In advance of the game's December 12th launch, Hawken devs Adhesive Games are running a series of closed beta sessions, the first of which is due at the end of the month. You can sign up here for a chance to take part in the first event running October 26th to the 29th. Doing so will let you choose your in-game callsign ahead of the robo-battling game's release. I'm going with 'Iceman', unless it's already been nabbed by someone else.
Two new pieces of machinery have also been revealed: a mech capable of transforming into a turret (doesn't sound particularly helpful), plus a Repair Torch weapon that can patch up your fellow robots. If you want to know what one of those looks like, we've included a sexy, military grey pinup below.
If you're not excited about the free-to-play mech-battling game, then you haven't been paying close enough attention. Kickstart your education by reading our recent hands-on preview , or by watching the second half of District 9.
Corrections: Closed beta dates after October have not been announced, and were posted in error. The term "browser-based" has also been retracted.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.