Warheads –
The time has come to say “thank you and good night!” As of Tuesday, January 3rd, the lights will go down on the Starhawk Private Beta. It’s been a wild, wild ride and we want to thank ALL the participants that took time out of their schedule to help us test Starhawk. We’ve learned an enormous amount and have applied much of it already. We’ve still got a long way to go but the leg up this info has provided us is incredibly valuable. The Private Beta was our first step to try out the game in the wild and it’s been simply awesome. And because of this success, we’ve decided to keep the Private Beta live through the holiday break. After all, what would ringing in 2012 be without a little Starhawk beatdown session?!!
So what’s next? Why, the Public Beta, of course! In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing the dates for this important step. Many more players will be allowed access, including the UNCHARTED 3 owners who received a Public Beta voucher when they purchased the game! Look for more information and specifics on the PlayStation.Blog very soon.
It only takes a quick web search to find a TON of Starhawk info out there about the Beta. We’ve been really happy with the commentary/opinions and will taking all of the feedback seriously. Here is a convenient sampling of what’s out there: IGN, Kotaku, VG247, GameSpot, Major League Gaming, Pixel Nation, Dual Shockers, PS Nation, and Starhawk Radio—just to name a few.
We’d like to wish everyone happy holidays from LightBox Interactive and Sony Santa Monica. We hope that you enjoy your vacation time. Feel free to spend it waxing noobs in the Beta over holiday break!
“It’s closing time…one last call…”
FIRST! JUST WANT TO SAY AS A PRIVATE BETA TESTER..THIS GAME IS AMAZING..JUST A FEW TWEEKS ARE NEEDED TOWARDS THE MECH HAWK AND CHARACTER VIEW ON THE SCREEN.. BUT THATS JUST MY OPINION.HOPEFULLY THEY – STARHAWK DEVS LOOK INTO THIS AND GIVE US HARDCORE WARHAWK HEADS THE OPTION TO CHANGE CHARACTER VIEWS ..HOVER AND EJECT FROM OUR MECH HAWKS.BESIDES ALL THIS EVERYTHING ELSE IS RUNNING GREAT AND IM HAVING A BLAST BUILDING AND STOMPING MY ENEMIES WITH THEMECH HAWK!
Hey Harvard and the team over at Lightbox! Just want to say thank you for the amazing Private Beta. This game is going to consume my life whenever it releases, much like Warhawk did over 4 years ago! Can’t wait for the public beta now. Keep up the good work over there guys!
I wish I could have dedicated more time, moving really took a toll on me.
That said, I’ve had a blast, and will continue to have one, through January.
Are the private beta members included in the public beta by default? Or do I need to go buy UC3?
Why am i a plus subscriber if i can’t play a beta?¬¬ I want to play too SONY!!!!! This is the christmas week, do you remember?
Ive had the Beta for about 2 weeks or so and NOT ONCE have I been able to play. It NEVER connects to the servers and just keeps restarting. Its not my connection as i have no issues with any other games.
I even hosted my own game/server and it worked for me but no one ever joined. I played around with it but got boring by myself.
I was lucky enough to get into the beta on day one and I am honored. I’m also very glad that the community gave back alot of feedback on the Starhawk Beta forum. I’m also very happy that I was able to discuss into the changes of the Shotgun, Knife, Beam, and Starhawk. I still think the knife needs a little bit more nerf but I’ll discuss that in the Private Beta forums :)
Its been amazing seeing how much the game has changed and detail that was added as the beta went on, just feels great to know you were one of the lucky ones to test the first stages of the game for people who are planning on getting it. I havn’t had this much fun playing a game every since i started playing Warhawk back in 2007. I can not wait for this game, I really hope there is some sort of collectors edition or something around to that because I will for sure put money towards that.
Oh and one more thing, I can’t wait to use my special rift hunter skin code!!!
I admit I haven’t played much, but I get too easily confused in Starhawk, it seems too much stuff is happening and either the color or the textures in the stage/characters are not helping. I think you have saturated the world with too much stuff, it should be a little cleaner, just my 2 cents. Also, respawning takes too long.
Hello Mr. Bonin
The Starhawk private beta has been enjoyable experience so far. The updates have improved it a lot!
I especially enjoy running over other players with the jeep. I do hope there is an online trophy for that (but please don’t go overboard with online trophies! the grinding variety suck).
Keep up the great work and have a very merry christmas!
The private beta has been a lot of fun, I wish I didn’t have to ever stop playing Starhawk! Right from private right into public right into release! Do it! :)
Hold up, thats my vid… I love you guys! *wipes tear*
Thanks for extending the Private Beta throughout the Holidays. The LBI & Santa Monica team have done an excellent job on StarHawk. It has come a long way since the first time I laid eyes on it. I’m looking forward to the Open Beta and thousands upon thousands of fresh eyes combing through every system and detail of the game to further aid in the fine tuning of 2012’s GOTY.
Couldn’t have been happier with the game in the current state, and I can only look forward to what gets tinkered with/added in as time goes on. I will definitely pre-order the game when the time comes! :)
As a question, does everybody from the current private BETA get into the other BETA phases?
PS: Please make the rifle more useful then it currently is (which isn’t much).
Sincerely, LightKiosk
Starhawk has a lot of potential, but that is all overshadowed by a slew of balancing problems and ill-designed gameplay mechanics. Two weeks just isn’t enough time to straighten everything out, and I doubt much will get done in the public beta.
R.I.P Incognito Entertainment
Everyone I know who was in this closed beta were people who preorderd it or what have you.
I was thinking of getting this till I learned that… I wait for Dead Space 3 or something now, Public Beta really just means Demo! I Gaurentee you that game will be released within weeks after that.
These Dev’s nowadays use the word beta to make you feel like you are actually a part of something when in 99.9% of reality the game is done and all they is feedback. lol too funny!
I am in the private beta and I have to say this game is awesome. The latest 1.1.3/1.1.4 iteration is great.
Let me just throw another “thanks” in here. I played this digital treat at E3, and it’s been a blast playing/testing during this beta period. Christmas came early for myself and other beta testers.
Happy holidays to the guys and gals hard at work on this game, and to all the playahs out there!
Thanks, LightKiosk, I came here specifically to ask that question.
Will existing Private Beta testers be automatically included in the next round of testing?
Thanks guys, it’s been fun. I’m looking forward to even more over the next week or so.
I am loving the private beta. Those old Warhawk skills are starting to come back! I’ll be playing as much as I can between now and 1/3/12.
The Public Beta will be in the PSN, you might have to redownload the newer build that’s all.
When a company doesn’t bless PS Plus members with private beta I don’t support them AT ALL!!
There might be some plus members who got it but that’ll be because they preorderd another game to gain access to this.
Hilarious, this is not on my list anymore.
Gran Turismo 5 DLC and LA Noire Complete bundle for $24 here I come!
#13 @ polo155 https://blog.playstation.com/2011/12/21/starhawk-private-beta-to-close-january-3-2012/#comment-675368
I have taken part in Beta & Alpha [walking maps for holes & stuff ;-p] testing of games many times in the last 15+ years or so. And I can indeed say the StarHawk Private Beta was indeed a Beta and not a demo. I have a feeling the Open Beta will be the same way, just a little more fine tuned. LightBox Interactive must fall in the .01% :)
Nice beta I’ve enjoyed although the hawks could use a bit of tweaking, but other than that it’s a great beta.
Thanks for the rewarding experience and for listening to our feedback, LightBox :) I can’t wait for the Starhawk Open Beta :D
#18 polo155 https://blog.playstation.com/2011/12/21/starhawk-private-beta-to-close-january-3-2012/#comment-675376
There are buku PSN+ Members in the Private Beta of which did not Pre Order any games to get in. LightBox and Sony Santa Monica invited thousands of diehard WarHawk fans to assist in finetuning the system mechanics of StarHawk. Hundreds[thousands?] more got in through contest and give-aways.
Is there any reason as to why I’ve not been able to use my Beta Code? Just tried now and it gives me a Invalid or Incorrect notification, I’ve also double checked multiply times and nothing. Was there some sort of deadline that everyone needed to put in the code before? If not, I feel really cheaped out because I wanted to see if Starhawk was any good. Is there something I could do about it?
@ Sonic42. That is BS. They have been tweaking the beta since have been playing it and it is balanced just fine. No weapon or device is unbeatable. You have things to counter everything your opponent can do. You just have have the skills to do it. I have not encountered anything that can’t be stopped or destroyed. Heck, I even took down Hawks on foot with only my rocket launcher in my hand and dodged the Razor jeep when it tried to run me down. The game still needs a little work but balance is not the problem.
@ CougraCat if its the UC3 Beta code you can’t use that one until next year. You can only use the ones you were sent in the email because you played the original Warhawk. If not then I don’t know what the problem is.
@ #18
Total BS.. I’m a plus user that got in.. I can say 100% that I didn’t preorder or buy anything and got in with the last wave of beta codes.. I’ve been using gamefly for the past year..
Anyway.. As a casual FPS/TPS player, I pretty much blow at these type of games but usually have fun playing.. I played WarHawk when it first came and it was really fun.. But, this game confuses me.. I think not having all your weapons/vehicles available at the start of each round, the weapons/vehicles location being different each round since someone has to build the building for them, and other players flying in out of no where to kill you with one shot in the back over any over was just too much for me.
I learned why there were so many baserape threads pretty quick. Maybe things will get better in the public beta.
@ cosmis_chaos Yeah its the one from Uncharted 3, Thanks for telling me that. Just thought that this post was talking about the Starhawk Beta from Uncharted 3.
@ #18
Hmm, maybe I read your comment wrong.. If you meant the public beta, my bad.. If you meant the private beta, carry on..
Thanks for the Birthday gift LightBox! Wait a second…
@#23&25
You got a beta code because you played Warhawk NOT because your a PS Plus member. I like this way of beta invites better in how you get rewarded from playing previous games.
For the Plus users not getting ‘their fair share…” boo hoo. This beta was explicitly for Warhawk players and new Starhawk converts. It was pretty easy to get into the beta through LBI and SCE:SM sending out ADDITIONAL beta codes, so don’t go crying! You actually had to spend some time to get in!
Okay, with all that said and done, it’s been a REALLY good day otherwise… XD
Thanks go to the dev teams responsible for holding this as a TRUE beta, not some underdeveloped demo as I’ve been a part of in the past, and I’ve been through a LOT of betas.
I could list multiple things that need to be incorporated into the beta, but I’m already posting ’em on the beta forums, so there’s no sense in saying the same thing over and over again.
Thanks for letting me trying this out! You’ll continue to see me in the beta through my server, Death Star II, or through me joining other servers!
Can’t wait. I asked this the last time you guys posted on the blog, but my question was misinterpreted. Do you guys have any timeline for the release date of the final game? Like when will I be able to walk into a store and pick up a copy? Here’s hoping it won’t be too long after the public beta closes.
I was not that impressed with the beta. The only matches I could find were set at 3 kills total. The match was over before I got to do anyhting. I even started my own match with higher kills and nobody joined at all. After a 1/2hr of letting it sit there I just gave up. Hopefully it is better in the public beta.
So, if we are in the Private Beta, when the public beta is launched, can we just start up the one we already have downloaded, or do we have to wait for it to pop up on the store?
If there will be a newer version released for the public, private testers should automatically get a voucher, or when they launch the game it should just update.
-just some thoughts
@ JohnRKlein . If they gave you everything at the beginning THAT would be chaos. Can you imaging EVERYONE having Hawks, missile launchers, beam canons and shields at the start? No one would want to use certain weapons or vehicles. It would boil down to Hawk fights and beam cannons. That is boring. The point is to earn your way to building these structures so you can use them. What is the point if they just give you everything from the start? The point is to get better so you can earn the power to build your forces. Also if you want to keep up with structures being built you stick with your teammates. If you run off all gung ho by yourself , of course you won’t know what your teammates built. But if you stick together it is easy to see what was built and what wasn’t. Of look carefully most people build everything as close to home base as possible.
@ DazeOfWar. Are you joking. I have been in matches that have had way more kill totals then that. You must have just had a streak if bad luck that’s all.
Hope you guys learned alot from this beta. Like how it hard freezes my ps3. It froze it multiple times. Then when I reboot, it says it has to do some system check, everytime. That was really annoying. Never played a beta that would do that, again, multiple times.
I had similar issues with the hard freezes. Overall I enjoyed the beta and look forward to more, but having to reboot the system and go through the system check was an issue.
Well I beta test alot of games! This game is interesting with alot of potential. With that said More often than not this beta has been UNPLAYABLE for alot of us. Lots of changes and plsying yesterday promises a more stable and smooth game. But now im out of time! Main complaint real quick is the main gun you start with needs just a small BUMP IN POWER!!! Not alot just a little! anyways overall game is gorgeous!
@28 actually you’re wrong I received a beta code email from playstation and guess what I’ve never played warhawk or the game trial of it but I do have that yellow sign by name
I was pretty annoyed for not getting into this. I’m a plus member obviously and I was hyped they included a beta code with Uncharted 3. I only recently found out this beta was going on. I was too late to hop on the Warhawk train and I was wanting to play Starhawk. I guess I’ll have to wait until next year. Better be worth the wait. =/
Thanks for the heads up, I haven’t had time to play the beta yet but it’s been sitting on my HDD for the past week. Looks like I know what I’m doing this weekend.
I’ve had a great time enjoying the beta and I’m really looking forward to the full release. You fellows at LBI and Sony Santa Monica have made something wonderful and that will stand out from the rest of the early 2012 releases. Keep up the great work!
hey #18 polo155
this was a private beta, meaning you needed a special code, if they gave it to all ps+ members the servers would be way too overrun for a beta, thats the point, only so many ppl getting in, i mean the codes were given away on twitter and FB, and numerous other places, you should have just tried to get one rather than sit here complaining cuz they didnt get on their knees and hand you one, you want to take this off your list thats your problem, but the game is amazing, and i cant wait for it.
and also #39
the private beta is still on and if you have a private code you can still play this, but the code that is with Uncharted 3 im pretty sure is for the public beta, that will be announced after the private beta ends sometime, personally i think this game blows warhawk out of the water.
If I spend ALOT of money every year with a company and pay for plus on top of that with the thought of more closed betas since it was marketed as such, then yes I expect that!
I’ve been in all sorts of closed betas for years too but that’s not the point, you’d figure they want people who spans and play and communicate, yea I’m mad I didn’t get in and no I will not be buying this for that reason also because that’s how I show my displeasure… My vote is my dollar!
IM STARTING TO REALIZE PLAYSTATION PLUS’ MEANING OF “GET BETA INVITE” MEANS PUBLIC BETA aka DEMOS ONE WEEEK LATER MEANING ITS THE SAME BUILD SO WHAT THEY MEAN BETA WHEN SPEAKING OF “OPEN”
I GUESS I PAID FOR OPEN BETAS & MINI GAMES.
PEOPLE TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO ME OR BEING FUNNY JUST SAVE IT, I KNOW WHAT I SPEAK OF.
Game needs an overhaul
I meant **public betas aka Demos** is what we basically get, the followering week it’s posted for the masses. That’s no beta lol too funny.
Beta is amazing, not sure why i have access to the game but not the forums but meh.. Only falters i can see so far is you can jetpack under a bridge and get stuck and unable to get down and a few spots where you sink into the graphics. The machine gun feels a bit weak too and the hawks don’t explode when you crash which seems unreal. Other than that it’s brilliant
Dylan Jobe, President of video games!
im a warhawk vet
one thing i have to say about starhawk this game is boring
warhawk is a way better game
Actually according to google if you search for “starhawk beta” there are about 770,000 results
Being a beta tester I can honestly say this game will be INCREDIBLE when fully finished. Very high replayability when it comes to multiplayer and I am honored I was chosen to participate. Keep up the good work, and as for me, ill be sure to pick the game up on day 1!!!