Flagship Opens Hellgate: London Beta Sign-ups

September 17, 2007 8:52 AM

Flagship Studios has opened beta sign-ups for its upcoming PC dungeon crawler Hellgate: London on the game's official site.

Applicants need only enter their e-mail address, though the site notes that there is no guarantee of obtaining an invite. Duplicate entries may result in disqualification, and those who participated in the alpha test need not apply.

With the next round of testing set to begin in the incredibly vague "not too-distant future," those hungry for their first taste of Hellgate: London before it ships October 31 may be best served by pre-ordering at select retailers--including Best Buy, GameStop, and Wal-Mart--and thus securing their spot in the pre-order beta that begins today.

Chris Faylor

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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mittense

 reply
September 17, 2007 9:11 AM

What seems to be kind of annoying about this is that on their beta page, the first link for a preorder is from the EA Store.

But, from what I'm gathering, the EA Store won't be giving out beta codes. And guess where I pre-ordered from. :(
- tKillbox
  
   reply
  September 17, 2007 9:22 AM
  
  Beta's are just overhyped demos nowadays if you think about it. Since they have such an exclusive feel people would rather play them then a real demo. Kinda sad.
  - avatar_58
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 9:38 AM
    
    Basically. I mean I love how these things are labeled "beta" yet are announced and released AFTER the product has gone gold (TF2 for instance). Beta you say? So why is it polished and basically a finished product?
    
    A beta should be a rough build used for testing, not a demo-esque limited player game. Just call them demos and be done with it.
    - mittense
      
       reply
      September 17, 2007 9:39 AM
      
      "Beta" is just the new demo. Hell. Savage 2 is in their "Pre-Beta" phase which, as far as I can tell, is actually a legitimate "beta," but people are so used to the term being applied to finished builds that an actual rough-around-the-edges build that they called it a pre-beta.
    - ease one
      
       reply
      September 17, 2007 9:54 AM
      
      agreed. though I don't lose sleep over it, i think it is pretty funny demos are being replaced with betas that are really demos.
      - ease one
        
         reply
        September 17, 2007 9:57 AM
        
        my theory is that the player community is more forgiving when a demo is labeled a beta instead of a demo.
        
        xsoulbrothax
        
         reply
        September 20, 2007 2:41 AM
        
        honestly, yea. imagine the uproar if valve opened up the TF2 'demo' only to people who preordered. you'd see all manner of screaming, and probably with good reason.
        
        making it a beta instead gives them the excuse to limit who it goes to!
    - flameagle
      
       reply
      September 17, 2007 2:27 PM
      
      Since these games are all online/multiplayer, they can do patches the day the game comes out since you have to connect to their servers anyway. Hence, the beta/etc after gold. Don't you love it?
      - Arcanum
        
         reply
        September 17, 2007 9:00 PM
        
        Hellgate: London has a full single-player campaign. It's not all online/multiplayer.
  - thebigbeefsandwich
    
     reply
    September 17, 2007 9:51 AM
    
    it's become ridiculous. especially all the pay-per access behavior... thanks for letting your interested customer pay to test your products damn...
    - mittense
      
       reply
      September 17, 2007 9:53 AM
      
      It's lame, but it works. Think of how many people got the Orange Box just to play the early unlock of TF2.
      
      I know I bought the Orange Box the minute it was announced.