Splash Damage’s Dirty Bomb has entered the mystic realms of “closed alpha”. Is that a thing? Surely that’s just “development”? Oh, players are getting in. Then that’s beta, isn’t it? Anyway, whatever it might be, it means those who spent $120 on the game before they knew anything about the game are being sent keys to get in (other price tiers will get in this alpha as time goes on). You could too, if you wanted to pay for a game that will be free to play before you’ve read a review when the game’s nowhere near finished. Everything is weird now. Or you could buy it for $320! Wait, is this a Kickstarter thing then? I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO BUY GAMES ANY MORE.

This all means that the day is heralded with a new trailer, and I bloody dare you to watch it.

This is accompanied by something called “Echo”. This tracks every match played by the pre-alpha-post-beta-under-zeta players, letting them spot issues, learn how players are encountering the level, and hopefully ensuring it’s all lovely and good. It does seem a very smart thing to do, in that “Oh good grief, why wasn’t everyone already doing that?” sort of way.



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That’s Ed Stern narrating that video. I went to see the Mountain Goats with him once. Corruption.