Cliffski's Blog announces that Gratuitous Space Battles 2 has entered beta testing, saying those who preorder the spaceship construction and combat sequel from its official website will get immediate access to the test. A new beta trailer shows off gameplay, and here's word on how this is a beta, not an alpha:

So yup, GSB2 is now taking pre-orders direct from my site, and this gives you access to the beta. You can grab it right now from here:

http://www.gratuitousspacebattles2.com/

Note that this is a proper beta, not some super-early-access proof of concept thing where most of it doesn’t work. In other words, most stuff works! it’s playable. Hopefully its fun! It’s PC-only and English only for now, but that will change come-release. There will of course be bugs, and myriad balance issues. And I will be adding some extra voiceover and a few other bits and pieces. But hopefully this is something you can play and enjoy right now. You get a download link, an online serial (for challenges, if you want to use them), and a steam code for its eventual steam release (the code obviously isn’t working yet).

PLEASE tell people you know about it, this is really appreciated. If you are a member of the press, please check your inbox, and if you don’t hear from us today please email me at cliff At positech etc… and I will put you in touch with *my people*. Yeah that’s right, cliffski got people now :D.

And of course, we have forums that you can go chat on and offer feedback and suggestions, criticism, maybe even some praise for things you like? and ask questions about stuff. You can log in to my forums with google or twitter or facebook, or manually sign up for an account. We also have a facebook page.

Holy cow I’m nervous. I actually feel sick.