Flagship Studios posted a lengthy expanation about its somewhat dubius Hellgate London EULA which basically states they have the right to scan your computer and report what software programs you have installed and other fun stuff like that. Long story short, they just want to prevent cheating:

We just made some big announcements about Hellgate: London, and it’s been great to see all of the excited comments regarding what we have in store for our players on day one and onward. On the flip side, we’ve also heard grumblings about the EULA that went out with our DX9 single-player demo.

We want to make something very clear. We are in no way scanning your computers for your personal information or taking any personal information without your knowledge. The only time that Flagship or Ping0 would collect your personally identifiable information is when you actually decide to give it to us. Examples are when you create an account for Hellgate: London online or when you provide us your personal information when you enter a contest. The language in the portion of the EULA that has been cited is actually fairly standardized language that is used in the vast majority of EULAs for recent on-line

Well geeze. It looks like if you buy Hellgate London from the EA store, the game unlocks tomorrow. Thanks, Brian Williams.

In other EA store news, if you pre-order Crysis, the game unlocks 3 days earlier than retail, plus you can download the SP demo on Thursday.

The kicker? EA's download service has a somewhat colorful history in terms of quality and support.

Do you feel lucky? Do ya?!

Update: Flagship is unaware of any such offer, although the EA store has yet to change its deal.

Long story short, the official [closed/secure] multiplayer servers probably won't be up and running until 10/30, but if this deal stays intact, you might still be able to play single player and unranked co-op games.

We'll see what happens at Midnight...

IGN.com has up a post discussing the new EA/Flagship game Hellgate: London, and the in-game advertisements it includes to facilitate targeted marketing. Though ads in games aren't exactly new, some Beta testers are objecting to their apparently off-putting presence. Users have also noted that accepting the game's EULA means you submit to the collection of 'technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware'.

Demons of London beware... your reign of terror is coming to an end. Electronic Arts, Namco Bandai Games, and Flagship Studios are excited to announce that Hellgate™: London has gone to gold master and will be available exclusively for the PC on November 2nd in Europe.

"This has been an amazing journey for us and we couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished," said Flagship Studios CEO, Bill Roper. "We're anxious to get Hellgate: London into gamers' hands and we can't wait to play right along with them."

And for gamers who can't wait until November 2nd to get their Demon-slaying on, Flagship Studios is releasing a single player demo tomorrow, Thursday October 18th on AOL’s Game Daily (www.gamedaily.com). The demo will be available everywhere else from Friday.

The single player demo represents just a small taste of the Hellgate: London experience. Gamers can choose from two of the game's six character classes: the Blademaster, a master of swordplay and action-packed melee combat, or the Marksman, a cool, calculating, long-range specialist. In the demo, these heroes are able to battle through a small handful of storyline and side quests as they adventure through the streets and t

Currently populated with more bugs than beta testers can shake their swords at, playing Hellgate: London can feel downright hellish at times.

With Flagship Studios' highly-anticipated online RPG only 16 days from release, many otherwise-glowing previews, including Shacknews' own, have included a caveat explaining the game's current instability and, in some areas, a disturbing lack of key functionality.

However, watching closely from behind the scenes, Flagship staffers aren't especially worried.

"We are aware of the issues some people are experiencing, but there's nothing we've seen that's any real concern to us," said Flagship's Ivan Sulic to Shacknews. "We're not flipping out, anyway."

Throughout the testing phase, Flagship community managers have continuously stated that the various beta builds are outdated in comparison to internal versions of the game.

"[The] changes we've been working on have not been integrated into the beta yet, which means that particular Hellgate experience is way behind the times," reiterated Sulic. "We do, however, hope to release a substantial beta patch in the near future, which should bring our test up to a level of quality that's more representative

Well poop. It looks like there's been a run on Hellgate London. If you haven't pre-ordered the game already, it looks like you might be out of luck come Halloween. More from the official website:

Wow. Believe it or not, I've just got word that the Collector's Edition of Hellgate: London is almost sold out completely. And when I say completely, I mean COMPLETELY. We will not be pressing additional copies of the CE HGL, so once they're gone, they're gone forever. Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up!

Also, if you're currently in the Beta, we have some server tests we need to run this Saturday. For you, that means that you might find the server down any time between 10:00AM Saturday, to 10:00AM Sunday. We're gonna work our hardest to get things back up and running as soon as possible, so you'll still have some good weekend time to play. Lastly, once the servers do go back up, you'll find a new, shiny build to download (required). This will NOT require a character wipe. ^_^

Stay tuned for some more DX10 Hellgate London goodness this weekend.

Thanks, Hellgate Guru.

In other Hellgate London news, YouGamers conjured up an interview with Flagship's Tyler Thompson about HGL's DirectX10 support and features.

YouGamers: Since Hellgate: London can use SM4.0, what effects will gamers notice them looking better than in SM2.0?

Thompson: Our DX10 engine has several effects. We have interactive, volumetric smoke which uses the render to volume feature in DX10. We have rain that factors in the direction of the eye and the light direction to read from a texture array. We have a few forms of motion blur. We have soft particles – which helps remove that hard edge that many particle systems display when penetrating the background. We have a better method for computing shadows. We use the improved normal map compression method in the DX10 target as well.

Included, are some more poorly compressed DX10 shots that make nice thumbs.

I have about a zillion killer HGL screens camping my hard drive waiting to be posted. :(

Quote:
Interested about Hellgate: London but didn't get an invite? Well, we've got your answer -- sign up for an opportunity! Simply enter your e-mail address in the form below and you'll be added to the list of potential invitees for the next round of testing. If you're lucky, you'll be invited to join the Hellgate: London testing phases in the not-too-distant future!

A few things to remember:

1. Signing up doesn't guarantee an invite, but does raise your chances significantly in receiving one.

2. Please only enter your e-mail once, as duplicates may cause you to not receive an invite.

3. If you're already part of the Alpha, don't re-enter your e-mail – but tell all of your friends!

4. If you do receive an invite, keep in mind that all content is contractually under NDA until further notice.