gamigo announces registration for European open beta testing for Black Prophecy is now underway, calling this "an important milestone" in the development Reakktor Media's space action MMOG, and saying North American gamers will be invited to participate in closed beta testing sometime next month. Here are some new Black Prophecy screenshots, this page is where to sign up as a tester, and here's word:

The new open beta client will include many new and updated features that were not available before: controls have been made more intuitive and allow the direction one is shooting in to be determined independently from the direction of the ship. Weapons have been examined carefully and their damage output has been rebalanced. The level cap has been raised to level 40 and new content has been added. A change log of all the new features can be found in the official forum.

All planned features, such as modular ship-building, the skill system, exciting single-player, group, clan and PvP missions as well as the innovative clan stations have been fully implemented. A special highlight is the voiced dialogue spoken by professional voice actors and accompanied by an orchestral soundtrack.