Titanfall beta registration opens ahead of 14 February launch

Beta registration has opened up for Titanfall, the much anticipated shooter that is already being hailed by some as the Xbox One’s ‘killer app’.

Publisher Electronic Arts confirmed in a recent release that the beta (a term for games released to a limited audience as a means of both testing for bugs and creating excitement) will launch on 14 February with user notified if they were successful by "no later than 11:59 p.m. PT on Feb. 17th.".

Click here to visit the official site and sign up either for the Xbox One or PC version. The game itself is set for full release on 11 March for both these platforms, with an Xbox 360 version expected to follow on 25 March.

Vince Zampella, the co-founder of Respawn, the game’s developers, has offered more details regarding the beta on Twitter, telling fans that pre-ordering the game is not necessary (and doing so “will not help” players’ chances) and that invitations will be delivered in waves “to make sure it works”.

The beta will not be exclusive to the US and will include three game modes. Attrition will simply require one team to wipe out another; Hardpoint Domination will be a capture-and-hold mode with three zones; and Last Titan Standing will do exactly what it says on the tin.

Titanfall has garnered a lot of buzz so far, not only for its origins (it’s being developed by the people responsible for the Call of Duty franchise, who parted company acrimoniously with publishers Activision in 2010) but for its place in the development of the FPS.

Picking up on the hugely succesful (and addictive) fast-paced multiplayer mode from recent Call of Duty titles, Titanfall will be an always-online multiplayer-only shooter, using Microsoft’s cloud computing services to boost performance.

Gameplay is split between two modes, with players battling one another either as highly-mobile, free-running ‘pilots’, or as a slow but powerful mechas known as ‘Titans’. Creating a successful balance between these two classes will be the key to Titanfall’s success.