so you might want to sign up to become a member before you put in your application.

Update: Looks like the site is getting slammed with all the folks trying to sign up for the beta. We suggest coming back in a few hours; that beta test page isn't going anywhere.

Futuremark Games Studio has been working on their space-based first person shooter Shattered Horizon for some time and they have been beta testing the title with a select group of people. If you want to be part of that select group before the full game is released you have until October 5 to sign up.

People who decided to sign up will be able to play the game in the last phase of its beta test before its release. The game, which has players dealing in zero-g combat above the Earth, still does not have a specific release date. Keep in mind that you will need a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7, a DirectX10 graphics card and a dual-core processor to play the game.

After launching their early access beta test for certain people this week, Nexon America has announced that their online fighting game Dungeon Fighter Online will begin their open beta on Tuesday, September 22. If you happen to be part of the current early access beta there's no need to panic; your account will still be good when the open beta begins.

The open beta will allow gamers to check out five of the game's character classes (Fighter, Gunner, Mage, Priest and Slayer) in the game's 2D side-scrolling fighting gameplay. No final launch date for Dungeon Fighter Online has been announced yet.