The Natural Selection 2 Website has the promised announcement, which is a July 26 projected launch date for alpha testing of this upcoming action/strategy hybrid, available to all Special Edition pre-orders, on Steam. They describe the content of the alpha, and offer the following warning: "Something else you should know is that when we release alpha 1 at the end of this month, we are also discontinuing the NS2 Special Edition and all-black marine armor. It will no longer be available after this date, ever. Also, players that order NS2 after July 26th won't be able to play in the release date alpha." Thanks joao.