Sony is pretty hyped up about MAG, the ambitious 256-player massive action game that was announced at E3 08. I’ll be honest, even though the release date has been listed as January 26 for a while, I didn’t really think it would be hitting store shelves anytime soon. This just seems like the kind of game that was bound to be delayed for years. According to the PlayStation blog, though, MAG has gone gold, meaning that it is ready to ship in just a little over a month. If you can’t wait that long, the beta will be open to everyone on January 4, giving gamers a taste of what to expect when the game comes out.

Although North American gamers can download the beta client starting tomorrow, we won’t be able to actually play until after the new year has been rung in. The beta ends on January 10, giving you only six days of massively multiplayer mayhem. I sure hope the servers hold up. I’m still on the fence about MAG; the generic title and focus on the 256-player aspect has me worried that it will be little more than a chaotic bullet-fest. I’d love to be proven wrong, though.