Betawatch

Happy Friday, Betawatchers! This week, Spirit Tales entered closed beta, Seven Souls Online and Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances joined our open beta list, and we caught more than a glimpse of The Secret World's current beta build at GDC.

Yesterday, we gave away 10,000 closed beta test keys for TERA. Apparently, you guys really wanted in because they're all gone. But if you didn't snag one, maybe you'll want to check out RaiderZ or one of the other Betawatch games in the list after the break!

Continue Reading

GDC has brought with it several tweaks to the Betawatch list! We've learned that DUST 514 will be entering a more open beta come April and Tribes: Ascend will officially launch on April 12th.

Meanwhile, the TERA team has kicked off a series of contests to accompany its third closed beta weekend. Line of Defense and Remanum have begun accepting beta signups; Dragon Born aims for a closed beta later this month; and City of Steam is offering a sneak-peek for long-time followers.

Finally, we say farewell to Rise of Dragonian Era, which launched today, and Crystal Saga, which launches on March 12th.

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup!

Continue Reading

Betawatch makes its final farewells to Wakfu this week; the strategy-sandbox launched on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Rise of Dragonian Era aims to launch March 9th, RaiderZ plans to open its alpha test on March 14th, and Spirit Tales will begin closed beta on March 15th.

There's a bit of sad news for fans of Stellar Dawn and Dawntide; the development of both titles has been paused as their respective studios regroup.

Finally, we scored some hands-on time with pseudo-MMOs End of Nations and Blacklight: Retribution.

Enjoy the rest of this week's Betawatch roundup beyond the cut!

Continue Reading

Happy Friday, Betawatchers! Reader Mason tipped us off to the fact that sandbox Salem Online is now accepting signups for closed alpha testing. The team is hoping to launch said closed alpha in the next few weeks.

Tribes: Ascend and SteelWar Online have moved to our open beta list, while the closed beta list gets two new additions: steampunk pseudo-MMO Guns of Icarus and cutesy Divina. World of Warplanes and The Missing Ink, meanwhile, join our resurrected alpha category.

We also say farewell to Wakfu, whose global open beta period has come to a close. The game will be launching next week on February 29th.

And who could forget Guild Wars 2's two-day beta signup window earlier this week? If you missed it, our hands-on impressions and crafting guide might cheer you up.

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup after the break!

Continue Reading

Post-apoc fans will be happy to see Living After War join our closed beta list this week, while bot aficionados can look forward to SteelWar Online, which has joined our alpha list, although it won't remain there for long as the game is launching its open beta this coming Sunday. Seven Souls Online, which joined Betawatch last week, peppered Massively with beta keys for its closed beta event, which began on February 15th. And Jagged Alliance Online received a promotion to our open beta list.

Finally, for those curious about TERA's ongoing closed beta tests, we delivered our official preview.

The full Betawatch roundup beckons you past the break.

Continue Reading

Mmgame USA's Rise of Dragonian Era joins our closed beta list this week. The F2P sandpark title is aiming for a March launch, but prizes (including cash and video cards) await those who give the beta a spin this weekend.

Massively also secured codes for Seven Souls Online's beta, which begins on February 15th.

Finally, we're keeping an eye on the ongoing TERA sneak-peeks and beta events. If you preordered, you should be able to participate starting today.

Read on for the complete Betawatch roundup!

Continue Reading

This week, TERA revealed the details of its North American and European pre-orders and associated closed beta tests. WAKFU, still in beta but launching at the end of February, likewise unveiled its subscription plans, and Mythos Global officially entered open beta. Again.

Finally, Brick-Force, a Minecraft-inspired sandbox-shooter pseudo-MMO (say that 10 times fast) from German publisher Infernum, has made it to our alpha list as it's aiming for closed beta on February 28th.

Read on for the entire Betawatch roundup.

Continue Reading

It's been a good week for beta-watchers: We've finally learned that Guild Wars 2, currently in a very hush-hush closed beta, will be making its way to our PCs in 2012. ArenaNet has announced that press betas and public beta weekends will begin in the coming months.

Anime MMO Spirit Tales joins our closed beta list this week, and we've also belatedly added mobile MMO Traveller AR and MMOFPS titles Repulse and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online to the open beta list.

Finally, for those looking forward to Firefall, Red 5 Studios will be streaming some beta gameplay tomorrow, January 28th, starting at 2 p.m. EST.

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup after the cut!

Continue Reading

This week, two new games have made their way to Betawatch: Seven Souls Online and indie MMO World Alpha, both of which are currently accepting closed beta testers. We also snagged a glimpse of Jagged Alliance Online's new PvP system and a shiny new trailer for iOS MMO Traveller AR.

Finally, Massively reader Odericko tipped us off to ongoing back-in-beta Glitch dev Q&As. The question segment is over, but the second session -- the answer session! -- kicks off at 8:00 p.m. EST tonight, precisely when Betawatch goes live. Go get your Glitch on!

The full Betawatch roundup is tucked behind the break.

Continue Reading

This week in Betawatch, Red 5 Studios flashed its fiery temper at SOPA, temporarily shutting down the closed beta for upcoming MMO-shooter Firefall in protest over the internet-hampering legislation. Meanwhile, TERA has begun accepting applications for its closed beta test, the Wrath of Heroes MOBA has kicked off a closed beta weekend, and Mythos Global has been resurrected for the billionth time, this time with a new open beta beginning on February 2nd.

The full Betawatch roundup is tucked beyond the break.

Continue Reading

This week as promised, the North American open beta test for Wakfu got underway. We also learned of Trion's new beta-status iOS app for RIFT, listened to the Eligium devs explains why the "testing" part of beta testing actually matters, and uncovered how Funcom's The Secret World, currently still in closed beta, might bring the company out of its slump.

Enjoy our whole Betawatch list after the break!

Continue Reading

This week, we learned that the North American version of Ankama's Wakfu will be joining its European cousin in open beta on January 4th, which is good news for people who love quirky classes like Treasure Hunters, Warrior Gamblers, and Lunatic Soldiers.

Meanwhile, Runes of Magic opened invites to test out its new browser client, due to launch January 9th.

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup beyond the break.

Continue Reading

You wouldn't think that the week of Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch would be the ideal time to announce a game beta, but apparently several games wanted to get the word out before holiday vacations got underway all the same. Both DUST 514 and PlanetSide 2 began accepting closed beta applications this week, although the former is open only to EVE Online subscribers to start with. DragonSoul, currently in open beta, has announced it will be launching in early 2012, while Dominus pushed its December closed beta off until the new year for optimization reasons. Finally, Dawntide has moved from our open beta list to our closed beta list as its servers have gone offline for the next few months while the team focuses on a game-wide revamp.

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup past the cut.

Continue Reading

Guild Wars 2 is the king of Betawatch this week, as ArenaNet finally announced that its closed beta (for which you cannot sign up, unfortunately) begins today. Also this week, DarkEden left closed beta for launch, kid-friendly Little Space Heroes opened its doors officially, Runes of Magic rolled out the beta version of its browser client, Diablo III began another round of closed beta testing, and War of the Immortals carried characters over from open beta into its formal launch, forever departing our beta list. And though it's not quite list-worthy just yet, we did learn that Storybricks will be heading into beta this coming February.

Eligium's closed beta is underway this weekend as well. If you still need a key, we have a few left!

Enjoy the full Betawatch roundup past the break.

Continue Reading

This week in Betawatch, we learned that Dawntide will shuttering its beta to prep for yet another game-wide revamp, while both The Secret World and ArcheAge offered glimpses of fresh beta zones. APB: Reloaded graduates from the open beta list (again) as it heads into launch and lands on retail shelves. F2P Rosh Online likewise opened its doors officially (check out our first impressions!).

Finally, we bid farewell to Star Wars: The Old Republic, whose beta test attracted a staggering two million testers. The game begins its preorder headstart next week.

The full Betawatch roundup lies just beyond the break.

Continue Reading