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BAH ! no Alpha key
Wizardry
Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
Found out they handed them out to all Fanfest participants,pretty lame,that makes it them 100% chance, us zero chance.I have only heard of one outside person get a key and that is just here say.I checked a few different sites,nobody claims to have got a key.Thanks for false hope 
I also hear for those that care,the Beta will be 10k people only and ONLY for PC users,witch makes sense,unless they had console users D/L the content.They said it will open to public later,so that tells me there will be more than one Beta.
On a cool note they have updated their site with some nice new information.It is looking like a possible June release.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Comments
People at fanfest got alpha keys, yes, but they DID send out keys to long-term FFXI players as well... that was the only way to get a key to this phase, it was based on the length of your FFXI subscription. FFXIVCore had a copy of the e-mail up on the day they were sent out so people definately received them.
There are no details on the amount of people being entered into beta yet, not sure where you got your 10k figure from. Dunno where you got the PC only beta thing from as well since FFXIII released with a key for PS3 beta access.... SE have said that there will be a beta for both platforms and it will last for roughly six months (that also throws your June release out the window). There will likely be an open beta, as you said though.
We're really looking at a release in November/December to be honest.
Everything i said was from another sites interview i believe was a Gamescon interview.
They also stated exactly how many would be let in,i think i posted that number.The only way this gets pushed back to December is if the Alpha phase does not go well and they decide to make some game play changes.Well there is of course one other HUGE factor and the one that is REALLY holding back the game,they have struggled to get decent frame rates on this new engine. Xbox definitely sounds like a very late release or they will just release it less quality than the PC /PS3 version just as they did with FFXIII.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I believe FFXI was released in november, so shoot for the same fall time line. As far as betas, yea... They might have a beta, but this is Square/Enix... This isn't some unknown developer, and I just wont believe that the beta would be some huge public thing. They are going to have a limited number of people play this game, period. Even if public, they will surprise us and open invites on some random day. Few of us will play this game before release, I feel.
Any chance you could give a link to the interview? I wasn't aware any solid info had really been given out yet and a lot of what you appear to have read seems to contradict the little info we do have (regarding size and duration, they've already confirmed beta will last roughly 6 months and it hasn't started yet).
Also the Xbox release is currently unlikely to happen at all. Microsoft have become obsessed with charging for any service offered through Live and apparently they wanted to charge for players to access XIV (on top of the subscription fee the game will obviously require) which SE refused to allow. That's just hearsay of course, but given Microsoft's need to charge for every little thing with their console it makes sense.
My friend from FFXI got a key, and is in alpha now. He wasn't at vanafest!
Alpha has not started yet, the site was just launched on Mar. 11th. Nobody has the downloader for FFXIV yet.
EDIT: Also to the OP, there are tons of people with keys if you looked over at Eorzeapedia (: but yeah... SE has a huge favoritism with JP players, they should really get past that since their games are international, they just upset their international customers.
[Mod Edit]
Around 1500 players were invited in every region, making the number of testers around 5000. THEY DID NOT FAVOR THE JAPANESE CUSTOMERS.
And even if they did, you can't blame them. It's funny that NA developers get away with only having American betas while Asia and Europe get left in the dust, but when an Asian company has an Asian beta or even worse, more Asian people get invited to it, people make a huge fuss out of it.
Before telling SE to get past "favoritism", which doesn't even exist for god's sake (The game is coming out at the same time in Every Region. What the hell more do you want?), tell the American developers to do the same thing. Pot, meet the kettle and so on.
You took a small comment and blew it up, so if you haven't been overcome with rage by my response and your still able to think logically read on...
Favoritism is shown heavily with SE, have you ever tried getting customer support with them? How many games and information is released to the JP community before the rest of the world? hmm? Everything to date so far... If you haven't noticed the JP FFXIV site gets updated weeks before any of the other ones, they also release all their info to the JP community and it is left up to average people in other regions to translate it for everyone else. A world release at the same time? it's about time, they still have a ways to go though.
This isn't about other developers it is about SE, you can whine all you want to about other developers but that still doesn't change the facts about SE. Your argument is obviously falling short since you had to have a go at other companies and you're needing to use the 'blame-game' techniques. Those other developers shouldn't be giving unfair advantages either, I agree.
EDIT: btw I love SE and all their games for the record, they just have horrible communications.
SE only releases information in Japan because the rest of the world doesn't seem to care. We're all hyped by SW:TOR, WoW and games doomed to fail. FFXIV might get a notion on an MMORPG site or magazine, but other gaming magazines just don't give a damn. And SE doesn't want to release info if it's not wanted. If magazines and sites ask for interviews and such, I'm sure SE would throw them a bone. But right now there's only hype inside Japan, just like I'm sure the hype about SW:TOR doesn't really apply to Asia or Japan. However, were Japanese magazines asked to have an interview about TOR, I'm sure Bioware would be glad to comment. It's the same case as with XIV though. The opposite side of the world doesn't care much, at least when it comes to press. Fans do, but the magazines are marketed for the masses.
The official website has always been updated in English around a day or two after Japanese, or in some cases, a week before Japanese gets their hands on the official info (because gaming magazines want to sell their product and that doesn't really work if all the info is out there for free already).
Your point fails because every gaming company is like this, and it's the norm. SE is one of the few companies actually trying to make a difference, and because the rest of the gaming world is so far behind them, it's dumb as hell to blame them for not doing even better than they already are. Talk about being ungrateful. "They should do this and that", no, they should not, but they're still trying.
[mod edit]
"More NA games looking to play it than there are JP players", "More English speaking people playing FFXI at the moment".
This is a fact. The majority of most big servers is USA/UK Players, and also other non-main language english speakers, such as German and French which majority of those people are just as fluent in English as they are in their own language. With that being said as well even though technically they don't fall into the main English Speaking group, there is more than JP players.
P.S. Canadian players as well, didn't want to leave you guys out.
That is actually possible, but that doesn't really say anything for that guy's argument. More players speak english than japan, but that's because english is a universal language. Every player is not centered around one country, and when all countries apply, Japan has most players. English speaking players are spread across continents and countries, so even if there were more of them, they don't check the same sites, nor read the same magazines. So what if people in UK are interested about XIV, it doesn't generate enough interest for American gaming magazines. Japan is a different case. Generally there are more fans there than in any other country, and not just for XI- for every Final Fantasy. It's a Japanese franchise, so it piques people's interests, even if they were not fans of the series or the MMO counterpart.
Just like Alan Wake is a "bigger thing" in Finland than anywhere else- and that doesn't mean that the company doesn't want to give interviews to other magazines but Finnish ones.
And if asking for proof translates to "holier than thou" attitude, then I'm sorry. I'll believe him if you believe that UFO's exist. Nothing you two have said makes a difference when it comes to the argument, but at least you had an explanation or proof that the original debater couldn't give. Now if you could give an explanation as to how there are more NA players than JP players, then we could get somewhere with this.
Hyanmen, lighten up.
Anyway, about the alpha keys, I didnt think anyone outside of Japan was even getting into the Alpha test. I thought everyone else only had a chance at beta.
You're not the one getting insulted here... thanks for the advice though.
Well, the more you know. American and European FFXI players were invited to the alpha.
Stay on topic and refrain from personal attacks on other users. First and only warning.