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The time has come to say “thank you and good night!” As of Tuesday, January 3rd, the lights will go down on the Starhawk Private Beta. It’s been a wild, wild ride and we want to thank ALL the participants that took time out of their schedule to help us test Starhawk. We’ve learned an enormous amount and have applied much of it already. We’ve still got a long way to go but the leg up this info has provided us is incredibly valuable. The Private Beta was our first step to try out the game in the wild and it’s been simply awesome. And because of this success, we’ve decided to keep the Private Beta live through the holiday break. After all, what would ringing in 2012 be without a little Starhawk beatdown session?!!

So what’s next? Why, the Public Beta, of course! In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing the dates for this important step. Many more players will be allowed access, including the UNCHARTED 3 owners who received a Public Beta voucher when they purchased the game! Look for more information and specifics on the PlayStation.Blog very soon.

It only takes a quick web search to find a TON of Starhawk info out there about the Beta. We’ve been really happy with the commentary/opinions and will taking all of the feedback seriously. Here is a convenient sampling of what’s out there: IGN, Kotaku, VG247, GameSpot, Major League Gaming, Pixel Nation, Dual Shockers, PS Nation, and Starhawk Radio—just to name a few.

We’d like to wish everyone happy holidays from LightBox Interactive and Sony Santa Monica. We hope that you enjoy your vacation time. Feel free to spend it waxing noobs in the Beta over holiday break!

“It’s closing time…one last call…”

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I wanted to take a quick time out from having fun with Starhawk and invite you to check our new Behind the Scenes video. In it you’ll get insights into how we created our universe and story, as well as background thoughts on Emmett from the team at LightBox.  As a special treat, you’ll see snippets of our animated cut-scenes as well.

Want more? Check out StarhawkTheGame.com for an extended cut and check out the PS Blog next week as we release a full cut scene in honor of Comic-Con.

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As expected, E3 2011 was crazy fun and a gamer’s dream come true. Every year E3 gets bigger and badder but this year’s show was special for us: we finally got to unveil our multiplayer Capture the Flag mode for Starhawk! So far, the feedback has been great. Starhawk was nominated for a bunch of E3 awards, including Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer and Best PS3 Game from G4TV.

During E3, the PlayStation.Blog team streamed live demos for a host of PlayStation games, including this 20 minute-long Starhawk tour that really shows off one of our single-player missions. Check it out above!

Here are a some impressions from members of the press that played Starhawk at E3:

“What stuck out was the combat from the air, the power of the Hawks, and the surprisingly convenient ability to jump seats in a moving vehicle.”

–IGN

“We’re definitely excited to see more of this game, including its extensive single-player campaign.”

–GameSpot

“Starhawk is full of the same brand of intense aerial dogfights and on-foot combat, takes the war to the stars, further complicating matters with an injection of real-time strategy.”

–Kotaku

“[PlayStation] could have a new king of multiplayer on its hands.”

–GamesRadar

“Even in its early state, Starhawk shines with polish….the game’s not due for another year, but it already sported a rock-solid framerate and some of the best visuals for a multiplayer game on the platform.”

–ShackNews

We definitely appreciate E3 awards…but honestly, what meant the most to us was the feedback and love we got on the floor from fans just like you. We were thrilled that players walked away from the kiosks genuinely liking the game — that’s what counts to us. We even had a huge Warhawk fan fly all the way from Brazil just to play Starhawk at E3…and she played for all three days! And we couldn’t forget our Canadian friends that stopped by the booth to say hi. It’s always a thrill for us to meet loyal Warheads….especially when they seem so normal! Go figure.

At this point, we know we have a long way to go and it’s our job to bring you a game that lives up to your expectations. Our challenge now is to get the game into as many hands as possible. We’ll be at Comic-Con in San Diego July 21-24 so please come on by and check out our game! We’re going to tell you more about our solo campaign and the Starhawk universe during the show, so stay tuned.

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E3 is upon us and Dylan, myself and a number of the LightBox team members are all in Los Angeles and excited to be showing off Starhawk in the PlayStation booth. Up until now we’ve given you a small taste of gameplay, touched on our Build & Battle system, and shown you a snippet of multiplayer action from a tourney we did at LightBox—now it’s time to get fancy. Our E3 2011 trailer formally introduces you to the exciting new world that is the Starhawk universe, including our main character, hired gunslinger Emmett Graves.

As you can see, Emmett must navigate through a brutal playground of large-scale combat where the tide of battle turns all the time, whether you’re on land or in the air (YES there will be dogfighting in SPACE!). And with Build & Battle, you have the ability to alter this battlefield how you see fit by calling down base structures, weaponry, or reinforcements with just the touch of a button.

Throughout the solo campaign you’ll discover a lot more about Emmett Graves and his Rift Energy affliction…along with why he has an overwhelming distaste for The Outcast, the band of deadly monstrosities that he must destroy. And what is this “Rift Energy,” anyway? There are plenty of mysteries in the Starhawk universe that are waiting to be discovered. Not to mention lots of stuff to blow up!

I’m also thrilled to have our first playable multiplayer content here at E3. We showed you a brief video last week of how much fun the multiplayer mode can be to whet your appetites so I hope you have fun with it at the show. While our new single-player campaign is a huge part of Starhawk, we’re also staying true to our Warhawk roots with a kick-ass multiplayer experience.

We hope you like the trailer and thanks, as always, for reading! Keep your eyes on the PlayStation Blog, www.starhawkthegame.com, and @dylanjobe on Twitter. Send us questions and comments any way you can. We love reading them. And thanks for your continued support!

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What’s up PS Blog and fellow Warheads?

My name is Harvard Bonin and I’m the Senior Producer on a brand new title we announced a few weeks ago called Starhawk. I’ve been working on Warhawk since 2007 and I represent the other half of the Santa Monica Studio/LightBox Interactive partnership. I’m sure you all know about the Santa Monica team from the God of War franchise, but what you might not be aware of is that we’ve been working with LightBox since the studio opened its doors, helping the team get started on this exciting new project and we’ve been contributing to the Starhawk development process since, creatively and on the biz side of things. It’s been a true collaboration and we’re just thrilled to be working with the talented group at LightBox.

Lots of you are wondering how Build & Battle fits in Warhawk recipe of “frenetic epic firefights” so today we wanted to give you a taste of what we will have playable at E3 next week. This is a video of an actual multiplayer tournament we had recently at the LightBox studio…

As you know Starhawk also has a very cool single player campaign that will immerse you in the story of our main character, Emmett Graves, but as you can see we have not forgotten about our multiplayer roots! We designed Starhawk’s multiplayer to be just as much fun as Warhawk, but now with our new Build & Battle toy box, you shooter fans will have something you haven’t truly experienced before – the ability to change the battlefield on the fly. We’ll have more details on our multiplayer soon, but for now we invite you to come visit us at E3.

Thanks a ton for the amazing reactions to Starhawk thus far. I can honestly say that we’ve only scratched the surface so look out for more info in the months ahead.

And if you want more Starhawk info, there are lots of ways to reach us. Register on StarhawkTheGame.com, hop on the Starhawk official forums, and join in on the conversations. The PlayStation Blog is also a great spot of course. As you’ve seen, Dylan has spent a lot of time trying to answer your questions and he’ll continue to do so. He also has a Twitter account that you can follow, @dylanjobe, where you can find out about Starhawk and ask him questions…or just see what he had for dinner, etc. We can’t answer all of your questions just yet but we pay close attention to what you the fans are talking about and what’s most important to you.

Please comment away and, again, thanks for your continued support.

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