Munkeh111 on 20 October 2008
I think it has been the case far more this year. With Warhawk and Halo, if memory serves right, they were more in the summer, several months before release, whereas most games seem to be finishing their betas a few weeks before launch now, and normally they are still running by the time they go gold.
Certainly the LBP beta seemed to be quite a lot to do with hyping it, but of course they still serve the purpose of testing servers.
I suppose they also give the chance of companies to try and say that they care about the consumer's opinion and want their help, which obviously improves public perception of the company
