Warhawk fans may get early Starhawk beta access

Sony Santa Monica has hinted that Warheads - the studio's name for Warhawk fans - may well be in on the Starhawk action before the rest of us.

"It’s forefront in our mind to make this a very fair game. A public beta will be part of that," senior producer Harvard Bonin said in a post on the US PS Blog.

"Our beta plans are being worked out right now, but we will have one for sure. Our hope is to take care of Warhawk players first."

Spiritual successor to the multiplayer-only Warhawk, strategy shooter hybrid Starhawk naturally features robust multiplayer.

"We’ll have matchmaking, game lists like Warhawk, party systems, tournament systems, and custom games where you can send out invites to bring your friends in," Bonin enthused.

"You’ll be able to customize your skills, too, and you’ll gain skills as you level up. Character outfit customization as well…everything that you would expect in a top-of-the-line shooter."

The producer acknowledged concerns that levelling and skills might unbalance the game, but said the RTS experience of the team would help ensure balance.

"Our massive amount of testing should clean out oddities and we also learned a lot from Warhawk," he said. "We’re counting on our public beta to squeeze out a lot of issues as well."

Starhawk is due exclusively on PlayStation 3 in March next year.