Blue Manchu’s top guy, Jon Chey, has told us that the rather good Card Hunter will hopefully be entering open beta shortly.

When asked about how long the current closed beta phase was planned to run and when the studio plans to “release” the game, Chey told us: “The next step in the beta is open beta – that’s certainly coming up, but we’re not quite there yet – and then live after that.”

“I certainly hope to get there in the next two or three months, but I’m not sure exactly when it’d be.”

Chey noted that with games like this, it’s rather difficult to pin down the exact difference between an open beta and a live release. “It’s just a state of mind, really – ‘Well, we think the game’s bug-free enough now that we’re going to call it live.'”

He also reiterated that, while there are fewer bugs being reported all the time, these plans may change; as they’re not working towards a publisher’s dates, Blue Manchu are free to hold the game back until they feel it’s ready. Nonetheless, it sounds like you’ll be able to hop into the game pretty damn soon.

We’ve been covering turn-based tactical RPG card game Card Hunter quite a bit lately, primarily because – contrary to any expectations you might have – it’s really good. Aside from that just-linked preview, we’ve also been running a massive two-part interview with Blue Manchu’s top guy Jon Chey in which we cover everything from Card Hunter and general game design, to working at Irrational and System Shock 2. You can find part one here, and part two (which this news item is from) will be up later on today.

If you don’t fancy waiting, you can sign up for the closed beta over on the Card Hunter website now. We’ve been told that, at this point, you should get in “within a week of signing up.”