For those who have not been able to keep up with the flurry of events today. A lot of stuff has happened. News spread that the multiplayer BETA had reached the XBOX Live Marketplace. This was followed by the supporting fact that everyone working for Infinity Ward had been playing it, and it showed in their gamertag. The most popular being Fourzerotwo. There had also been a slip-up on the XBOX Live Marketplace Ticker. Shortly after this being reported to Activision, it was taken off, crushing the hopes and dreams of many poor gamers. The predictions look to be a timer on Monday, August 20, 2007, and the BETA arriving sometime between Tuesday, August 21, 2007, to Friday, August 24, 2007. All we know, is that they beta will be coming, "Sooner than you think."

Preamble:
We worked hard to get this beta done July 26th. Since then we've been working on logistical issues, MS cert, what would be involved to make everything work internationally, number of keys, and a bunch of other boring non-game stuff. Most of it is just related to being the first 3rd party console game to offer a beta.

Now there are even more logistical issues coming up. Streetwise is pumping up their servers in an effort for charlieoscardelta to be able to handle the beta traffic. Additionally, since they are testing the new servers right now they can't really update them. So putting up countdowns, changing and testing the scripts to gather info for tokens, etc would have to wait a bit.

24 hour notice:
But we've been playing the beta internally, and it's so much fun we are dying to play with you. So... let's blow off waiting for the site and just consider this the countdown -- there will be a way for people to register for the beta starting 5pm PST tomorrow. Some of those will be playing as early as tomorrow night.. tick tock tick tock.

The roll out:
The beta is going to roll out in waves. Rather than just putting a million people in the beta and hope nothing goes wrong, we will ramp up the playercount over time.

As fourzerotwo mentioned, right now some friends/family are testing. The press will be joining in the next couple days -- including those of you who make it into the first wave.

No worries if you aren't in the very first wave (most won't be), we should have a new wave of players every day or so as we ramp up.

Details on how to register for your chance to be in the beta will be posted tomorrow at 5pm PST*. So stay tuned for details, it will be a limited time offer.

*= this may not be the only way to ever get in the beta, but it is the way to have a chance to get in the early waves.

Demand on Charlieoscardelta.com is so high, not a lot are seeing this, so I'm posting it here as well for those who venture out of the COD.com land.

Alright guys, so here’s the deal. The Friends and Family portion of the beta has been going great, and we’re ready to let in the early first wave of CharlieOscarDelta members to help us start testing it out further. Since this is earlier than expected we’re going to do a special First Wave Beta Lotto to determine who will get an early chance at the Beta, don’t worry though, there are going to be many more waves of people let in after this. We decided to do email lotto so that it’s completely fair to all who enter.

Here’s how it’s going to work. Below we have an email you will need to send to us. Copy and paste the following email EXACTLY, fill in the answers, and send it to us. The lotto email will be open for 24 hours and that’s it. Then we’re shutting the sucker down, again, I remind you that if you don’t get in this first wave, DO NOT WORRY! This is just the first of many chances to get into the beta.

That’s it, that’s all you have to do to be eligible for the first wave. Copy and paste the text below into an email to firstwavelotto@beta.infinityward.com, fill in the answers and send it in. Make sure you copy and paste the text below EXACTLY otherwise your email may be lost. Now here’s the email:

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Gamertag:

Location (city, state, country):

CharlieOscarDelta username (if you have one):

Rank on CharlieOscarDelta:

What is the current level cap for the beta:

What button do you press to activate your streak rewards (radar, airstrike, etc):

What button do you press to use your weapon attachments or explosives (m203, c4, etc):

What's your all time favorite multi-player game (for reals):