This is a Closed Beta

William Kalwick · Jan 11, 2012

You have to purchase it to play. That means it is a closed beta, not an open beta. Please stop falsely listing it as open.

UMC 22 · Jan 11, 2012

Wrong. A closed beta is either in-house, or invite only. An open-beta is open to the general public, which this clearly is. The fact you have to pay to participate does not make it 'closed'.

Dave Begley · Jan 11, 2012

its as closed as a National Park in summer

Azrael · Jan 11, 2012

Ross Garland said:
Wrong. A closed beta is either in-house, or invite only. An open-beta is open to the general public, which this clearly is. The fact you have to pay to participate does not make it 'closed'.

The very definition of an open beta means it is open to the public without any type of restriction. You don't pay for an open beta. The fact that you have to pay does make it a closed beta. At the very least it makes it a preorder beta, which is still no "open."

Ho3n3r · Jan 11, 2012

Does it really matter what you call it? We know it's a beta and you pay for it. Whether you want to do that is up to each individual.

In it's current state it's probably more of a finished product than F1 2011 is anyway,

James Chant · Jan 11, 2012

For the millionth time... You are paying for the game in advance, with access to the beta test. If you don't like the beta, you can have a refund. Effectively it costs you nothing to try it.

Why do so many people have a bug up their ass about a few £/$/€ for a game that will last ages, with the opportunity to try it early with an option of a refund?

Sounds perfectly good to me.

Gaëtan Legastelois · Jan 11, 2012

Azrael said:
The very definition of an open beta means it is open to the public without any type of restriction. You don't pay for an open beta. The fact that you have to pay does make it a closed beta. At the very least it makes it a preorder beta, which is still no "open."

I think you confound "Open beta" and "Free beta", only for the second there are no restriction (or maybe number of licence available).
For an "Closed beta", testers are selected by various means at the discretion of the developer.
That is an "Open Beta" anybody can participate after purchase

Lars Strijdonck · Jan 11, 2012

You Purchase the final game, doing while in beta stage only gives you the option to try it NOW and help the development.

Ho3n3r · Jan 11, 2012

I don't understand what making the point that it's not an open beta will gain you? It won't change what you get.

Chicane500 · Jan 11, 2012

I agree with TS. Closed beta means limitations, for example in keys, or invites only. I interpreted "open beta" as "demo with the purpose of tracking bugs to solve them before release". Same with that e-mail from racedepartment, that I now solely interpret as an advertisement (you have to pay for a product).

Downloaded and installed for nothing and feeling screwed a bit, so I guess that's why TS is making the point that it's not an open beta: to prevent others from the same feeling.

Ant Creasy · Jan 11, 2012

He's right, it is a closed beta. There's no such thing as a "free beta", that's completely made up. If it were true there would be a multitude of "free betas" available, but there isn't. Open or closed beta, go look it up. It is closed for the single fact that you must pay. This is a restriction. If you have money falling from the sky in your backyard, awesome for you. No pay = no play. Restricted. Most of you are blinded by your fanaticism for the company.

ISI is promoting this as an open beta. It's blatant false advertising. And you people are even making up new terminology to defend it.

Ivo Simons · Jan 11, 2012

I played alot of Closed Beta of COD back in the day, got chosen. Never paid for it.

James Chant · Jan 11, 2012

James Chant said:
For the millionth time... You are paying for the game in advance, with access to the beta test. If you don't like the beta, you can have a refund. Effectively it costs you nothing to try it.

Why do so many people have a bug up their ass about a few £/$/€ for a game that will last ages, with the opportunity to try it early with an option of a refund?

Sounds perfectly good to me.

I repeat what I said before. and I am no fanboy, just a voice of reason.

Alex Brumpton · Jan 11, 2012

Ant Creasy said:
He's right, it is a closed beta. There's no such thing as a "free beta", that's completely made up. If it were true there would be a multitude of "free betas" available, but there isn't. Open or closed beta, go look it up. It is closed for the single fact that you must pay. This is a restriction. If you have money falling from the sky in your backyard, awesome for you. No pay = no play. Restricted. Most of you are blinded by your fanaticism for the company.

ISI is promoting this as an open beta. It's blatant false advertising. And you people are even making up new terminology to defend it.

Personally I think its an open beta... you are paying for the final game, not the beta imo. That is what ISI wanted to do, release it as early in beta development as they could so we could play it and give feedback. But it doesnt matter what anyone thinks it is, if you want to play it or just try it, buy it and play it simple as that, if not dont, if you dont like it get a refund... seems reasonable to me.

Marco Bijl · Jan 11, 2012

Simple explanation from Wikipedia:

Open and closed beta
Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test and are invitation only, while open betas are from a larger group to the general public and anyone interested. The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in the final version. Examples of a major public beta test are:

In September 2000 a boxed version of Apple's Mac OS X Public Beta operating system was released.[2]
Microsoft's release of community technology previews (CTPs) for "Longhorn" in January 2005.[3]

Open betas serve the dual purpose of demonstrating a product to potential consumers, and testing among an extremely wide user base likely to bring to light obscure errors that a much smaller testing team may not find.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_version#Beta

Next time, do some research first. Open or closed referes to the select group, or general public. Has NOTHING to do with money.....