Internal beta

[AztecWarrior]

How does the internal beta choosing work? Do you have to be on a certain forum? :wantbeta:

[OmnipotentKiwi]

Had to have applied way back in November.

They are basing it on connection, have to have broadband to download the patch.

And that is pretty much it, although I would guess they would go for a myriad of computer configuration so they can test all the technicals too.

[DevilWhiskey]

Internal beta is already going on a couple of hours a day and is comprised of from 50-60 Sony employees.


To take part in early external beta you must

(1) Have registered in November.

(2) Meet certain system requirements.

(3)be computing from the U.S.

(4) Have broadband access because the first few groups of extrenal testers will have to download the game files.

--DevilWhiskey

[Derfud]

You need to be in the US, you can't be in Canada?

[Squeeky]

Yes, Thats right, Canada is not part of the US (Thank god) :D

[Jaged]

I wont be in it ither way :(

[Zatrais]

Dave said that it was almost a given that some europeans would be let into the internal beta. Not at the start but later in it.

Said so in the AGN chat.

[DevilWhiskey]

It is my understanding that most Canadian cable and DSL modems do not unthaw intil April or so.

That would explain why they will be excluded from early external beta.

--DevilWhiskey

[Mopo]

Im sure being in Canada wouldnt matter. Game companies treat Canada as the same market as the US, so I dont see why this would be any different.

[MrVicchio]

There is Speculation on the Official Forums that the first 50 will be "picked" How true this is I do not know. The speculation being that prominant members of the PS comminity and such like Crazymike and Hamma types will get the nod as a thank you. Along with people that post well over on the official forums...

How true that is is ANYBODIES guess, but.. we shall see.

[Arshune]

For the first stages of beta, they're almost definitely going to pick people with:

1.) LOTS of time to play (harder than hardcore gamers)
2.) People who actually know they're s'posed to test the game, not just play it
3.) Computers that are most likely to be supported by the code (not one with really obscure components that require special support)

At least, that's what one would logically expect. I doubt they'd play favorites, if it got out and was confirmed, people would probably throw a HUGE tantrum. Now, whether or not prominent PS community members fit those criteria or not is another story altogether...

[MrVicchio]

I would find it silly to bitch if certain members of the PS community got the nod first... Who cares if Hamma or Crazymike both got in, along with say 20-30 other highly active members... that comes with showing the luv for the Devs... who gives a rats ass?

As long as the second run and there on out was completely random... I thik its MORE then appropriate SHOULD that be the method used...

[Arshune]

I never said it WOULDN'T be stupid to complain, I just said that it would happen. People will complain about anything these days. It doesn't bother me how they do it since I'm not eligible for the first stages of beta anyway, but I know if I applied and got passed over just because I didn't post on some forums a lot...then yeah, I'd probably be at least a little bit mad.

Edit: Er...I wouldn't complain publicly though, heh.

[MrVicchio]

I just hope my psyche can take the not getting an email next week... I was a mad poster on the SWG forums... posted DAILY.. even chatted ina few post with Raph Koster... I thought I was in.. but the PvE crowd got in and the PvP crowd was shut out...

I STILL havent gotten into the SWG Beta... When the first round went out.. I quit posting there. Aweful silly of me really but still...

[Sputty]

Yep, SWG = biggest dissapointment for me because of gameplay changes. I bet it won't be able to be what people want. They just recently allowed people to go off the one planet 5 or months after the original release date:lol: They really screwed other SOE games by releasing around then too. They were given way too much leeway and now other games have to suffer. Pathetic really. SWG will probably have major bug issues too.

[Arshune]

Well since PS has fewer things in it to actually test out, I don't think it'll require as long a beta as an RPG will...in fact, I'll be really surprised if they don't meet their Q1 deadline, from the sounds of that shoutcast the game just needs a stresstest and some playbalancing aside from the usual bug hunt. My official guess is 3-4 weeks selective beta for miscellaneous testing, 1-2 weeks open to test the server capabilities. At least, that's all they could fit in and still meet the end of March for a release.

[Sputty]

Heh, I think they won't have the probs near SWG's. PS is going to have to struggle to be out before SWG or they might jsut decide to wait another month or two. It COULD go like that. They'd have reasons to do that

[Arshune]

Also, SWG was destined to be a disappointment in everyone's eyes for two reasons:

1.) Being a jedi is supposed to be next to impossible. That's gonna be a major downer to the MILLIONS OF FANS who want to be jedi.
2.) Only one character per account.

I know people who play MMORPGs, I myself have played MMORPGs, and if someone has a high level character, they start a new one and then "twink" from their high level old one. That's the way it is, that's the way it always has been, and that's the way it will most likely continue to be. That's what keeps them playing. If they have to delete their old character to start a new one, the game runs out of things to do FAR FAR FAR quicker. That, and every other Star Wars game sucks butt, and the last one I heard of was Jedi Knight 2, which was good...so the suckage is incoming.

[Sputty]

There's been a few SW games betweek JK2 and SWG.

[Arshune]

Also, let's not forget that SWG and PS cater to different audiences and won't really be in direct competition to each other except with the younger crowd that only has enough for one game every 3 or 4 months.

[Yogi]

Originally posted by Arshune
For the first stages of beta, they're almost definitely going to pick people with:

1.) LOTS of time to play (harder than hardcore gamers)
2.) People who actually know they're s'posed to test the game, not just play it
3.) Computers that are most likely to be supported by the code (not one with really obscure components that require special support)

At least, that's what one would logically expect. I doubt they'd play favorites, if it got out and was confirmed, people would probably throw a HUGE tantrum. Now, whether or not prominent PS community members fit those criteria or not is another story altogether...

For the T2 beta, those who sent the good folks at Dynamix beer got in first, as well as the good fan site people.

[mistled]

I personnally think that the first round of beta testers should be hand picked from the community. Hamma, CrazyMike, RocketFodder and the like should all get in. It would be nice if they pulled the very active members from the OFs and from the forums here at PSU also (especially since I have two l33t whores in my clan :D).

Hell, if I was a dev and you sent me beer, I'd let you in. That's just how the first round goes. The initial round of beta testers should be people who have been pushing the game and people who just happen to be in good with the devs. That's life. People should realize that. :)

[Derfud]

Originally posted by {BOHICA}mistled
I personnally think that the first round of beta testers should be hand picked from the community. Hamma, CrazyMike, RocketFodder and the like should all get in.


Hamma is already in.

[Arshune]

I really fail to see how being in the first beta would be a good thing...that's more like unpaid labor than a tip of the hat. It's mostly doing exactly what they tell you to when they tell you to and very little actual play. :(

[Yogi]

Originally posted by Arshune
I really fail to see how being in the first beta would be a good thing...that's more like unpaid labor than a tip of the hat. It's mostly doing exactly what they tell you to when they tell you to and very little actual play. :(

That's how a lot of beta's are run. They want to test specific things to make sure they didn't miss anything in the early stages. Then open it up to more play oriented stuff to see how everything is on a large scale.

[Kyonye]

i couldn't give a crap about beta. you want in, have fun trying. as long as the game comes out as planned, i'm happy.

[LesserShade]

the open beta for load testing will be where it's at.

[Hamma]

Dave has stated many times that there will be no "favortism"

It's well known however that members of the media often get in on beta testing. (just about any game)

[Yogi]

Originally posted by Hamma
Dave has stated many times that there will be no "favortism"

It's well known however that members of the media often get in on beta testing. (just about any game)

I hope so

I wouldn't blame Dave for auto-filtering me because I'm from Tribalwar :(

"Oh look, a @tribalwar.com email address *delete*"

[Hamma]

:lol: