In partnership with Jarhedz.com, the NS team opened up 2.1 beta testing to all our Constellation members!

As a way of showing our appreciation and thanks to our donators, we e-mailed all our Constellation members and invited them to help playtest NS v2.1! At around 1AM EST this morning, we e-mailed all our Constellation members the current NS v2.1 beta install. Jarhedz is running multiple servers in the UK and the US, running the new "NS:Combat" mode, as well as new NS maps and all the other goodness in NS 2.1. And, it's all happening in Steam! From the early feedback so far, Combat seems to be a hit. The testers are allowed full disclosure on everything they see and play, so we hope you start seeing more screenshots and battle reports on the forums and fansites soon.

Any new people that donate to Constellation will be eligible to help playtest as well, although it may take a day or two to process. You must have Steam to be eligible, and you must not mind playing on beta code. Click the "Constellation" link on the left for more information. We have opened a private forum and IRC channel for all our testers, and are using them to get feedback.

After the public release of 2.1, the team will be taking a much-needed break for a month or so. Many of us have been working non-stop on NS for a couple years now, and need some time to regain our sanity. We are very close to releasing 2.1 publically, and appreciate your patience while we finish up and then recuperate.

Thanks again to our Constellation members, without whom, none of us would be playing 2.0 or 2.1 beta right now. If you see an icon that looks like a blue cluster of stars next to someone's name while you're playing, thank them!