If you’re a fan of our massive 256-player first-person shooter, MAG, then today’s news should be of great interest to you.

Truth be told, we have so many tremendous revisions coming to our “ever-changing global war” that it’s almost impossible to tell you about everything we have planned in a single article… but we have to begin somewhere, and we’re starting with PlayStation Move!

That’s right, later this Autumn MAG will offer full compatibility with the PlayStation Move! This added support means that users have another way to experience the most ambitious first-person shooter out there. Pinpoint accuracy and easy access to all of the game’s mechanics ensure that players of any type — be they hardened veterans or new recruits — can enjoy a shooting experience unlike any other.

But PlayStation Move support isn’t all we’re working on. Because our upcoming content is so important to the game and its future, we want your assistance to make sure we get it right! With that notion in mind we’re pleased to announce that, one week from today on August 24, we’re inviting existing MAG owners to take part in the all-new MAG Beta program


What are you going to play and test, you ask? How about the oft-demanded “Clan Deploy” feature that allows clan leaders to choose any game type and queue up to 128 clan members for matches as a team? Sure, that’s a great start but we’re also bringing in a brand-new Skill tree system that improves how our character customization system works — complete with new skills and new abilities. What’s more is that we’re introducing an in-game economy system that allows users to earn “Credit Points” by completing objectives, finishing missions, and killing enemies. They can then spend those points to purchase new weapons and gear.

MAG Beta testers will also have the opportunity to try out our upcoming DLC game-type, “Escalation,” well before it becomes available. The most frenetic MAG game mode yet, Escalation offers three brand-new faction-neutral maps with never-before-seen environments that pit a total of 96 players from all three PMCs against each other simultaneously. For the first time ever, Raven, Valor and SVER will be on a single map going after the same objectives at the same time. It’s complete insanity and a whole lot of fun, and we can’t wait for you to try it out. As an added bonus, we’re including nine all-new weapons that add even more firepower to your already-sweet arsenal as well.

That’s not all, of course, as we have plenty of other surprises in store for the new MAG Beta program that we haven’t mentioned yet — like the beta’s ability to support multiple character slots so that players can check out each PMC — but some things are best left for you to discover on your own.

To participate in the new MAG beta, all you have to do is download the client software from the PlayStation Store when it becomes available next week, insert your MAG disc into the PlayStation 3, sign-in to the beta client and… BOOM! You’re good to go. Reminder: You must have the MAG disc in your PS3 in order for the new beta client to work.

Amazingly, today’s announcement only scratches the surface of what’s planned for MAG’s future. That’s why we’re updating the Official MAG Blog constantly over the next few weeks with new and more detailed information of what you can look forward to. We’re even holding a special edition of our popular Zipline Podcast this Friday that will answer your questions about our future plans with special guest, Zipper Game Director Seth Luisi (if you have a question for the podcast, post it here)!

As always, the entire team at Zipper Interactive would like to thank you, our fans, for your feedback, loyalty and enthusiasm. Your continued support is what makes MAG what it is today, and it’s what inspires us to to make it better.

[color:dbc5=#055e7]http://blog.mag.com/blog/2010/08/mag-moves-plus-our-new-beta-program/

[color:316a=#055e7]http://blog.mag.com/blog/2010/08/expand-your-mag-army-on-august-31/

We’re happy to report that our MAG Beta is quite a success in its early days of existence and we’re even happier to announce that we’re already bringing one of its most useful features to the retail game.

Starting next week on August 31, we’re giving players the option to create and maintain multiple characters in the MAG universe! Though players are limited to one character at a time in our current setup, our new multi-character option gives you up to two additional slots to house your alter egos. This means that, for the first time ever, you’ll have the ability to float characters on Raven, SVER and Valor at the same time and never have to worry about leaving one team to try another. Of course, you can always choose to use all three slots for characters from the same PMC if you want, but that’s entirely up to you!

So how do you get these extra slots to work? It’s easy – From August 31 forward, two additional slots will appear on the character log-in screen with links to the PlayStation Store. For $0.99 (US) per additional slot, you can click the space of your choice and unlock the extra character. Your new subscription will last for 30 days from the day you purchased it, giving you a full month to try out your extra warrior. And don’t worry if you don’t renew one month, and decide to come back later – even if you don’t use your additional characters from month to month, he is never actually deleted – just asleep until you come back to claim him again in a future subscription.

Note: Though the two additional character slots will appear in North America on August 31, the characters themselves may not be immediately available for purchase until later in the day following the normal PlayStation Store update.

We hope you enjoy the added freedom that our extra character slots potentially provide and look forward to fighting with and against you once again!

This is pretty cool, I'm thinking of picking of MAG soon