MAG open beta in January

By Tom Bramwell Published 22 December, 2009

Slay another day.

Sony has announced plans to run an open MAG beta at the start of next year.

The free-to-everyone test for the huge multiplayer shooter kicks off on 4th January and runs until 8am GMT on the 10th.

Anyone taking part will be able to get stuck into the 64-player Sabotage mode and the 256-player Domination one.

MAG divides gamers into eight-player squads, four of which form a platoon, with four platoons forming a company. Players with more experience (and maths skills, presumably) are given leadership roles within the group, and battles are fought on a vast scale between companies representing each of the game's three factions.

They are the low-fi hardcore soldier types of the Seryi Volk Executive Response (SVER - pronounced "Sever"), the high-tech Raven Industries, and the less colourful Valor Company who are outfitted with standard kit.

Once the beta begins on the 4th, players will have to download a 298MB file from PSN, then a 38MB patch, then between 1.8 and 2.3 GB of game data depending on region.

Anyone involved in one of the old closed beta trials will be able to download the update from 1pm today rather than downloading the whole thing again, although servers won't be operational until 4th January.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • 52pickup #1 2 years ago

    Open beta? so that's another word for demo :D albeit a MP one.
    Edited by 52pickup at 22/12/09 @ 09:01

  • cianchristopher #2 2 years ago

    Why so many separate downloads? 238mb, then 38mb, then 1.8 or 2.3gb. What's that all about?

  • mcbi4kh2 #3 2 years ago

    I hope this Beta turns out better than the closed one I was in a couple of months ago. Got to 70ish% a few times and it failed making me start again. Quite annoying really for a 2gig download. Hopefully there will be some kind of download manager this time.

  • M_of_the_sys #4 2 years ago

    @mcbi4kh2

    They fixed that problem soon after it was reported, allowing you to restart the download where you left off. That was in phase 2 and there were no problems like that in phase 3 or 4. Not for me or anyone I know at least.

    Those who are looking to try this should know that it's a bit confusing at first. It takes a good few games to really get the feel of it and something just clicks. People in your squad will help you out so don't worry about not knowing what to do.

  • mcbi4kh2 #5 2 years ago

    Good stuff, will definitely be giving this a go then.

  • mungolikebeans #6 2 years ago

    Yep, really enjoyed the previous beta. Takes a while to get into the groove but is a cracking riot once you get there.

  • Triggerhappytel #7 2 years ago

    I will gladly give this another go if they sort it so it doesn't need a mammoth 2.5 Gb patch before you can even play the damn thing!

  • knightmt #8 2 years ago

    cannot wait.

  • jag10 #9 2 years ago

    look forward to the PS3 exclusives:

    MAG(Jan)
    White Knight Chronicles(Feb)
    God Of War 3 (March)

    The likes of Heavy Rain and Gran Tourismo later in the year. nothing but quality.

    compared to 2009:
    Killzone 2
    Uncharted 2
    Infamous
    Demons Souls
    Ratchet and Clank

    good thing i had a PS3 in 2009.





    and many more
    Edited by jag10 at 22/12/09 @ 12:16

  • mintycabbage #10 2 years ago

    Will people who played the first beta lose all their equipment? It took an a age for me to get all my stuff. I hope they have fixed the problem of SVER always winning.

  • M_of_the_sys #11 2 years ago

    @mintycabbage

    That may be the case. They've reset the characters at each stage of the beta.
    I don't think they've changed anything with the teams. Shouldn't make a difference if you have a good squad though. I just hope they've fixed the few glitches (like driving the APC through the gaps in the walls).

  • cianchristopher #12 2 years ago

    @jag10:

    You mean the White Knight Chronicles that scored a mesmerising 29/40 in Famitsu? Is that the one?

    Wow, the PS3 is really cleaning up this generation!

  • hilts #13 2 years ago

    I played the beta a couple of times, I found it confusing and it didn't grab me - maybe I should check it out again

  • Murton #14 2 years ago

    Beenlooking forward o this for a while, will definitely be grabbing the beta to give it a go before the full game is released if only to get a feel for it and help decide whether or not this game is for me. Hopefully the people that play it will be playing to complete the mission objectives and not running around like dicks thinking it's another COD Deathmatch as people often do when playing Battlefield Bad Company.

  • icematt12 #15 2 years ago

    Very good, may make Domination worthwhile with a shorter waiting time. It's worth a look if you are after something between a fast paced CoD and Battlefield.

  • M_of_the_sys #16 2 years ago

    @Murton

    Hopefully the people that play it will be playing to complete the mission objectives and not running around like dicks thinking it's another COD Deathmatch as people often do when playing Battlefield Bad Company.

    Highly unlikely but these people will soon get bored when they realise that they get little to no exp and after a while you'll have people who want to play the game properly.

  • Connobi #17 2 years ago

    Sorry guys, when they announced this it sounded interesting. Then they demoed it - it look crap. It looked like a generic FPS. & really? Lets be honest? Will that amount of players actually make the game better anyway?

  • MizzouGaming #18 2 years ago

    I was in the previous betas and have spent a lot of time with MAG. There really is no way around it, this game has turned out to be absolutely TERRIBLE. A chaotic cluster***k of epic proportions and completely soulless.

    Too many sacrificies have been made to accomodate MAG's massive 256 player scale but MAG's massive scale simply doesn't make the online FPS genre any better. In fact MAG's massive scale only makes it worse. In the end you are left with a visually bland FPS game, with boring gameplay and overall generic feel all made worse by its chaotic 256 player environment.

  • knightmt #19 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed the short exposure I had but I do agree that there are some problems, it is a bit like playing poker online, everyone doesnt give a fuck if they die so there is very little balance in the game. But it is fast?

    I think it will definately get better the more players there are, and the experimental aspect adds a whole different aspect.
    I am finding modern warfare 2 souless but I have a feeling that is because I am rubbish.

  • prettyboytim #20 2 years ago

    I can't imagine how long it would take to download that on PSN. The other day it took half a hour just to download a 15Mb patch. Might have well been on dialup. Sony obviously aren't paying their CDN provider enough money.

  • Beano #21 2 years ago

    Maybe you should check your PS3 wifi connection?

    PS3 wifi is usually the problem for slow PSN transfers. I use wired LAN and never have problems downloading.

  • Distributor #22 2 years ago

    Call me old but for some reason im totally indifferent about this game. 256players? Does it really make a difference to the gameplay? Havent we seen the core gameplay (fps) done gazillion times before? Whats the "UMPFH" in this one?

  • MizzouGaming #23 2 years ago

    @distributor


    That's the problem, 256 players fails to make the online FPS genre any better. On top of that, the sacrifices made to accomodate 256 players makes the game terrible compared to what FPS fans are used to. It actually feels like Perfect Dark Zero. Yeah, its that bad...maybe even worse.

  • Mnia786 #24 2 years ago

    1.8297 GB for us in the UK. D/ling right now so should be a good'n :)
    Bit slow though, only d/ling at 1mb/s :(

    Mizzou is a hater
    Edited by Mnia786 at 04/01/10 @ 14:33