Next week sees PS3 owners get their first taste of free-to-play Ace Combat when Infinity enters a week-long open beta, starting on February 4. Common sense (perhaps misguided) would suggest there won't be any microtransactions in the beta, and Namco does say it's "completely free." But the beta may yet clear up any cloudiness over that particular issue - we'll find out either way next week.

Namco's billing the online co-op as the main mode in Ace Combat Infinity, but the beta does feature solo missions from the game's story campaign. There's also a mode for two teams of up to four pilots in total, and Gordon Freeman's long-lost twin brother, Commander Glenn "Goodfellow" Freeman is looking forward to seeing you try it. As for the game proper, it's still circling the release date runway with a 2014 window.