MAG is Gold, Beta for Everyone Soon

On behalf of everyone at Zipper Interactive, I’m proud to announce that following our successful series of beta programs this past fall, our 256-player first-person shooting spectacular, MAG, has gone gold in North America, Japan, Korea, and the rest of Asia. It is now headed off to manufacturing so that the game can make it from store shelves to PlayStation 3s all over the world. Expect MAG to drop on January 26 in North America and Asia, January 28 in Japan, and January 29 in Korea.

The European discs are finishing up final quality assurance rounds right now and we expect to see those editions go gold sometime in the next few weeks.

We realize that the wait is still more than a month away, which is why we’re also pleased to announce a cool little surprise (or should I say, a “great, big surprise?”) to tide you over. In an effort to give you a taste of what to expect with the final version of MAG, Zipper and Sony Computer Entertainment will team up on January 4 to bring you our final and 100% open PSN beta.

But what’s so great about MAG Beta 5? Well, to start, it will take place worldwide — so if you’re in a territory with a PlayStation 3 and an Internet connection, you qualify to be a part of it. What’s more is that you won’t need any special permissions or code keys to participate, you’ll just get it and go! Complete access to the game’s 64-player sabotage and 256-player Domination modes are pretty good reasons to get excited too.

Of course, the best news about MAG Beta 5 is that you’ll be able to download the client in North America starting tomorrow, December 22! Additionally, PS3 owners in Asia can start downloading the file on December 25, while the European store will make it available on January 4. Check back for details on Japanese PSN store access in the near future.

Now that you know where to get the MAG Beta, your path to playing it is a simple three-step process:

1. Log on to the PlayStation Store (tomorrow) and download the MAG Beta file like you would any other freely-available PSN video or demo (298 MB)
2. Launch the MAG Beta program from your XMB to download a special patch that will restart MAG once the update has been received (another 38 MB)
3. After the reboot, the beta will reconnect and download the actual game data so that you can play (1.8 GB – 2.3 GB depending on your region)

Complete the steps above and you’ll be ready to rock ‘n roll — and shoot things and blow stuff up — until the beta ends on January 10 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. Keep in mind, though, that you won’t actually be able to play the MAG beta directly until the servers go live at 5 am Pacific on January 4. But hey, look at the bright side: this is the last time you’ll ever have to download a MAG file this big (since the data will already be on the retail disc when it ships next month), and you’ll save a whole lot of extra shooting time by downloading what you need early on; thus allowing you to jump into the action immediately on the 4th.

Oh, and one last thing before I go: I know I speak for everyone here at Zipper Interactive when I say that each and every one of us wishes you and yours a happy and safe holiday season. Thank you very much for supporting our community and our game in 2009, and we look forward to giving you exactly what you’ve been waiting for in 2010!