A team based beta for Quake Wars?

According to Voodoo Extreme id opened up team based testing of Quake Wars for active clans who compete. I contacted people I know to see if I can get entrance for myself and a friend via some back alley door that smells of cat piss and used heroin vials but I really doubt anything will come of it.

What I don't quite understand right now is why is the testing limited to teams only? Shouldn't a game that will be sold to the general public include lesser mortals who don't quite grasp the concept of teamwork immediately? In other words, why no love for the noobs? The way I see it that will be the majority of people who will play this game and hopefully give it a long fruitful life. Heck, how many of us were really bad at RtCW before getting the grasp of things and the same for Enemy Territory?

Hopefully Splash will open the testing further as release date gets closer.

Fashionably Late to Company of Heroes

I had heard of Company of Heroes as one might hear about the theory of General Relativity. One is aware of such a thing but applying it to one's life everyday in some conscious way doesn't often occur.

But, I can't deny that after having played the demo I can see why this game earned all sorts of rewards and kudos. I've been told that the single player becomes a matter of completing a mission how the computer wants you to complete it but such things do not deter me since the last RTS I played through an entire campaign was the original Command & Conquer. RTSes are made to play with friends, preferably with beer and foodstuffs containing a high salt content.

Be that as it may, I'm very excited to try this game out as I have not given the Nazis a good thrashing in quite some time. Seeing a gaggle of Nazis get obliterated by an artillery strike during the demo with bodies tossed like acrobats, immediately made money fly out of my wallet and land in some person's coffers on E-Bay this weekend.

I was about to purchase this off of Best Buy's site since they had it for $30 but by the time I double-checked their site the price had gone back up to $50. I'm sure Best Buy won't miss the cash.