DICE has yet to tell us when we will officially be able to get our hands on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta but GameStop has once again stepped in to fill the void.

While it has since been pulled Cinemablend reports that the GameStop listing for the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 limited edition stated that we would be seeing the official demo dropping on November 19th at 11PM PST. Of course, DICE then commented through the official Bad Company 2 Twitter that you need to hold off on pre-ordering for a beta code until they officially announce a release date.

Naughty Dog has recently announced a new incentive for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves beta testers. If you can’t guess from the above picture, they are holding a contest that will give a lucky beta tester a full copy of the Uncharted 2 Fortune Hunter edition.

In fact, they are giving out 10 copies per day until the game is released and all you have to do to enter is hop online in the multiplayer beta this weekend.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will be out exclusively for the PS3 on October 13th.

Final Fantasy XI was probably one of my favorite MMOs of all time, alongside WoW. I don’t play either of them any more (World of Warcrack) but when I did, FFXI was one of my favorite. I for one, chose to play it on the PC but there were other options as it was also out for the PS2 at the time.

Now, with Final Fantasy XIV’s upcoming simulatenous release on both the PS3 and PC, the game is sure to reach a much larger audience. Despite access to this large audience, Square Enxi doesn’t seem to be taking full advantage of it recently letting us know that the public beta for the game will in fact be for the PC only.

Of course, there is no telling exactly when the beta will even hit with FFXIV’s director Hiromichi Tanaka telling us that the studio is aiming to have a small (10,000 people) closed beta up and running by Summer 2010 with a more widespread public beta soon to follow.

Read (Game Watch) via Joystiq

If you were one of the lucky people who got accepted in the All Points Bulletin beta you should be happy to hear that the beta will go live sometime next week.

News of this comes to us from Realtime Worlds CEO Gary Dale who took center stage during the Tech Media Invest conference to let us know of the beta’s next week appearance. Furthermore, he said that those who didn’t get accepted into the beta need not worry as Realtime Worlds plans on accepting more and more people as the game’s release date grows nearer.

via eurogamer

Unfortunately, there will be no ODST brandings on the console itself but it will include Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and the Halo: Reach beta in addition to a Xbox Live 1-month membership card.

There’s no word if us Americans will ever be seeing this SKU but European gamers can expect it to hit store shelves sometime in early October.

Gamersdigest says the codes will be sent out on October 1st that will allow 16,000 new MAG players to get on the game’s beta servers for 6 hours a day; from 5-8pm and from 12-3am.

Want to learn how to snag an invite? Hit the break for the entry rules.

1.    This promotion is open to residents of Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom aged 18 years or over.

2.    Employees of the Promoter and its group companies, and their immediate families, their agents or anyone professionally connected to this promotion shall not be entitled to participate.

3.    The first 16,000 eligible entrants to complete the steps set out below during the promotional period will receive a beta version of the video game MAG. No cash alternatives will be offered.

4.    The promotional period starts on 14 September 2009 at 17:00 BST and ends on the first occurrence of 16,000 eligible entries or 22 September 2009 at 23:59 BST.

5.    This promotion is limited to one entry and one PSN promotion code per eligible entrant.

6.    Successful entrants will receive a PSN promotion code that can be redeemed via PlayStation Store for a beta version of the MAG game.  Entrants will need a PlayStation 3 with broadband internet service access and a PSN account.  Entrants are responsible for broadband access fees.

7.    PSN promotion codes shall be dispatched to successful entrants via e-mail to the PSN master account e-mail address provided at the time of account registration.  Instructions on how to redeem the code will be included in the e-mail. Beta terms of service shall apply to the use of the beta version of the MAG game.

8.    PSN promotion codes are subject to terms and conditions of use. Please click here for details. PSN promotion codes have an expiry date which will be communicated with the code.

9.    The Promoter does not accept responsibility for any entries which are lost, damaged or delayed as a result of any postal failure, network, computer hardware or software failure of any kind.  Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of receipt. No applications from agents, third parties, organized groups or applications automatically generated by computer will be accepted.

10.    Personal information which entrants provide for the purposes of this promotion will be held and used only by the Promoter, its group companies, and its suppliers and contractors to administer the promotion and otherwise in accordance with the PSN terms of service and PSN Privacy Policy, these promotion rules and as expressly agreed by the entrant.

“One of the key challenges that OnLive technology addresses is providing a high-quality, fast-response gaming experience over a wide range of situations: different speeds/locations/types of broadband services, a variety of different PC and Mac configurations, several kinds of input and display devices, etc.” said Steve Perlman, OnLive founder and CEO. “So, a major focus of OnLive Beta is to test as many of these different situations as we can.”

Sign-ups are actually still active, so anyone interested in getting in on the action can by submitting an application.

One hundred beta testers, selected at random, will be receiving an exclusive in-game “Siberian Huskey Pet.”

Unfortunately, I received notification that the beta was going on just today, even though the beta has been up for a few days now.

Webzen will be releasing the final version of the game this Fall.

The developers also released a very extensive changelog, listing all of the improvements the patch has to offer. This changelog details numerous bug fixes and balance changes. These improvements differ from what you’ve seen in the beta, so it’s well worth a look.

Make the jump for the full changelog.

World Builder
• Added the World Builder how-to guide to the root directory
• Fixed a bug where adding a horizon-mesh would cause World Builder to crash

Observer Feature
• Pressing ESC now gets rid of the observer/replay attention arrow. If a unit is selected and an arrow is present, pressing ESC deselects the units. Pressing it again removes the arrow
• Selecting the HQ displays the player’s current tech tier

Balance Changes

Tyranid Balance Changes
• The Ravener Alpha’s Hardened Carapace grants 100 health
• Both Carnifexes cannot be repaired
• Sporemine durability vs. small arms increased from 60 to 150 hp
• Screamer Killer Venom Cannon damage increased to 75 from 55 and removes the Spore Cysts ability
• Tier 2 Carnifex damage increased from 200 to 250
• Zoanthrope damage increased from 70 to 80, energy cost reduction on Focus Blast from 80 to 65
• Termagant damage increase on Toxin Sacs upgrade from 1.2 to 1.35
• Tyranid Warriors’ hitpoints increased from 320 to 360, Barbed Strangler damage decreased to 45 from 60
• Hive Tyrant’s Venom Cannon damage decreased from 75 to 55

Ork Balance Changes
• Slugga Nob damage reduced to 85, Nob Squad Choppa damage increased to 100
• The Kommando knife no longer refunds energy and resets cooldown after killing a target
• Warboss’ big stomp radius UI was changed to 10 m
• Warboss’ Kustom Shoota can now fire on the move
• Warboss’ Angry Bits health regeneration lowered from 1.5 to 1, cooldown from 15 seconds to 30
• Tankbusta population cost lowered 4 to 3
• Slugga Nob Leader damage lowered (due to accidental buff)
• Warboss Stomp damage lowered 40 to 30
• Kommando Nob Leader’s hammer damage increased 100 to 175
• Slugga damage increased to 25

Space Marine Balance Changes
• Scouts can now repair while using a sniper rifle
• Set the Apothecary’s Rapid Fire ability to no longer knockback retreating units
• Force Commander with Terminator Armor now has a Cleansing Flame ability on his heavy flamer (costs 50 energy)
• Purification Rights damage decreased from 30 to 15
• Relay Beacon health regeneration rate decreased .4 to .15
• Force Commander’s hitpoints increased from 720 to 820
• Tactical Marine bolter damage decreased to 25
• Tactical marine melee damage reduced from 22 to 19
• Purification rites no longer affects retreating units

Eldar Balance Changes
• Spiritual rites radius UI was changed to 15m
• The Fire Prism’s explosive shot no longer affects retreating units
• Warpspider squad member hitpoints slightly reduced from 200 to 160, Exarchs from 240 to 200
• Fire Prism’s Focus Beam cooldown reduced from 4.5 to 3 seconds
• Debuff removed from Immolator
• Warp Spider Exarch’s Improved Targets are moved to tier 1
• Banshee’s damage increased to 35 from 33

General Balance Changes
• Zeal/Biomass/Psychic Might/Waaagh! amount from killing/losing units increased by 20%
• Piercing damage modifier vs. Heavy armor decreased to 67%
• Turret damage at long range increased from .15 to .3
• Turrets inflict increased supression, have a minimum range of 2 m, armor type changed to be more vulnerable from small arms fire .01 to .2
• Suppression weapons received the following changes:
• Setup and teardown times reduced by 1 second respectively
• 0.2 to 0.3 at long range
• 1 to 1.25 at medium range
• 2 to 2.75 at short range
• Suppression damage increased from 300 to 400

Bug Fixes

Tyranid Bug Fixes
• Fixed a bug where Bioplasma would not fire if targeted units ran out of the line of sight
• Fixed the broken image on the Ravener Alpha’s ‘exit tunnel’ ‘cancel construction’ ability

Ork Bug Fixes
• Shoota Boyz Aiming? Wotz Dat? tool tip no longer mentions immobility
• Nob squad tool tip mentions Meaner an’ Greener instead of Nob Kit
• Kommando squad tool tip no longer mentions Kommando Kit

Space Marine Bug Fixes
• The Dreadnought’s auto cannon ability previews its energy cost properly

Eldar Bug Fixes
• The Farseer’s Ghosthelm tool tip no longer mentions damage to self, mentions suppression
• The Farseer’s Mindwar tool tip mentions suppression
• Warpspider Exarch powerblades tool tip mentions they are effective against infantry

UI Bugs
• Added a missing tooltip for observers in the multiplayer games list
• Fixed a bug causing player loading bars to be cut off in 1280×1024 resolutions

Performance Bugs
• Fixed a bug that disallowed users with high-end machines to set their graphics settings to “Ultra”
• Fixed a fatal scar error involving Anti Armor in the campaign

Gameplay Bugs
• Fixed an exploit where repeatedly setting up and tearing down the Ranger’s sniper rifle would increase the unit’s firing rate
• Fixed a bug involving melee units targeting retreating units
• Stabilized randomness of units using special attacks
• Fixed an exploit where players could make units at the HQ retreat “towards” a relay beacon in the field
• Fixed a bug where clicking on a hero’s portrait would render targetable abilities unusable

Map Fixes
• Fixed an exploit in (6p) Ruins of Argus where players could build structures and move units in an impassible area

Post-game bugs
• Fixed a bug where incorrect trueskill values were shown after viewing a player’s statistics screen in the post-game
• Fixed a crash that occurred when viewing another player’s statistics during a game-starting countdown

Networking Improvements
• Fixed a networking bug that caused users to lag and disconnect due to a proxy communication problem

Read (Dawn Of War 2 Community Site)

Along with the beta, a few events have also been launched. For example, if you play for a certain amount of hours, you receive an in-game weapon.

Sudden Attack is a free-to-play game which is mostly popular in South Korea, but has since been localized to the United States and Singapore. I’ve played the game, and I honestly think it’s a lot of fun for a free game and has a lot of potential. The game is still in its beta stages, so there’s still room for improvement. You can download the game over at the official website.

The registrations mean nothing right now though, seeing as the publishers have delayed numerous launches for the beta. Right now, the space MMO scheduled for a release “later this year”, but not a lot of people can take those kinds of estimates seriously.

Currently, the closed beta is open to only a few select “family and friends”, so Jumpgate has a pretty small user base. However, the open beta is when the quarter of a million people will finally get a chance to try the game out. If you want to sign up, you can over at the Jumpgate site.

Read (CodeMasters)

The developers mention that the beta was a success, receiving an “overwhelming amount of community feedback and support.” That being said, the retail launch of the patch will be rolling out soon, except this time with even more bug fixes and balance changes unseen in the beta.

“There is Only War” includes eight unreleased multiplayer maps, balance changes, bug fixes, and a map editor.

Read (Dawn of War 2 Community Site)

However, it turns out that the beta will still be available to download and play until next Sunday. Maybe Relic decided this would be the best route to compensate for the beta’s initial delay.

“There is Only War” includes eight unreleased multiplayer maps, balance changes, bug fixes, and a map editor. The beta patch is available on Steam if you haven’t already tried it out. It requires the standalone Dawn of War 2 to play.

Read (Dawn of War 2 Community Site)

Only open to US and Canadian gamers, the beta previously required gamers to have bought or redeemed a Xbox Live Gold subscription.

The beta of the trivia game is unique in the sense that it will provide real-life skill-based prizes, including virtual Microsoft Point funds and Xbox Live Arcade games. The basic formula is this: the more members of the 100-person mob that “The One” outlasts by correctly answering questions, the higher payout he/she gets, with the remaining mob receiving prizes if they outsmart “The One”.

The beta is set to begin July 13. A standard form awaits your response, though you might want to refrain from unleashing your dictatorship on anyone until you get in.

Tropico 3 is set for release in Europe on PC and Xbox 360 this September. No North American publisher has been brave enough to take a flight to the banana republic yet, so Americans will have to wait a bit longer.

Despite beating around the bush every which way they can, Blizzard has finally come out and said during an investor webcast that they are hoping to have StarCraft II on shelves by the end of this year.

Joystiq quotes Blizzard president Mike Morhaime as saying:

“We’re targeting an end of year release this year for StarCraft II. But as always, we won’t release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players.”

So there is it, while it’s not completely definite its at least more definite that StarCraft II will in fact be hitting shelves by the end of the year, or so they hope. As for the beta? Still slated to be released sometime this summer.

Remember how we told you a few days ago that you could sign up for the Starcraft II beta? Well, that signup may be put to use sooner than we thought.

In a recent Activision Blizzard earnings call, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime was quoted to say that Starcraft II’s external beta testing will take place this summer.

So yes, this means that the general public (those who signed up) will actually get access to a beta form of Starcraft II. Hell, maybe us simple folk (those who didn’t sign up) will be treated to an open beta.

Hey, we can wish, can’t we?

Read (VG247)

Want to increase your chances of getting access to the Starcraft II beta? Here’s how — Blizzard has recently announced that there will be an all new chance for Starcraft II enthusiasts to get access to the upcoming beta.

First and foremost, you must have a Battle.net account. After you have secured one of those you are going to want to head here, the beta profiles page. Once there, you will find an option to download a utility that will determine your system specs and upload them to Battle.net. Finally, check off Starcraft II and click Update Preferences.

While this won’t gaurantee your access to the Starcraft II beta, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?

Read (Kotaku)

The above picture of an inFamous pre-order box, taken at Best Buy, has been circulating the internet — As you can see, when you pre-order the game you will get access to now one, but two downloadable demos.

Sure it’s cool that you get access to an inFamous demo but the real treat is the fact that you get a voucher good for access to the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta.

And yes, this is the first we’ve heard of Uncharted 2 having a multiplayer mode, too.

Read (Kotaku)

The addition of a multiplayer element to an already great single player game is certainly welcomed by fans of the original Uncharted game. The sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, is set for release later this year.