News = one, August 31th

"Final Fantasy XIV" suffered one big delay when it's PlayStation 3 release moved to March 2011. Now, the "FFXIV" open beta test that was scheduled to begin for PC this week has fallen victim to problems as well, and this time Square Enix is pointing the finger at "critical bugs."

 

"'Final Fantasy XIV' Open Beta Test, which is scheduled to begin at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010, will be postponed due to a confirmation of critical bugs," an announcement on FFXIV.com explained. "New schedule will be released at a later date."

 

Surely, this entire situation will be righted once the bugs are squashed, exterminated or otherwise ushered out of "FFXIV" gameplay. However, the technical hiccup will also put a temporary roadblock up in front of anyone who doesn't already have a registration code to join the test.

 

"Along with the postponement of 'Final Fantasy XIV' Open Beta Test, the issuing of registration code for 'Final Fantasy XIV' Open Beta Test will be postponed as well," the notice stated. "With the download of client software's installer, it will be suspended at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010."

 

With the game's early release scheduled for September 22 and the official release one week later on September 30, the developers can't be pleased about this scenario. In the meantime, anxious players can take solace in the fact that all regions are being affected by the bugs, so any sadness they endure will be shared around the world.

 

News = two, Sep 1st

 

'FFXIV' open beta rescheduled for tomorrow

The open beta for Final Fantasy XIV on PC has been rescheduled.

Originally planned for today, Square Enix had to postpone the public test due to critical bugs.

The beta will now begin on September 2 at 2am GMT, and players can now request registration codes from the game's official website.

The full game will be available from September 22 for special edition owners and from September 30 for other users across Europe. That means the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV arrives September 30, but players who snag the collector's edition can hop online September 22.

 

News = three, Sep 1st

Square Enix will commence open beta testing of Final Fantasy XIV at 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.

The beta test of the new MMO was meant to begin on Tuesday, but was postponed when the Japanese gamemaker discovered “critical” bugs in the code.

Final Fantasy XIV, due out September 30 on PC and in March 2011 for PlayStation 3, is the company’s first foray into the MMO space since it launched Final Fantasy XI in 2002.

It will be interesting to see how Square Enix makes an MMO in the post-Warcraft world. FFXIV recently incurred the wrath of hardcore gamers when it came out that it would try discourage marathon game sessions by reducing the gains of players who stay online and grind for too long.

Remember that there was a similar outcry when folks learned of World of Warcraft’s rest system — a feature that gives people who take time off from the game twice the experience points. We learned to live with that.

The current beta test is for PC users only. Visit the official Final Fantasy XIV open beta website to sign up and start playing, and watch Game|Life for ongoing impressions of the game.

 

News =4, Sep 3rd

The bugs that delayed the original launch of the Final Fantasy XIV beta have been straightened out, but now it faces a whole new problem. 

Being too popular might not seem like that bad a problem to have, but that's the challenge that's facing Square-Enix and its open beta for Final Fantasy XIV. The company got the beta up and running yesterday, after "critical bugs" caused last minute delays, only to find that its servers couldn't handle the volume of users.

As a temporary solution, Square-Enix is limiting the number of beta registration codes it hands out. On the FFXIV account page it says that the system was experiencing congestion, and that technical staff were monitoring the situation and trying hard to resolve it. Registration is currently completly suspended, with the site suggesting that players should wait until registration re-opens and try their luck again.

It seems there are still a few kinks to straighten out before the game goes live later this month, but testing servers to see how they hold up to stress is one of the things that open betas are for. Better that this gets discovered now, rather than later when it's much harder to do anything about it. Final Fantasy XIV is released for PC on September 30th, and on PS3 in March 2011.

news in courtesy of wired.com,mtv.com,eurogamer.net,

 

Welcome to come to pay us a visit after FFXIV is released, we will be among the first to supply the FFXIV GIL.

www.wowko.com