Firefall (Finally) Entering Open Beta For Real Next Week

If you search the RPS archives for the phrase "Firefall open beta," you'll get 17 trillion results. That is not an exaggeration (well OK, maybe slightly). It feels like Firefall's been running scattered open beta weekends since the dawn of time, but now the real deal is nearly upon us. Soon, any man, woman, or child will be able to strap on a jetpack and lord their airborne superiority over lowly giant ground bugs - bitter acid tears pooling in their subcutaneous emotion sacs as they shudder with quiet jealousy. Also on the docket: expanded story content, which you can see in action after the break.

The new instance is called Blackwater Anomaly, and it'll kick off Firefall's (much-needed) "world story". Red 5 seems to be positioning it as the centerpiece of the open beta, which will start spilling brittle bug guts on July 9th.

Signup is as simple as going to the high-flying MMOFPS' website and creating an account, so probably do that. Jim, especially, has taken a pretty strong liking to the bits he's played, and I must admit that my Tribes Gland gets a bit engorged at the sight of all these gruff men and women strutting their stuff in the sky. Color me interested - especially since Firefall has the potential to be Not Just Another MMO.

I suppose we'll find out soon if it can live up to that. Until then, I guess I should start working on overcoming my crippling phobia of all things with carapaces. Can anybody recommend a good hypnotist? I'm hoping to hand one over to all the world's spiders on a very tastefully garnished platter as a peace offering.