LightBox Interactive bills Starhawk as a spiritual successor to Warhawk. It only makes sense, then, to let Warhawk players test and evaluate the game. Warhawk veterans will get early access to the beta version of the multiplayer action game.

"We’re going to be starting the Private Beta in November and we’ll be sending a bunch of our Warhawk players (European players too!!) special email invites with Starhawk Private Beta keys," said LightBox president Dylan Jobe in a post on the PlayStation.Blog. "We’re going to be letting players into the Private Beta in waves so we can manage the server load, watch the game balance analytics, etc. The order in which players are granted access is a dark art known only to Sith-IT-Managers and Gywn, Lord of Cinder. But, suffice it to say it’s a mix of your rank/level in Warhawk, your involvement in the Warhawk community, and a few other magical parameters."

The private beta will have a special forum where players can offer feedback. The development team will be playing the beta with special PSN usernames so you can easily identify them. They'll be on VOIP while they're playing so you can chat them up. By participating in the beta, you'll also get a special reward when Starhawk launches.

Starhawk beta keys are also included with new copies of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. However, these keys are for the public beta which won't start until early 2012. Warhawk vets will have the game all to themselves for a while, it seems.

LightBox expects to release Starhawk on February 1st, 2012.