Heroes of the Storm closed beta begins in January

Blizzard announced at BlizzCon today that Heroes of the Storm, its upcoming entry into the hyper-competitive MOBA genre, will go into closed beta in January 2015. The studio also released a swanky new trailer showing off new features, battlegrounds, and characters—including a familiar trio of Norsemen.

That's right, The Lost Vikings are back in action, rowing into battle aboard a floating longboat. Jaina and Thrall make appearances in the video as well, which also shows off a couple of new battlegrounds—Sky Temple and Tomb of the Spider Queen—and support for ranked play and a pile of new skins.

The biggest news, though, was the announcement of the beta start date: January 13, 2015. It's a closed beta, so entry isn't guaranteed, but you can put your name in the hat now at Battle.net.

And now, screens!

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.