Metal Gear Online beta goes live on April 25th

by Andrew Yoon { Apr 21st 2008 at 2:40PM }

Today was supposed to be the launch of the Metal Gear Online beta. However, overwhelming demand has caused Konami to delay the release. Now, beta participants can join in on the fun this Friday, April 25th -- barring no serious problems.

The European beta test has also been suspended, but Konami plans to "restart it once [they] stabilize the servers." As a result of this delay, the end of the beta program has been pushed to May 11th. While we're confident that everything will be perfect for the now-delayed launch of the beta, Konami does note that "it may change due to unforseen circumstances."

[Thanks, DavidB!]

Tags: beta, metal-gear-online

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JAH75157 @ Apr 21st 2008 2:46PM

a day after the cod4 maps come out and 4 days before GTA4, they aren't doing anything to the servers they just know those two things will take a load off them.

richieee @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:47AM

alie, they know gta and call of duty will take peoples mind of the poor quality of konamias servers

DAK @ Apr 21st 2008 2:49PM

I know, "it's a beta" and all that; but as far as I'm concerned this seriously harms their public image.

As has been said repeatedly, they did not anticipate demand; and when the majority of the beta users, at least in north america are due to preorders, they know how many keys are out there, how many people will be trying to connect. If they weren't going to put the infrastructure into it they should have just used PSN. Instead of showing us they're trying to do it on the cheap and paint a bad image of themselves. Who's to say they won't try to run the whole online network on the cheap and we'll get constant chokes and slowdowns (like some of the COD4 issues). Why pay for the same thing over again?

If you're going to run your own infrastructure and whatnot show the customers that you're looking out for them, not that you're trying to do it on the most minimal budget you can and give us the impression/stir up fears that we're going to get screwed later on after the product isn't worth your time anymore; when it doesn't seem to really be worth your time even at release.

kentuckyfried @ Apr 21st 2008 5:18PM

Can you elaborate on your comments? I'm not sure what you mean of Konami using PSN vs "...their own servers." How does this work, like in regards to how COD4 is implemented currently?

I'm just worried...about the credit card info required during registration of the Konami ID. I hope they're not thinking about charging people monthly for access to MGO.

Da @ Apr 21st 2008 6:33PM

CC info is not required for Konami ID. It mentions payment details but never asks for them. Probably just a poor translation or something.

kevin @ Apr 21st 2008 2:50PM

damn u konami you kno im gonna be busy playing gta 4 ugh

mavbsbll21 @ Apr 21st 2008 8:14PM

Also, this upcoming weekend is double XP in COD4 along with the new map pack!

Lavat @ Apr 21st 2008 2:53PM

Yea...You are going to get people even more pissed off. It is May 5th!

@DAK

Here... http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board?board.id=mgs
The Konami blame, shame or defend game is going on over there.

DAK @ Apr 21st 2008 2:58PM

That should be an interesting read, thank you.

Eggy @ Apr 21st 2008 3:14PM

Can't believe how immature console gamers generally are. That site is hilarious, they're worse than a kindergarten class.

frankym @ Apr 21st 2008 3:50PM

I completely agree.

I know this beta has been hotly anticipated, however, people need to grow up. For those that are whining.....get a fucking life....get laid or something. It's only a video game.

kevin @ Apr 21st 2008 3:14PM

wow fuck you konami

Zombie Huggles @ Apr 21st 2008 3:21PM

Whoa now. I'm disappointed too and I think Konami should have anticipated the popularity of their game just a little bit more, but this IS just a beta. It's not like this is the real game and you've just spent 60 bucks to learn you can't play it for another 3 or 4 days. This is simply an opportunity to enjoy a product before you rightfully have a chance to own it. Not like they're pulling an EA and charging you for content that should be free, they're freely giving you content they nearly have the right to charge for.

Nerdkiller @ Apr 21st 2008 3:32PM

I'm getting annoyed with the whole thing just being an annoyance. I hope they just use the conventional method of downloading patches once the final release is out. I just want to play the beta already. I also knew that the whole server crash thing was about to happen. Once again, I also hope that they solve the server problem by the time the game comes out. Please Konami, If your reading this, heed my words, and get the servers right please.

Lavat @ Apr 21st 2008 3:37PM

Hey...As long as I am playing that beta by the end of this week not the end of a 30 year life span. Then I can passionately enjoy the game...In that time. We need to start also forcing people to think that it is not that bad so the thought that it isn't bad, is not bad.

Mike @ Apr 21st 2008 3:50PM

WOW bullshit again yesterday they said it was ganna be open today now its pushed back another 4 days this game better kick some serious fuckin ass or im goin to japan tak'n out kojima and his army of nerd ninjas and taking over konami

Kris @ Apr 21st 2008 6:31PM

dude its not kojima's fault the servers are not working. he is a genius. and his "army" is not composed of "nerd ninjas".

Kris @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:15PM

dude its not kojimas fault and he does not have an army of nerd ninjas.

ClarkyCat @ Apr 21st 2008 3:54PM

Wonderful. The American date: set in stone. The European date: meh, whenever. I'm sure they'll bash out some 12 player capacity server by May 10th. Thanks a bunch.

mouchoir @ Apr 21st 2008 5:27PM

Don't worry, Euro Beta launches the same day.

Actually, with the time difference we get it a bit earlier heh heh.

http://www.konami.jp/mgo/en/index.html

MGS4 @ Apr 21st 2008 4:08PM

MGO BETA: I have aright MGO BETA, and Home Beta stay long How I may Help u ok? LOL.. Thank u.. FK JerJerBinks CCRRYYBBAAYY UGLY BOY HHAAA I'll Bann JerJerBinks PSN suspend matter JerJerBinks is Evil I see JerJerBinks go Hell 76:10 for u go hell bye.

Popfrogs @ Apr 21st 2008 6:23PM

Fire your English teacher.

Drake @ Apr 21st 2008 4:14PM

Clarky the europeans actually get the good end of the stick. Their beta is not delayed, they will re open it once the servers "have stabilized". Which probably means tomorrow. The us, however, is having their beta completely pushed so that htey can fix server issues. Japan's beta is still goin

stargateheaven @ Apr 21st 2008 4:19PM

GTA comes out = empty servers. Bad time to "beta test" if you ask me. Just fix the servers now and put them up ASAP.

My plan was to beta test this game until gta.. oh well lol.

Drake @ Apr 21st 2008 4:21PM

@ stargate look at it this way: You can buy GTAIV and play it every single day after May 11th. You can only play the MGS beta for two weeks before you have to wait another month to play it again. So why not play the beta, then use the next 20 days to play GTA, and then buy MGS4 and play that. Great to use logic, isn't it?

stargateheaven @ Apr 21st 2008 4:25PM

Yeah I know, but it just would of worked out really nice if I could play the beta while waiting for GTA4, then the beta was almost over when gta4 came. But it's all changed now.

Ghost inthe Shell @ Apr 21st 2008 4:31PM

so how is that people now feal they have earned the right to bitch about something there getting for free. i can see if yah the game just came out and this happens , but were hear to test something to see if it runs into problems ...

well guess what we just solved one problem server overload there worken on it

again this is only a beta not the full game most of us should consider our self lucky last i checked we were;t getting a mgs demo this is pretty damn close woud;'t you say

so do us all a favor those of you who are so use to having every thing perfect suck it up and stfu for a few days and for the rest of you ill bee seeing you online

doom saber @ Apr 21st 2008 4:33PM

I am happy for the delay since I go back to my folk's place during weekends where my ps3 is at.

driZ @ Apr 21st 2008 5:03PM

First off the North American beta technically wasn't free...it cost a pre-order, which took time, money, and effort in order to obtain. Three things that in my book - don't go free to anyone.

Secondly, Konami experienced "high volumes" every step of the way throughout this beta process. In my opinion, all other PS3 online games utilize the PSN account for logon information and all that. Konami doesn't. They use the Konami ID. One great feature of them having every beta tester be required to register a Konami ID is - the ability to forsee the popularity and volume the beta will be! This volume was so great that it crashed their konami id website for DAYS. Now, in my mind, though they may not have forseen this large volume of users attempting to get into the beta (though I can't see why they couldn't assume this), they should have been able to communicate to the prospective beta testers when the konami ID site was reported as non-functional, that there was at least the possibility of the same sort of result happening onto the game servers.

People can play the blame and whine game all they want, and people can defend Konami all they want as well as try and talk junk to people saying they're too consumed with a video game, but the end all be all of this is that it's poor customer service on Konami's end. Yes, it's a beta, but it's a beta people gained access to by pledging their time and money into purchasing their product in the near future. It's all relative, and it's all been handled poorly on Konami's end.

Now excuse me, I'm going to roll over and shag the hell out of my girlfriend, smoke this blunt, and then play some COD.

holla at the driZ suckas.

Cancer @ Apr 21st 2008 5:29PM

Time, money, and effort? Where are you going to get your pre-order? Mars?

Money? $5 isn't much compared to $60 for the full game. And honestly, after buying a PS3, who can't afford $5?

Effort? Did you have to go into the back room and unearth the case of DVD's? That, i could see as a waste of time and effort, but chances are, you walked in and grabbed one off the shelf.

Time? Maybe if there was a line at the register...

The bottom line is: Paying $5 for a pre-order that includes a DVD AND a beta key is a pretty sweet deal. My GTA pre-order didn't include anything, so I'll patiently await the beta, and play MGS Essential Collection in the meantime. =)

driZ @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:48AM

Personally, none of my time comes free. Whether it's 30 seconds or 30 hours, I don't do shit for anyone free. I make money per hour here at work, why is any of my other time less valuable? And actually yes, I made 3 phone calls to find the store still with the pre-order discs, drove there on my lunch, and yes deposited $5 towards their pre-release sales figures that act as financial statistics on their corporate marketing end of things.

Perhaps it's just you "gamers" who put such a low value on your personal time.

Yes, it's a beta...although it isn't even SHIT yet because it isn't open, and no one has experienced ANYTHING but error and fault. To me it doesn't sound like a beta, sounds like an initial stress test that should have been done far before the thought of a beta even came into play. Look at the Warhawk beta...it was turmoil. People backdoored into it left and right, it had freeze-ups like CRAZY. But bottom line? You could get in and experience the game play, contribute to the forums, and eventually things got better - and continue to still with expansions and updates. And you're telling me a game company such as Konami can't even meet this level?? Ouch

N00b @ Apr 21st 2008 5:26PM

I just went here: http://www.onlineregister.com/konami/mgops/

Took me less than 30sec and cost $0.

Oh yeah... typing my info took way too much effort, damn you Konami ;)

kentuckyfried @ Apr 21st 2008 8:55PM

What exactly did you fill in for the 12 letter code?

I've tried about 2-3 times unsuccessfully to try and get a code for my friend (he's not that into MGS, whereas I picked up mine by pre-order).

WaSSaBi @ Apr 21st 2008 6:05PM

Just a quick question... you know when you have the option to download either by P2P or HTTP, does the HTTP download servers work? im in a dorm and P2P doesnt work because of my schools firewalls and the HTTP doesn't seem to work... just wanna know if either my schools firewall is blocking that too or if its just the Konami Servers

Henry E. @ Apr 21st 2008 6:25PM

I'm dorming at University at Buffalo. I download successfully through http, took me 2-3 hours though. It really depends on your school and what ports they block. So it's probably better to find someone in your school.

ajiezer @ Apr 21st 2008 6:30PM

I had some trouble downloading it through P2P but after hours it concluded (after a few attempts via http I dropped that option), but I did it last Thursday so by now I'm not sure if it works, it kept disconnecting but fortunately the progress made wasn't lost

kentuckyfried @ Apr 21st 2008 8:51PM

Use a web browser download program (iGetter works wonderfully on the mac, I don't know what's good on a PC). But yeah...you should get one of them, shouldn't take you too long. Plus weird hours help (like 2 a.m. in the morning or something).

ajiezer @ Apr 21st 2008 6:34PM

Well now the executive (which's name I do not recall) that threatened the exclusivity of MGS because of the poor demand that the game would have can shove his doubts up his arse.

In your face whateveryourFkingnameis-san!

Byron517 @ Apr 21st 2008 7:34PM

Thank you that made my day!! ROTFLMAO

ajiezer @ Apr 21st 2008 8:37PM

You're welcome Byron :D

Damian @ Apr 21st 2008 7:04PM

I'm on holiday until the end of the week and wouldn't have been able to play until Saturday anyway. The delay works fine for me. Hooray for Sony!

(I thought a bit of positivity was needed. And as someone said, it's only a game. Get some fresh air...)

shaunzeh @ Apr 21st 2008 8:13PM

o wow shit! I'm gonna be away in Sydney from Friday onwards!

Hunter Leon @ Apr 21st 2008 9:25PM

Win a free MGO Beta Code

here ---

http://thex-xik.blogspot.com/2008/04/first-ever-xik-giveaway-mgo-beta-key-up.html

krackerjap @ Apr 21st 2008 10:39PM

Been reading this blog for awhile and it's the first time I've felt the need to comment. Please use some intelligence for those who are complaining about the MGO situation.

1. It's beta ergo these are the type of issues they want to address before release, realize that there will be errors and downtime. Now if it was release and these issues arose anger is understandable. They could have very as well made it a closed beta. Understand the definition of beta and what encompasses it.

2. If you pre-ordered the game to get the code, you did not pay to use the beta, you paid for a PRE-ORDER for a game. The beta code is a bonus.

3. For those of you who are actually taking this in stride and making sure that the final product will be a great experience when it releases I thank you.