PC game betas

Just wondering, is anyone here collecting PC game betas, or are you all focused on video games for consoles? I'm asking because I've got some PC game betas lately (Rise of Nations Beta 1 for example, a very interesting early build) and can share photos and screenshots if anyone's interested. I also have at least one beta for sale.

 

If you have something for sale put it on the marketplace board with a name and price.

 

I'm a PC gamer at heart. I've seen your website (nice, by the way) and I was surprised that someone actually shared the same interest in PC beta/unreleased games. Whatever you've got, I'm willing to see .

Hell, if any of it is for sale, I may be interested, although it really depends on what the game is.

 

I am on it, if it is safe since I think betas of pc games are great even though I don´t have any

Or else we could always make a PM club, where we exchange knowledge, and so forth.

 

The problem with PC Betas and collectors is that PC betas are easily duplicated (for the most part) and therefore don't hold much value. As a result, collectors aren't usually up for it unless it is something that's quite noteworthy. After all, no one wants to lay out a wad of cash only to see everyone on the net downloading it from BT the next week.

There's also the simple fact that many PC developers have embraced the open beta concept, so beta code isn't really rare. It can be quite easy to get on the PC.

That said, we're up for talking about everything and anything related to gaming here. Feel free to comment on whatever.

-hl718

 

Hmmm the only beta, I once played (that I remember clearly) was the pc beta (or maybe alpha, can´t really remember) that was of Powerslave. From some game magazine CD, long ago.

 

Yes, it was the "PC Games That Weren't" website.

My two main games that I'd probably sacrifice a small animal for would be Daggerfall and Deus Ex. I've been a huge Elder Scrolls fan ever since Arena was released, and I'm dying to check out everything that was taken out of Daggerfall. I doubt anyone has an early copy of this, though. I've blown all of my leads .

Deus Ex is self-explanatory, as there was plenty of stuff taken out of that one, as well. Unfortunately, my chances of getting anything related to this are slim to nil.

Have you checked out the Jazz Jackrabbit 3 alpha? Neat stuff...

 

I haven't seen anything that would indicate Arena's original code was different. I've heard different things about the design changing drastically, but that would have happened before coding began.

With Daggerfall, code had actually been implemented, as evidenced by the "Interactive Preview" that was put out in stores (and it's downloadable, if you want to search around for it). I just copied the entire CD and RAR'ed it a few years ago, but as far as I know it still works.

Edit again: Crap, it looks like the site that was hosting it is gone. If anyone wants it, let me know.

 

Have you ever played the alpha version of Doom III? Pretty cool, since it was way different from the released version. People actually got a hold of it before the game was released.

 

Oh yeah, I remember that the alpha was around. Heck I think it is maybe still possible getting the alpha version from around the net...

Ask Fabrizo, I think he still has it somewhere...

 

I have the beta of dark forces somewhere... probably in the attic
It was just the first level with a bunch of glitches and a few secrets missing basically...

 

You're gonna cry when you hear this, but both of those betas have been among the stacks that I've destroyed over the years.

-hl718

 

Your an evil EVIL person, with extra evil thrown in for good measure :evil:

 

At some point one can have too much stuff you know. And not everyone wants to hang on to items for years waiting for an NDA to expire, especially when there is little to no interest in the collector community.

Most could care less about PC betas. Any time I've mentioned any in the past they've always been soundly ignored.

*shrugs*

-hl718

 

So true. I have a tendancy to accumulate alot of stuff, and then spend what seems like eternity going through and figuring out what to do with all of it. But in the case of games and the like its always possible to make backups in the event you want to go back to them some day.

But then again, some people are opposed to that even if they dont plan on ever making the items public, and even if not, I suppose games are getting quite huge these days.

 

Yeah, I'm not all too pleased to hear it, but that gives me hope that there may be a few copies floating around. If there's anything you can tell me about either of them, that would be great. If not, I understand.

 

Ive got a Lord of the Realms III beta laying around somewhere. I never got it to work though since it never came with the CD key it needed, and no one believed me.

 

Would probably kill for some of these;

Command & Conquer - Commando, the game that most likely turned into Renegade, but the shots that were shown in some mags around the time of Red Alert showed the C&C1 Commando soldier and description text basicly suggested it'd be exactly what Renegade ended up as, just sans the FPS playmode.



Then there's two little Origin suckers I wanna know if are hidden away somewhere in any playable form at all...

Ultima VIII - Pagan Expansion Set (Lost Vale) and Crusader No Mercy (?)

 

The Lost Vale was supposedly finished, but it's unknown (and doubted by many) if any copies remain. Personally, I believe there's probably a few copies still in existence. The game was basically complete, so why destroy every copy?

As for Crusader: No Mercy... I've seen "screenshots" of a multiplayer Crusader game which everyone believes is No Mercy. Personally, I think they're either mockups or widely distributed fakes, although I've got nothing to base that on. I love the Crusader games, but I don't have much hope that we'll ever see No Mercy. I'm not even really sure if any work was done on it...

 

Another game that would be kick ass to see if it still existed would be Babylon 5: Into The Fire.