PlanetSide 2 opens beta sign-ups

Sony Online Entertainment is putting out the call for PlanetSide 2 recruits. The publisher has relaunched the website for the upcoming free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, complete with a sign-up form for would-be beta testers.

PlanetSide 2 will be a sequel to SOE's original subscription-based MMO shooter released in 2003. The studio is hoping to dramatically expand on that game's scope, and it will run on the newly built Forgelight Engine.

The sequel will be a "reimagining" of the original, which chronicled a futuristic conflict on the embattled planet of Auraxis among three different factions: the Terran Republic, the New Conglomerate, and the Vanu Sovereignty. Players will advance through various battle ranking levels while acquiring equipment certifications for both different weapon types and different classes of vehicles.