Good news, Starhawk fans!  We're pleased to announce that Starhawk has gone gold and is being pressed and shipped to retailers now!  The game hits retail shelves next week in North America, Europe, and Japan, and we're so excited to share the final release of the game with you.

In addition, we're proud to offer some bonus perks to all the wonderful community members that have supported us since our announcement last May. Can you believe it's almost been a year since we unveiled the game? 

If you played in the Starhawk beta at any point, you'll automatically be receiving "The Hand of the Founder", a limited edition character accessory that will attach to the right hand of your player character and let you show off your status as one of the founding members of Starhawk.

If you've played the beta and you were also one of our Warhawk players, you'll also be gifted with the Warhawk Paint Set.  This gives you two exclusive vehicle paint schemes that can be applied to any of the vehicles in Starhawk, turning them into the olive Eucadian style visual or the black Chernovan gunmetal appearance.

These items are intended specifically to thank our beta players and the fans that have supported us since Warhawk.  We have no plans to re-release or sell these.

Starhawk is just one week away, but there's still time to pre-order if you haven't already!  Just head over to GameStop and reserve the Limited Edition of the game.  We're really excited to give you the full, rich experience of Starhawk next week!  And welcome... to the new frontier.

During the SXSW appearance a few weeks ago, our friends over at the PlayStation Blog took their cameras to LightBox Interactive’s home base just a few blocks away from the show to check up on the Starhawk team and to see what our friend Dylan Jobe has been up to. They came back with this video that not only shows the amazing progress being made on the single player campaign (including some crazy gorgeous cinematics), but also how rich the Starhawk storytelling is.

It’s crunch time, though, and Dylan and crew are busy pulling all-night shifts as they near the end of development, hard at work polishing all ten multiplayer maps and incorporating as much beta feedback as possible into the final build. Speaking of the beta, it officially wraps up on March 27, so after you’re done watching, be sure to jump back into the Starhawk Beta for some more high-flying fun while you still can. And of course, don't forget to pre-order the game and take advantage of all the special content we're offering in the Limited Edition!

Exciting news for anyone attending South by Southwest this weekend! Not only will we be there in full force showing off the game, but I’m excited to announce that we’ll also be debuting Starhawk co-op gameplay!

Interested? Just grab a friend (or two) and come down to the SXSW ScreenBurn anytime between Friday, March 9 and Monday, March 12. We’ll have plenty of game stations setup running co-op on the map Echo and we’ll even be tossing out free Starhawk t-shirts to everyone who visits. Then, come Monday, we’ll be hosting a Starhawk multiplayer tournament to find Austin’s most talented Hawk!

There’s sure to be something for everyone, so come out to the SXSW ScreenBurn at the Palmer Events Center and be one of the first to experience Starhawk co-op awesomeness!

If you're one of our new players in the Starhawk public beta and you're finding yourself in need of a few pointers, we'd like to recommend checking out Gamespot's newly created Starter Guide! 

In just seven minutes, Gamespot covers some of the best approaches to collecting Rift, playing defensively, and learning how to use the Build & Battle system like a pro.  It's worth a view for everyone, and could help give you the edge when you jump into your next match!

Great news Starhawk fans! The Starhawk Multiplayer Beta is being opened to all PlayStation Network members starting later today! There’s no need to redeem a code or jump through any additional hoops to access the Beta, all you have to do is follow these three easy steps:

1)          Fire up your PlayStation 3 and log into the PlayStation Network (once the store updates in your region)

2)          Download the Starhawk Multiplayer Beta from the PlayStation Store.

3)          Have fun!

If you’re new to the Beta or would like additional tips and tricks, head over to the PlayStation Blog where they put together a comprehensive introduction to the game along with some tips to get you started. In the weeks ahead, the Beta will only get better, as we roll out new features that include a map update, exciting new vehicles, more devastating weapons and 32 player matches!

Keep in mind that the game is still in “Beta”, meaning that we’ll be actively fixing bugs and other issues based off of your feedback. So be vocal, tell us what you think by posting in our Beta forums, and we’ll continue to shape Starhawk into the most amazing multiplayer experience of 2012.

Now, go spread the word and let everyone know that the Starhawk Multiplayer Beta is open to all PlayStation Network members!

Attention Hawks!

How was your holiday? Were you able to squeeze in a few more matches in the Private Beta? 

On behalf of myself and everyone at LBI, THANK YOU for your continued support throughout the private beta!  It's been great to see so many of your suggestions and tweaks take flight over the last few weeks and help shape what will no doubt be an amazing experience in 2012. 

If you were one of those that couldn't put the Sixaxis down throughout the beta, we're politely asking for one last favor!  Please take a minute of your time to complete the beta survey at this link.  This allows each and every voice to be heard by us yet again before the launch of the Public Beta.  What did you love?  What did you hate?  Let us know, and help us shape an experience that we're all very excited about!

Thank you all for a great Private Beta!

-HSJ

It's time for another chance to win an early access Private Beta key for Starhawk.  If you haven't received one of our emails inviting you into the program yet, then we're going to give you another chance at trying out one of the best shooters of 2012!

This time, we have 20 keys to give away to the North American winners, as well as 20 keys for Europe!   And this time, we've made it easier to enter than before:

1) Login above, using your PlayStation Network ID

2) Post a comment in this thread telling us what weapon you preferred using in Warhawk or what weapon you're planning to use in Starhawk

3) In your comment, please mention if you're located in North America, or if you're in Europe/Australia.

Our giveaway runs until Wednesday, November 30th at 2:00pm PST.  At that time, we'll randomly pick twenty North America winners as well as twenty European/Australian winners and post their names, as well as send them their codes via Private Message on the PlayStation Forums. 

Only one entry per person is allowed, and any post without a region will be discarded.  If you won a code in our last giveaway, or on our Facebook page, you'll be ineligible for this giveaway.  After all, we want to give everyone a fair shot at being in the Starhawk beta.

Good luck!

UPDATED: Thank you so much for all our wonderful entries!  We had a lot of fun reading through them.  But enough with the nostalgia, let's get some winners posted!  Here are the winners from each geographic area.  If you are one of our lucky beta key recepients today, you'll find a PM on the PlayStation forums with your code.  Thanks again for participating everyone!

North America Winners

GRANDdjDUKE

ari2r

Mussica

BalinsBane

StYve--At-Large

Hattori_Hanzo619

Dragonrider0

Moneybags118

grafixman

ManlyMisfit

a-o-

paulyg12

DrDeathnail

Reed-

theJETbomb

TJ---

GATORZZ28

Icer_qc

Leedogg

dertDeezy

European Winners

mk3gsi

Madness_UK

bowes_foundation

FallenDeath66

bmxmad

Gutfather

CollectorGadget

mobe7

alexanderyoyo

Jumpy1993

born2destroy

Heartsbane

pocj30

pot123

DaGrimeyOne

PESADILLA_2

Akesi6

madmark1974

timuk1

bthljo