Doom 4 Beta Not On Xbox 360 Or PS3

You won't be able to play the DOOM 4 beta on the PS3 or Xbox 360. Publisher Bethesda has revealed that the beta test will only happen on the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Beta access for the next DOOM will be included with pre-orders of Wolfenstein: The New Order. The invite conforms to whatever platform you bought New Order for. If you buy the game on PC, you'll get a beta key for the PC. The PS3 and PS4 versions come with an invite to the PS4 beta. Likewise, you'll get access to the Xbox One test with Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Wolfenstein. You'll need Xbox Live Gold to play the XB1 beta but a PlayStation Plus subscription isn't necessary for its PS4 counterpart.

I'm a little miffed that Bethesda was so cagey about the details of the beta when they first announced it. They said you could pre-order Wolfenstein for beta access but just said "platform/console restrictions will apply." Did it really take them a month-and-a-half to figure out that the beta wouldn't be on platforms that they weren't developing the game for?

Maybe I'm being petty. I just think that if you're going to offer an incentive for pre-ordering a game, you ought to be up-front about all the important details. If you pre-ordered the game on Xbox 360 or PS3 in February to get beta access, you probably didn't do so with the expectation that you'd have to upgrade to a specific new console to actually use that bonus. While it seemed likely that DOOM 4 wouldn't be on PS3 or Xbox 360, Bethesda and id Software never announced the platforms for the game.

By the way, you might not even need to pre-order to get into the beta. The updated FAQ for the test still won't rule out an open test.

"Timing and availability of future beta programs for DOOM is to be determined. The only current way to ensure an invitation is through pre-ordering Wolfenstein: The New Order. We will be providing more information on additional beta tests, if any, at a later time."

There are still some big unknowns about the beta. The content and length of the test haven't been announced yet. The start date is also a mystery.

There's also the fact that we don't know a damn thing about DOOM 4 itself. It's probably got some shotguns and demons but that's about all that can be safely guessed. Oh, and it'll probably support the virtual reality headset that most of you won't own. The title's not even known yet. I'm just calling it DOOM 4 because it takes fewer keystrokes than "the next DOOM."

It's tough to defend pre-order programs under circumstances like this. Customers are essentially being offered a mystery box here. It's an odd way to treat the people willing to put down money for a game before it's even in stores.