It’s a subtle but important distinction to make, but I doubt many who have spent the last few days hunting for beta codes really care about the semantics between an open and closed beta. They’ll just be happy to hear that Titanfall is switching to being an open beta test, opening the floodgates to all and sundry. Well, as long as they have an Xbox One or a PC.
Of course, the point of the test is really to see how the server infrastructure will hold up. The original plan was to gradually ramp up the test with staggered code releases, but a quick glance at Vince Zampella’s twitter feed shows that this plan has changed quite drastically:
Ok, just heard from @jonshiring. His words are 'Let's break it', so the plan is to make the beta fully open and have you max stress it!
— Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) February 16, 2014
The new plan is to open up the Xbox One version first, with the PC version to follow soon after. The good news is that Zampella also tweeted that the beta would be extended by “at least a day”; the bad news is that he indicated that server capacity for the beta was intentionally quite limited, so expect Jon Shiring to get his wish!
Major Nelson posted that to actually grab the beta on Xbox One you need to head to the “New Game Demos” section of the store, search for it via Bing, or even just spot a “Join the Titanfall Beta” link on the home page somewhere.
We’ll add PC details to this post when they crop up, but expect to simply open up the Origin client and find it either already in your library or in the store.
Source: Major Nelson, Vince Zampella
hazelam
“let’s break it”.
many people are going to see that as a challenge. ^_^
still, good for them actually doing this kind of test before launch, hopefully it means people who buy the game at launch might have a better experience.
i guess ea are finally learning their lesson after the Battlefield and Sim City launches.
but of course there will still be unforeseen problems.
but with a free open beta, they’re going to give it a real test.
Andrewww
Sorry, cannot follow. There’s far too much hype for this one currently, as in the end it’s just another transformer like game. And I have seen a vid, and it may be good, but still, come on, there’s plenty of good games out there. Or is it just because there’s not that much else for the XBone? Well done then, MS/EA marketing.
Stefan L
Yes, XBO owners are looking forward to it, but so are tons of PC gamers.
There’s a lot of disparate elements at play, and there’s nothing I can think of that’s quite like it. It’s very clever, regardless of the Hype Express which is chugging away.
Actually, I can’t think of anyone that’s played it and not come away impressed, though I’m sure there are plenty who don’t fancy the genre or MP focus. I get the feeling that most people that have a dig at 6v6, AI etc. etc. wouldn’t give it a chance even if they had an XBO or hefty PC.
DividSmythe
I don’t like fps or understand online fps. I saw the YouTube videos thought it looked rubbish. I got a beta code for Titanfall last night I thought I’d give out a try and all I can say now is I loved it. It’s very good fun. I even crammed an extra round that I promised I wouldn’t to my wife. I can’t see how I’m not going to pr-eorder this now.
SH Number 7/Mini-Lipscombe
Played this at EGX and was blown away, I was already looking forward to it and my expectations where beaten.
EA obviously has a lot of money to put on marketing and they obviously want this to beat CoD so they aren’t going to be shy about it.
I sense a fair bit of bias in your comment as well Andrewww even if you don’t realise it. There’s a lot getting advertised for Xbox but a lot of it is multi-plat, but that’s the same for PlayStation as well. Most advertising is for Infamous. The reason for both of this is clearly because they’re both coming out very soon and they want to sell more systems and in Microsoft’s case they are lagging a bit behind for the moment and are trying to guarantee this will sell systems. Especially after Watch(_)Dogs was put back (I know this is multi-plat but both consoles were counting on it’s release)
DJ Judas
I’ve not been impressed with it so far. It’s like a cross between CoD and Quake 3, but with some of the speed and skill removed from the Quake reference.
It feels like it’s been built from the ground up to give a “one more go” feeling to the player, with bots existing solely to broaden its accessibility and let people feel as though they’re killing something. Even for a typical FPS it feels extremely repetitive.
These are just initial impressions from the weekend though, I’ll play it some more and see if my pessimism subsides.
Severn2j
I got sent a beta code, but as I don’t have an Xbox One, it wasn’t a lot of use to me, but a friend was pleased to accept it. Nice to see them open up to PC users tho, I was going to try it out, but origin is a deal breaker for me. I guess I’ll get the inevitable sequels that come to PS4 instead, assuming it does well.
Stefan L
Lots of people got XBO codes sent to them, so there’s a few ways you can swap it to a PC code. Don’t have the info handy, but it’s not too much use since you’ve already gifted the code away!
Severn2j
Pc is out for me anyway, because Origin, so unless they do a PS4 version, I’ll be waiting for the next one..
Kennykazey
I’m having an issue with the PC version where changing the resolution doesn’t actually change the output resolution, just the render. This results in a centred image with black bars when running below native.
Also, the netcode is a bit poor. It’ll connect to different regions by random it seems at startup, and it won’t always offer the choice of the same ones. Nothern Europe gives me the lowest ping and seems to have a lower playercount, yet it’ll frequently connect me to Asia and the US with no available lobbies.
Stefan L
That’s odd. Make sure you’ve got the latest GPU drivers, and also check the driver options with regard to overscan. I get a similar thing with AMD cards when running sub-native resolutions in Windows, and it was a silly overscan issue, so see what happens when running the desktop lower.
You can also manually pick the server you connect to, though I know others are having connection issues. That’s part of why they’re having a beta, though!
Kennykazey
I’ll check my drivers (have heard of it on Amd) but I’ve got an Nvidia. And I’ve not had this issue on any of my other hundred PC games.
And yes, you can pick servers but it won’t always show the same ones. Sometimes it only shows American ones, Asian ones or European ones, and a restart is needed for a new list.
I hope things get sorted as I’ve already pre-ordered.
plutoniumdragon
@Kennykazey, nVidia here as well and no problems, I’m using 332.21 (in Win 8.1). If that helps at all?
Kennykazey
I’m using the same drivers, updated to beta drivers with no luck. Could be some Nvidia Optimus issue.
SLUMMO316
I’ve had the beta since yesterday afternoon and I gotta say it’s really fun. Not really played anything like it. The titans are great to use. I wasn’t sure if I would get it on release but after playing the beta I definitely will do
Pitcher-T
I’m really gutted that Titanfall isn’t available on PS4. It’s definitely one I would like to play.
I do have a PC but it’ll need a bit of upgrading before it could attempt to run this game.
You can’t have them all I suppose.
plutoniumdragon
Got a (PC) code Saturday and gave it a look, it’s fun for a while and nicely fluid and lag-less on my hardware. Can sort of see some of the hype launched at this game, but it’s just a wee bit ‘meh’ for me. But then online shooters are not my favourite genre so just a bit biased there ;)
I’m liking the “It’s just a modern Mechwarrior clone/oh no it isn’t” argument raging in some places ;)
Managed to get a code for the other big beta last weekend and that will be the one I’m playing on release ;)
Starman
Looks great, a rare game that’s worthy of the hype.
Eldaveo
Played the beta for around 6 hours over the weekend and honestly I cannot understand the hype. Having played Black Ops 2 for 70 hours last year, it really feels like someone has just modded that game and included a double jump ability. Gameplay is largely the same, character progression feels identical and the graphics currently look like a slightly sharper 360 game.
Don’t get me wrong, its fun and I’ll probably buy it, but I certainly don’t feel it should be called a game-changer.