PlayStation 3 exclusive first-person shooter MAG has been in beta since the beginning of summer, and it has been opening up to more players as time goes on. At a recent training session with the game, a Zipper Interactive representative explained that the next phase of the beta makes the game available to GameStop pre-orderers. That phase begins today.

Along with opening up the beta even further, a few new features have been added to the game. The first of these, proximity voice, is not exactly revolutionary, but in a game that relies so heavily on teamwork and communication, the ability to hear a nearby enemy's tactical communication could turn the tide of battle. Players will still hear their squadmates through the headset, but other nearby players, friend or foe, will be heard through the television speakers.

Secondly, new "Shadow War" bonuses have been put into place. As any of the three PMCs do well with particular objectives, that PMC signs contracts, which give members extra battlefield bonuses. These contracts add yet another incentive to get players to work toward team victory rather than just personal glory.

What do you think about the new features? Sound cool enough to pre-order and check out the beta?

MAG, the PlayStation 3-exclusive first-person shooter that boasts 256-player multiplayer, is set to release on January 26, 2010. So to get people geared up and ready, Sony invited us to a one-on-one training session, complete with some hands-on play time with the beta.

If you haven't been keeping up with every little detail (and you aren't already in the beta), then feel free to read on past the jump to get the lowdown on how the game functions, and some of the impressions that I got from my limited time with it.

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You may not know his face (hint: it's that one up there) but Jordan Mechner is famous for singlehandedly creating the celebrated original Prince of Persia games. You may also know that he had a hand in the more recent Sands of Time trilogy. What you may not know is that he is also involved in the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, in a non-superficial manner. 

At a recent screening of the trailer for the movie (which was leaked onto YouTube a few days ago), Jordan Mechner and Jerry Bruckheimer were present for a short Q&A session, where Mechner showed genuine enthusiasm about the film. 

"I got this big smile on my face that wouldn't go away," Mechner said, when asked how it felt to see his creation brought to life. And when the inevitable question about the pitfalls of crappy videogame movies were brought up, Mechner's advice is that rather than just being a movie based on a videogame. "It's got to be a movie that can stand on its own." 

So if the creator of the franchise is pleased with where Bruckheimer is taking his baby, can we take that to mean this movie might be worthwhile? Or do you remain doubtful about it, taking the more cynical "he is excited about it because he is going to make a lot of money from it" approach?

On Tuesday, I traveled out to Jerry Bruckheimer Productions in Santa Monica to check out the trailer for the upcoming Prince of Persia film adaptation. In case you haven't been keeping up with it, the movie is based on the Sands of Time trilogy, and it features the famous gay cowboy Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular prince.

The movie announcement was met with indifference from the cynical denizens of the Internet, for a number of reasons. Historically, video game movies have rubbed gamers the wrong way, either due to excessive deviation from the source material or simple lack of production standards (or sometimes both). So I walked into the private screening room as a bit of a skeptic myself.

Hit the jump for some thoughts and details on the trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

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Game communities online are a funny thing. They can be hilarious, entertaining, and awesome. They can also be obnoxious, trollish, and intolerable. So what can we do to make game communities suck less? Well, one of the best ways to do that is to meet in person, but of course, certain things can restrict that from happening.

Whether it is time, money, or location, some people just cannot make it to in-person events. And even among those who can, most cannot reasonably go to more than a couple a year.

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[Editor's note: Community member Dexter345 went out to the Pasadena stop of the Halo 3: ODST tour to check out Firefight mode. -- CTZ]

Here in Pasadena today, we hit the triple digits in temperature. Why am I discussing the weather on a gaming blog? So you know that I stood outside in the blistering heat around a bunch of smelly nerds to bring you this preview. I hope you're happy, because my bright red arms and face certainly are not.

If you hadn't heard, some reps for Bungie are traveling around the country, showing off the upcoming entry in the mega hit first-person shooter series Halo. They invited any fans out to GameStops to try out the new Firefight mode, which has been described as Halo's answer to Gears of War 2's Horde or Left 4 Dead's Survival mode.

After waiting for a full five hours in line, I was treated to ten minutes of gameplay, which can be summarized thusly: "Yep, it's Halo, all right." 

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[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. -- CTZ]

Think back to early 2006. Nintendo, the darling of the industry that had a rough couple of generations came out and said they were going to revolutionize the industry. We would have a new way to play games, one that would simultaneously be simpler and allow for more precision and immersion. Like many others who have owned almost every Nintendo system in its history (I sadly/fortunately missed out on the Virtual Boy), I was convinced. This would be the future of gaming.

Fast forward to November 2006. The Wii launched, and there were shortages everywhere. And it was no surprise; after popping in Wii Sports, we all got to taste what the future gaming would be like. And it tasted good. Tennis was easy to pick up, yet nuanced enough that one would have to spend some time to truly master it. Bowling felt fantastic, especially once the player learned to curve the ball just right to hit between the 1 and the 3 pins. Oh yes, it tasted good.
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[Editor's note: Dexter345 talks about the much feared Red Ring of Death for his Monthly Musing piece. -- CTZ]

Fear. It's an emotion that I hardly ever think about. I'm not a huge fan of scary movies* because they're usually filled with cheap, predictable jump-scares or nauseating-yet-unimaginative grotesqueness, neither of which frighten me.

I'm almost equally poorly versed in survival horror games, with my only foray into them being Leon Kennedy's mission to save the President's daughter (he's a bad enough dude) in Spain. And while there were elements of Resident Evil 4 that made my heart race (Dr. Salvador, I'm looking at you), that fear is nothing compared to the one thing I dread most in videogames.

I am deathly afraid of the Red Ring of Death. And it's no wonder why I fear the RRoD more than anything else that is video game related. Let's take three other things I fear in videogames to compare, after the jump. 

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[Editor's note: During E3, Destructoid blackmailed recruited Community member Dexter345 to be our Intern B*tch 2008. Now that he's finally healed up from all of the abuse we inflicted upon him, he blogged about all of the amazing things he got to experience at E3. -- CTZ]

I know E3's been over for a long time now, but it's been hectic in the world of the Intern B*tch, and I'm just now getting to write this. Certainly, there were jokes made about the ridiculous jobs I was given as Intern B*tch, but they couldn't be further from the truth. And yet, the truth itself is fairly ridiculous. I've been told that nobody will believe most of these stories. Yet, I feel compelled to tell them anyway. 

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[Editor's note: Dexter345 tells us about the effect that Earthbound had on his life for his Monthly Musing piece. -- CTZ] 

I've actually been meaning to write an article called "Why I love Earthbound," as a positive counter-article to a previous article you may have hated me for. When the musing for this month was revealed, I decided I could finally get around to it, as my story fits the criteria pretty well.

First off, I'd like to point out that Earthbound was not the first game I ever played (that honor goes to Pitfall on my dad's Atari 2600), nor is it the first game I ever really loved (Super Mario Bros.). But it was the first game that ever made me feel like I was in the game, rather than just controlling an onscreen avatar of some character.

But we're jumping ahead a bit. Let me start with a bit of backstory. More after the jump.

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