MAG Beta vs. Final Game

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January 26 is just one day away with MAG arriving on store shelves worldwide tomorrow and throughout the week. Before you delve into your first “official” match between Raven, S.V.E.R., and Valor, though, we wanted to make sure that you knew two things:

  • What the differences between the Beta 5.0 and the final version are
  • How we implemented your feedback from the beta to affect the retail game on day one

First, let’s talk about the differences between the final game and the beta you tried out a few weeks ago – the most obvious of which is the mode and map count. Whereas before, the Beta version of MAG only offered six maps and two modes, the retail version has a full five modes with 15 maps to play. The final game also includes a handy offline training mode, unique armors, new cinematics, art galleries, trophies, and the always-popular Veteran Mode that lets you start all over again with a permanent XP bonus and the ability to switch your faction after hitting the level cap. Of course, graphical and audio improvements are in there too.

MAG Packfront Final!

But our “out of the box” distinctions aren’t all there is to talk about. We’ve also addressed a number of topics that were brought to our attention when you were testing MAG earlier this month, and will deliver them to you the moment you boot MAG up with a small in-game patch (roughly 60-80 MB depending on your region).

Among these upgrades is the oft-asked-for ability to knife an enemy while you’re reloading your weapon — in addition to a pretty significant framerate increase during player-heavy games and noticeable differences in the effectiveness of every weapon and piece of armor. Moreover, we’ve gone back and added all-new light settings for every environment and increased the amount of time you can sprint before getting tired.

For a full catalog of additions, fixes and tweaks, check out our complete list of patch notes on the MAG blog.

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166 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • How big is the MAG install without the patch?
    looks awesome.

  • Fantastic! Im really glad to see so much improvement! I have pre booked the limited edition! Ready to join the massive battles! :D

  • is the audio 24-bit lossless? I’m hoping for some kickass explosions coming out of my all my surround speakers :)

    is it rendering at 720p native? with MSAA?

    thanks!

  • Question, will the MAG S.V.E.R Home Personal Space be always exclusive, or will it eventually be for sale? I will be getting MAG on the 29th.

  • I hope the LMGs are a little less cheap now.

  • Hello Mr. Dunham,

    Can you tell me whos doing the music for the game and if The Crystal Method has any involvement. Also, custom soundtracks?

  • So there’s no Campaign for MAG? :(

  • How improved are the graphics?

  • Uh… can someone elaborate on the offline training mode? I could wait until tomorrow morning to find out, but I’d rather not! Details, please.

  • sounds like you guys made a great game, wasnt able to get they beta due to vacation time, but i looked alot of vid’s and i loved what i saw, so in about 3h 30mins i will be gettin this game cant wait lol

  • Thanks for the response. I am buying this game in the morning now. I was gonna wait but I believe in supporting developers that deserve it and Zipper deserves our support. And now that I know this, I’m sold. Peace

  • This game is going to OWN big time, i loved the beta while it lasted but now it’s on like donkey kong…..i’m picking up my copy son as gamestop call and tell me they have them in, should be playing by noon tommorrow.

    VALOR will be crushing everyone… !!

  • sweet! i went to the MAG event here in Vegas and im getting my free copy tomorrow! thanks Zipper! Gonna wage epic online battles tomorrow, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  • Why do I never get an answer for this :(

    I don’t mean it in a negative way, only curious on what to expect.

    Will there be any more weapons?

  • So Mr.Dunham is zipper planning on to let people have more than one character per account.. it kinda sucks that we dont

  • can’t wait!!! I was at the Vegas event @ Aria and let me tell you the game looked sweet there i am sitting by the mailbox till it gets here. Thanks again Zipper and Thanks again as always to The Blog. To get the best game of 2010 sent to me just for going and hanging out with ppl you have a love for games as i do, You gotta be down with that!

  • The changes sound good actually. The final beta was very addcting. While I do think the graphics can use more polish, the most annoying thing or me was when u goto throw a grenade it just looked bad. You should throw the grenade on release to cook it, not on button press. Fairly minor complaint though good luck with release Zipper.

  • You guys – quit being such crybabies with this “no multiple characters” thing. I mean, come on, is it that big of a deal? Not really. You create a char. If you don’t like it, respec. Or, if you don’t like the faction, either delete if you haven’t played much and reroll to another PMC or use the Veteran Mode to switch when you hit the max level.

  • Hey is MAG going to have split screen or not I just want to know before I buy it, and it wasnt answered at my last comment. Not trying to be rude or anything by asking again.
    Thank You

  • Thank you for finally settling that question for me :)

    Though it’s humorous I was wanting the answer so badly even now, the day before its actual release when I would have seen for myself :P

  • Are there new weapons or not?
    Please answer.

  • Jeremy Dunham did you fix the Assault rifle/LMG recoil cuz they are 100% way way to accrate u kno how many times i got shot 120metters+ while there assault rifle/LMG was full auto shooted at me & the hole clip went 120metters+ staright & killed me while trying snipe them that is so unrealstic while they in standing/crouch if they was in prone using a bypod then that be diff. so can u fix the recoil cuz they are very unaccrate shooting ppl at 120metters+ on full auto in real life.

  • Also one more question. Seeing how this is a online only game, do you guys plan to create DLC much later down (to clarify that I am not expecting it any time soon, naturally) the road to keep the game going over time?

  • BEYOND!

  • Picking the game up to support zipper. Anything to get SOCOM 4 out.

  • I was debating whether to get this. The beta had me really excited, then I was a lil weary about it but reading about all the new polish and additions being added from beta to retail is astonishing and I believe I’ll be picking this up. They really only need to make shooting the guns feel more hefty and realistic. Same with shooting someone. It may not be that realistic but I wanna see particles and blood spray when I nail someone. So I know they actually got shot. That feedback is important.

  • im wondering how can i find the tournament so i can find out my standings

  • @48: So you’re decision to buy a game is based purely on if it has good trophies. Wow how far new gamers have fallen from the old tree.

    You remember the good old days where we didn’t even HAVE TROPHIES?! Yeah, we still played games all the same and loved them. Heck I don’t even care much for trophies in games, it’s just a small added bonus to hear the PING when you get a new one. But Talk about worth while trophies. How about all the games that give you a trophy just because you beat the first boss. I mean really, do you deserve a trophy because you progress in a game? Does that make you feel like you achieved more than just.. beating the boss?

    Really, deciding to buy a game based on trophies is just madness.. THIS IS GAMING!!

  • wow that came out all wrong i just want to find out what place i came in

  • MAG is gonna be awesome! I personally thought the beta was more enjoyable than COD MW2 multiplayer. Also very glad to hear there’s in-game music, that easily makes the multiplayer more enjoyable. Is there a custom soundtrack feature as well by any chance?

  • Hell Yeah this game has it all for me will pick up my copy on friday also have off that day its going to be great

  • So, Valor only has 6 weapons?

  • Fantastic improvements, rather helpful indeed, and out of curiosity I have to ask. Are there any plans for DLC such as new maps, game modes, weapons, skills and such?

  • 15 maps?

    i thougt each faction has 2 or 3 maps per game mode.

    so thats 2 in SABO in SVER, Raven and Valor. which makes it 6 per mode.

  • So an amazing work, grats to all the team im sure the last few weeks were sooo a big rush for all of you. Cant wait to tomorrow to get my copy at the opening :)(Hope we can see a few guys of the team in game)

  • Looks like another round of selective (easy) answering from Dunham. Congrats, you just joined the ranks of the spineless PSBloggers like Grace Chen, and Dylan Cuthbert. Too bad, you could have really cut a niche for yourself like many respected bloggers here.

  • @86

    Why are you still here?

    I thought you made it clear you weren’t buying the game because you felt the trophies weren’t up to your standard.

    While I’m not on the zipper team, please allow me to say this.

    NOBODY is going to miss seeing MadmanEU on MAG.

    ABSOLUTELY NOBODY.

  • How much of the bluray disc does the final game fill?

  • WILL THERE EVER BE A 256 PLAYER DEATH MATCH
    BECAUSE I THINK THAT WOULD BE FUN

  • will there be custom soundtracks that i can play my own music?

  • look people mic bundle lol. how about its 35 dollars just say MAG please and let me get one of the headsets too. me i do not have to worry. bought mine when i got the ps3 it broke got another. plus i have my logictech from my pc. why we first off unlike a teen work at mc D slaves you for nothing wage. im more one of the sit back n raKe n the money people. so i bough everything PS3 all at once. as for music yes mag has music. now if you want the hardcore player settings music 40 narative 55 sound efferct 70 headset 100. why because with music and other up at 100 makes voice a bit hard to hear. and truthlly voice iis more inportant. as for split screen ive have never known a top fps to use split. i know resistance did but its not a top fps. A top fps is talked About boast large number of devotees. MAG will take this award. from all fps games. it will be the best of the best top fps games of amy platform sorry EA BF3 will not take top fps of 2010. MAG WINS top hands down

  • Alright, I have a friend who NEEDS to have an invert y- AND x-axis look with the right stick to play shooters; it wasn’t in the beta(s), can you guys deliver the full invert look in the Options menu in the full game? (Or at least in the foreseeable future?)

  • I am really dissapointed in hearing about the one character save. I was on the fence between this and waiting for Bad company 2 and unfortunately that has made my mind up for me. I really enjoyed my time in the Beta and do think this game will be great but with limited funds right now I don’t see the point in only being able to enjoy a 1/3rd of the game unless you give up all your hard work and xp and start over from scratch or rank all the way up just to start over again. I will definetly pick this up down the road if you ever change this, Until that hopefully happens I do wish you the best of luck with MAG and do hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did in the Beta.

  • Are the strange invisible barriers that are on Raven maps in unlikely spots still going to be there? I can understand boundaries for the map but you can’t even get over speedbumps without being blocked and having to go around.

  • Hey, I’m absolutely getting the game (in fact it’s already on its way… I bought it from Amazon.com with release-day shipping) and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. But I was just curious, how come this game is 60 dollars when the other PS3 online games (Socom and Warhawk) were 40? Just wondering.

  • How about the iron sighting? Did that get fixed? You don’t just zoom in to your gun that fast. You should be able to see your hands zoom in.

  • Honestly, I played the game once and that was it. I was not overly impressed with the BETA and with these improvements. Something about it just didn’t appeal to me.

    Maybe I’ll try the BETA out one more time or rent it at some point.

  • mouse you think so try defending a RAVEN base and having giant cement wall blocking your turrets. or gullies they cant firre down in . lol thats whAt RAVEN put up with. and as for nasty bases hard to get in Sver. all of sver’s bases were so rediculiously defensable. and there guns jacked up. put a clip in a sver to watch him turn around with a pistol and 1 shot kill you. now for all of you new to mag medic gun and resurection first. get that and only that first. and snipers you tend to cause a lost game. sitting so far back not getting objectives. do your team a favor upgrade to the smg in pistols. crazzy as it seems you can kill with it and go in close. to help get an objective. remembr your team dose not need but 2 to 8 snipers 8 being domination. so do make other kits and use them. trust me i run asult and with the 4 x scope silencer. i kill alot of snipers. and sniping against my team and im there you face humiliating death. and ill let you know its coming. so do not thin k sniping is going to get you kills and not many deaths.

  • I’m in, picking MAG up on my lunch break tomorrow.

    Keep the servers running.

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