MAG Gets Open Beta, Goes Gold

MAG has generated a lot of attention since it was first announced, and, whether that's a good thing or not, it has done so with a single feature. The team-based, first-person shooter promised to deliver a battlefield of unrivaled proportions for its genre. The game's developer, Zipper Interactive, pegged its game to support 256 player servers, making it more of a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter than a classic FPS. The title has been in a closed beta testing session for quite a while now, but that's soon going to change.

An open beta has been announced for MAG, and it will kick off on January 4 and end on January 10. Ever since August, the game has already been through four separate beta tests, but this is the first one to be made available worldwide. Even if the servers only open up on January 4, some gamers will be able to start downloading the game earlier on.

The beta has already become available in North America, while Asia will be able to start pre-loading the title on Christmas morning. The last one that will get a shot at downloading the game will be Europe, as the PS Store will only have it listed on January 4.

Another good piece of news for the game is that it has already reached Gold, and that it's being prepared for its January 26 release, so there will be no delays here. To download the beta, just follow these instructions:

Log on to the PlayStation Store and download the MAG Beta file like you would any other freely-available PSN video or demo. The file is 298 MB in size.

Launch the MAG Beta program from your XMB to download a special patch that will restart MAG once the update has been received. Add another 38 MB to that.

After the reboot, the beta will reconnect and download the actual game data so that you can play. This is going to be wither 1.8 GB / 2.3 GB depending on your region.