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'Splitgate', the FPS with portals, has shot past 10 million downloads
Splitgate, a free-to-play arena shooter with portals, has hit 10 million downloads and will stay in open beta indefenitely.
'Final Fantasy XIV' PS5 open beta upgrades both graphics and sound
Final Fantasy XIV is now available on the PS5 as an open beta, and Square Enix's Matt Hilton has detailed the enhancements for the new console on the PlayStation Blog.
'Phantasy Star Online 2' will finally come to North America next week
It's been a long time coming, but Phantasy Star Online 2 is set to make its North American debut this month. Japan's hotly-anticipated online action RPG will launch in open beta on Xbox One on March 17th. You'll be able to start downloading the client from March 16th.
'League of Legends' take on 'Auto Chess' reaches open beta this week
Riot Games isn't going to let Dota Underlords capitalize on the Auto Chess trend without offering a fight. The developer is rolling out the open beta test for its League of Legends equivalent, Teamfight Tactics, over the course of the week. It's already available on the Japanese and Oceania servers, and should reach North America, Europe, Russia and Turkey the following day. Other regions will join over the two days after that.
Trove vows to become 'the ultimate sandvox'
Trove Game Director Andrew Krausnick isn't above making grand statements, saying in his 2015 preview letter that he wants the title to become the ultimate sandvox. "Modest, right?" he begins. "Simply put, if there's something fun to do with voxels in an MMO adventure setting, we're going to be there and we're going to be the best." With that out of the way, Krausnick goes on to outline some of the big goals for the coming year. He said that the team is working to add gliding, sky islands, rune crafting, water islands, fishing, swimming, more block types, more mechanics, and definitely more classes. Another big focus Krausnick mentions is to expand the economy: "We also think it should be easy and rewarding for everyone to trade and participate in the economy, so we'll be creating a system this year to make the trade channel simply a small part of a larger economic system!" He finished his letter by saying that the open beta test will be ending "sooner rather than later," indicating an early 2015 launch.
Closers Online meets J the Fighter
Just because a game's in open beta doesn't mean that it's finished adding key pieces. Case in point: Closers Online, which recently added a new playable character. The new character is, ahem, J the Fighter, a fists-and-feet brawler who kicks butt while maintaining a sense of style. If you like up-close-and-personal encounters with your foes, then J might be the character for you. Check out his fighting style in a preview video after the break!
Closers Online goes into open beta
The "grand opening" of Closers Online's open beta test happened this past week, although it looks as though the game is still just in Korean. Of course, this being beta, not all of the features -- nor all of the game's characters -- are available for play. Steparu.com did all of us a solid by not only pointing us at the new animated trailer but by whipping up a video to show off the various characters for this cel-shaded title. You can check out both after the break!
Black Desert is officially in open beta... in Korea
Still pinning hopes and dreams on Daum's breathtaking sandbox MMORPG Black Desert? If you're in South Korea, those hopes and dreams are a reality this week, as the game officially entered open beta in that region yesterday. Blogger Steparu has already posted one video from the event, a snapshot of progress on a mid-level Sorceress. We've included it below. If you're bilingual and already enjoying the game, we'd love to hear about it, as those of us in the West will be waiting until at least 2016.
Space strategy MMO AD2460 launches on December 29th
After two months in open beta, space strategy MMO AD2460 has announced its official launch for December 29th. The spiritual sequel to 2000's Planetarion, AD2460 is playable in-browser, meaning it works on mobile too. Players will be spending their time developing alliances and empires and fleets, and once the game is out of beta, they can expect to pay $1 a week in sub fees. Fifth Season's Christian Lassem dropped by our comment section earlier this fall to dispel confusion about the game and show off a slice of combat via video, which we've included below.
MechWarrior Online enters beta testing for Community Warfare
There's a lot of stuff packaged in with MechWarrior Online's Community Warfare update: Clan 'Mechs and hardware, the new Invasion gameplay mode, new maps, the dropship mechanic allowing players to get back into the action if their 'Mechs are destroyed. But you don't have to take our word for it. The update has entered open beta, so anyone who wants to start taking part in the conflict of the Inner Sphere against the marauding Clans can do so at his or her leisure. Piranha Games has also made an update to the way that the game handles units. Previously, "disbanded" units were frequently just being remade under a different leader or faction, but the game's structure meant that keeping the same identifying marks required the intervention of customer service. This update removes disbanded units in one swoop, allowing players who wish to disband and remake a unit to do so with greater ease. Check out the full update for the fine details and the corner cases.
Black Desert rolls into open beta on December 17th
We still don't know hard details on when Black Desert will be coming to the US, but it's not going to happen before the game launches in its native Korea. The game is entering open beta testing in Korea on December 17th, so it means we're that much closer to any launch date information. It will be free-to-play with a cash shop, and it appears to be launching with just four playable gender-locked classes; adding additional classes this late in testing seems unlikely. Steparu also has a preview of suspected cash shop items, which include cosmetic armor sets, dyes, skill point reset items for both players and their mounts, and similar fare. It's about what you would expect, in other words. You can get a sense of the game by checking out the trailer just past the break, showing off some of the variety in the character creator as well as the game's fast-paced combat.
Journey to the West opens up its international beta on Saturday
Want a new game to try out this holiday weekend? Journey to the West International might be up your alley if you have a high tolerance for goofy imports. It's yet another MMO inspired by the Chinese epic tale of the same name, and its open beta launches on November 29th. Players can actually reserve their character names for the beta starting today. JTTW boasts a level cap of 40, instanced dungeons, four classes, recurring events, and a psyche system that transforms characters into powerful elemental manifestations. It's also got an open cash shop, meaning the game is effectively soft launching this weekend. We've embedded two game videos below, courtesy of MMO Culture. Enjoy!
Chinese MMO Revelation Online entering open beta January 15th
Want to combine the free flight of Aion with action combat and an open skill progression system? That's a quick gloss of how testers report Revelation Online plays. But you don't have to take anyone else's word for it, as the game will be entering open beta on January 15th... in China. So you will have to muddle through not speaking the language of the game to test it. Alternately, you can start studying now and hope you have a natural gift for learning it in two months. Steparu reports that setting up an account will work even for international players, although there is the possibility that the game will require a cell phone or some other region-lock method. Players who don't want to fuss with that can rest somewhat easier knowing that the development team is looking into US publishing deals as well, but if all goes well, you can still try the game out early next year.
Everyone can hang out with The Crew in next week's open beta
Well, not quite everyone; PS4 and Xbox One owners can test-drive The Crew's open beta between Tuesday, November 25 and Thursday, November 27. Then, five days later on December 2, Ubisoft Reflections' and Ivory Tower's persistent-world racer launches worldwide for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC - perhaps with its own live updates blog. Beta players can roam free across the entire open world of Americana, condensed into the five major regions of the Midwest, East Coast, South, Mountain States and West Coast. In the beta, challenges and player vs. player lobbies are limited to the first two of those regions, and Ubisoft notes "some online features" - i.e. multiplayer - require a Xbox Live Gold or PS Plus membership.
Trove gets a sugar high with its Candy Barbarian class
Feed your sweet tooth in your gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane: Trove has added the Candy Barbarian to the game today. The Candy Barbarian is the sixth class added to this quirky sandvox; it stands alongside other characters like the Neon Ninja and the Fae Trickster. It uses twin swords and has a small array of candy-themed attacks, including Vanilla Swirlwind and Sugar Crash. Currently Trove is in open beta and has no plans to wipe progress going forward.
ZergID, an MMO social network, enters public beta today
Have you ever found yourself wishing specifically to have a social network meant to support you as an MMO player while also delivering piping-hot pastrami sandwiches right to your front door? Good because that's what ZergID is here for. Except for the pastrami sandwich part; you need to make your own sandwiches. But it is a newly announced social network designed for MMO players, with built-in support for the things that you need whilst playing multiple MMOs. The site features profile support for multiple characters and guilds across several games, play session scheduling across games (with reminders for those who miss raid night or PvP night or hot dog night or whatever), and all of the usual bits and bobs you'd expect from a social network. If that sounds like just what you want from social networking, you can try it out now, as the site is entering its public beta today. [Source: ZergID press release]
Trove enters open beta, ArcheAge deploys Auroria in the EU
Have you been looking for another pixel-polygon building game to call your home? After being in the test phase for so long that you could be forgiven for speculating that it would never be released, Trove has hit open beta, letting everyone log in and try the game for both bugs and just for the heck of it. There will be no more wipes of the database, so you could easily regard this as something of a soft launch for the game. If you're not feeling that particular sort of building and you're over in the EU, you can instead try your hand with the latest update for of ArcheAge, which mirrors the patch deployed earlier this week on the US servers. Hopefully the EU rollout will not include the same login issues that hit the US servers as well. The patch is scheduled to go live today at 5:00 p.m. GMT. [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
HEX drops beta key requirement but denies status of open beta
A major announcement has been sounded on the HEX forums: No longer will potential players need a beta key to test the game, as that requirement has been dropped as of last week. Cryptozoic claims that this move doesn't signify that the game is in open beta, but merely a way to draw in even more people than ever before. "I bet you're asking yourself why not just call it open beta?," the team posted. "Well, we're not ready to call it open beta. However, we've reached a point in our testing where we needed to increase the volume of players on our servers to provide us with additional information and logs." Splitting hairs over semantics aside, now everyone can check out this unique trading card MMO if so desired. There doesn't appear to be any NDA restriction either, as the devs have encouraged players to stream the game.
Age of Wulin to finally release in Europe
Age of Wulin, aka "the European version of Age of Wushu," is preparing to leave the kiddie pool of open beta for the adult swim of an official launch. Webzen announced that Age of Wulin will be officially launching in EU on November 25th. This launch will coincide with a major game update, Chapter 3: Wisdom is a Journey. In the update, characters will get additional class skills and a level increase for several current skills. Players will also be invited to tackle current dungeons on a harder mode and fight in two new PvP tournaments. [Source: Webzen press release]
Trove plans open beta for November 5th
Step by blocky step, Trove is working its way toward release. Next week, the colorful sandbox will reach another milestone as it goes into open beta on Wednesday, November 5th. Trion Worlds announced the upcoming transition today along with one happy fact: There will be no wipes from closed beta. The studio also mentioned that the game's sixth class, the Candy Barbarian (seriously), will be coming "soon." Trove transitioned from alpha to beta testing late in September.
