MAG Public Beta

MAG is an upcoming first person shooter for the PS3 with the unique hook of being able to support 256 people online in the same game. Players can be a foot soldier or (I guess) squad commander or sit at the top of the pile as a commander with a birds eye view of the action and the ability to issue orders based on what needs to get done.

Sounds ace, huh? The game has had a private Beta that started in September 2008 and finished recently. Now there's talk of a public Beta opening on 4th January at 5am Pacific time (I'm writing this at 21.15 GMT and it's 13.15 in LA so that makes 5am Pacific time equivalent to 1pm here in good ol' Blighty). I've been reading some forums and apparently you can download the MAG client from the PSN shop but I can't find it at all - tried searching under M and everything. Wonder if it's a North America - only Beta because I haven't seen any release publicity here at all. My local Blockbuster has the releases for AVP and Bioshock 2 by the counter already and they're scheduled for February 2010 - and MAG is such a big release I would expect it here soon too. Unless the public Beta has no bearing whatsoever on the release of the first version of the game? I'm pretty sure that MW2 was released in tandem in the UK / US and I'm surprised that MAG isn't following suit.