Ground Control II beta test kicks off March 8th

Vivendi-Universal Games is inviting 5,000 gamers to join in the worldwide beta test for its upcoming RTS Ground Control II: Operation Exodus.

The test kicks off in a week's time on March 8th and consists of two maps, as well as two tutorial maps. Those interested should head to Vivendi's website and fill out the online application. The applications will be open to European countries initially, but will be open to others mid this week.

Vivendi says that both of the playable factions in the game, the Northern Star Alliance and the Virons will be available to players, and that those chosen for the Beta program (subject to your PC specs) will need to download a 300MB application at the Ground Control II website, which will include software to play over the GameSpy multiplayer network.

Naturally, Massive Entertainment's CEO Martin Walfisz finds the whole thing "extremely exciting".

"The development team has worked very hard for almost two years and we're all anxious to hear the response from gamers worldwide. We hope that everyone will have as much fun playing the game as we are currently having in the office, and we sincerely appreciate all the feedback that we can get from the beta testers," he said.

Massive is pitching Ground Control II as "a departure from traditional RTS games," with a focus on "tactical combat with minimal time spent on resource management".

"Instead of harvesting resources and building bases, the game keeps the action hot and heavy by immediately rewarding players for accomplishing objectives. Additionally, the unique multiplayer drop-in mode allows players to instantly join an ongoing game at any time, for any length of time," the accompanying press blurb says.

Our Rob was impressed with what he saw back at ECTS, and has signed up to the Beta already. Expect more thoughts about Massive's latest soon. Or head to the Ground Control II website.