Joystiq has a gameplay video from Battleswarm: Field of Honor, the upcoming multiplayer action/strategy game involving Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. Meanwhile, beta testing of Battleswarm is also now underway (thanks Big Download). Word is:

SEATTLE, WA – August 10, 2009 – Reality Gap, Inc. announced that Battleswarm™: Field of Honor™ launches in Beta today. Developed by Gameworld Tech Co, LTD, Battleswarm simultaneously pits first-person shooters (FPS) vs. real-time strategy (RTS) players in this genre-busting online PC game. Players choose between team-based, first-person action, representing individual, elite Human soldiers or acting as the supreme commander of an alien task force, managing hundreds of alien bugs from a real-time strategy point of view. Slated for commercial launch next month, players can now register to experience Battleswarm for free at http://www.battleswarm.net.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that team-based combat has been pitted against real-time strategy in a balanced, live-action online game,” said Michael A. Williams, CEO of Reality Gap, Inc. “Shooters must confront swarms of alien opponents, but unlike most FPS games, they are playing against aliens managed by a human intelligence looking to outwit and outmaneuver them.”

Battleswarm allows up to six players to take control of soldiers in team-based, first- or third-person shooter mode, arming themselves from a huge arsenal of high-tech weapons and armor. They compete in discrete missions versus up to four Alien Commanders, who control hundreds of bug-like units in real-time strategy mode. The Alien Commanders must build hives, breed units, and manage their forces in missions to overwhelm the human opponents. Players can create guilds, buy and sell items, and level up their characters.