Following yesterday’s news that US retailer Gamestop would be handing out StarCraft II beta invites to anyone who preordered Blizzard’s RTS, EB Games has confirmed the same preorder offer for Australia.
So if you don’t mind preordering at EB – and either the standard or Collectors Edition will do – you can get onto the StarCraft II beta as soon as April 28.
Of course, if you’d rather not preorder, you could also try to win access – and a stack of cool StarCraft II swag – in our competition. Be quick though, it closes on Sunday.
Stone
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 9:52 AMI think that is a perfectly reasonable reward as a pre-order bonus. This in association with the much hyped Halo: Reach beta and a myriad of others are setting an exciting precedent in the industry. I can’t remember a time where public beta’s where so prevalent and it seems a win-win situation.
Gamers are getting their hands on games early as a pseudo game demo, marketing departments seem to love the generated PR and developers are getting sweet-sweet free testing and balancing data.
I guess this should be in the “Ask me Stuff” but is the popularity of public betas making gaming journalism harder or easier? What does everyone else think of initiatives like this, for StarCraft and Reach (obviously well established franchises from industry leading developers) as well as the new ‘Blur’ beta – it being a completely new IP.
wallet
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:21 AMawesome… ill do this on the way home tonight after work.
But why wont you recieve it till the 28th though?
Brink
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:26 AMIf I did this I’d probably be bored of the game by the time it actually released.
Luke
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:37 AMThat’s pretty cool. It’s almost like a trial. Don’t like the game can cancel the pre order.
Vel
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:41 AMDone enough testing at work, don’t wanna do another one without pay :p
Still gonna preorder that Collectors edition though!
wallet
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:43 AManother question… does the beta have ai oponents yet?
wouldnt mind practicing on them a few times to figure out how most of the new units work
Phaded
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:51 AMFYI for those who have already pre-ordered in store and didn’t leave your email address, the stores have just started ringing people asking for their emails this morning so you won’t get left out :)
Emma Myles
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:28 AMGood to know, I never left an e-mail address when I pre-ordered mine.
And just a note for people who are now wanting to pre-order the LE in store, I’m pretty sure you will actually have to order online now. My local store said the the 15th of April was the last day they were taking pre-orders and they gave me the indication that all EB stores were following the same protocol.
Trent Watherston
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 1:51 PMI guess i must have been lucky then. I was able to pre-order my collectors edition today from EB at North Sydney.
Perhaps each store has an allocation limit?
Dsync
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:16 AMI got a ring this morning from EB asking for my email as id already pre-ordered the special addition last week. The guy on the phone however said that i could expect the beta access in my email later today so dunno what to believe at this point. Excited though!
Raistlan
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 2:53 PMI just got the phone call, and mentioned what you said about later today – he said he was told be head office that it would be next Wednesday.
Steven Lao
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:19 AMsweet!!! going to pre-order soon =D
dman
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:46 AMthats pretty cool of blizzard to let more people in on their beta. seeing how this game will never be released.
Aaron Meacham
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:44 PMfor the record EB is completely sold out of the collectors edition
Stone16
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10:15 PMNo they’re not. Until Head Office says to stop, any store can order away. I work at an EB, and took orders at like 8pm tonight for a bunch of people. It was expected to sell out quickly, but it’s lasted a surprisingly long time.
Mr Waffle
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:46 PMI wonder when people stopped thinking of betas as being a “work in progress test” and became a privilege that somehow took over the roles of both demos and preorders at the same time. Whoever did it is a genius…
Samuel Fraser
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 1:13 PMAccording to the guy at EB in the Canberra Center beta keys for pre-orders should be emailed out on Wednesday next week.
Cerzel
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 4:39 PMGuys, it is definitely worth pointing out that GAME are also handing out beta keys, and are also selling the game $20 cheaper than EB is. In the online store, at least.
AndyN
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 8:50 PMJust preordered my collectors edition at EB games today, and the dude said ill be getting the beta key in my email sometime next week. :D cant wait!
Kenneth Nordahl
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 12:30 AMI went in to the Brisbane store (the one opposite to Crispy Kreme) and added my email address yesterday morning. Just finishing up uni stuff this weekend for a few days of fun next weekend.