14 DAY TRIAL // Lightbox and Sony Santa Monica, the developers of the upcoming Starhawk shooter, have confirmed that a public beta stage starts today across North America, allowing PlayStation 3 users to get a taste of the game’s multiplayer before its release.
Starhawk, the spiritual successor to 2007’s Warhawk, aims at taking the franchise into sci-fi territory, showcasing a futuristic scenario where humans are engaged in a variety of interplanetary battles and use all sorts of impressive technologies.
While the game is set to appear sometime this year for the PlayStation 3, Lightbox and Sony Santa Monica have decided to run a public multiplayer beta for the game, in order to allow fans to have a taste of its online action, as well as provide plenty of feedback to the studios.
“We’re now happy to announce that the Starhawk Public Beta begins this Tuesday, January 17th. This is a crucial step for us as we’ll be testing all sorts of things, including game balance, server traffic, and general bugs. This is also a chance for more players to finally see what we’ve been working so hard on. As we’ve been getting so much support and encouragement from fans and press alike, we’re excited to spread the love and get more input to make the best game possible.”
This public multiplayer beta is set to be opened today to all PlayStation Plus subscribers, as well as to those who participated in the closed beta late last year (although they need to have kept their game files if they want access now).
On January 31, those who bought special copies of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception last year, will be able to use their vouchers to get in on the Starhawk beta action. After that, waves of codes will be distributed by media outlets as well as on Facebook.
On February 21, every PlayStation Network user will be able to participate in the open beta stage.
There’s no word when the beta will end, but expect Lightbox and Sony Santa Monica to keep it running for as long as possible in order to get feedback on the experience.
Until then, the final version of Starhawk still doesn’t have a release date.