The recently delayed fantasy rts Dragonshard is in public beta now. Otherwise said, Fileplanet is hosting the open multiplayer demo (287 MB). You can register for a key right here. The download itself is available here.

That's right, a key for a demo, imagine the horror when a demo should be hosted on another site, it might even mean more publicity for the game. And that's clearly not what the folks at Atari want I guess...

Back to the demo then. There are four maps available, and all three races (Order of the Flame, Umbragen and Lizardfolk) can be played. While it is called a multiplayer demo, you can easily simulate a skirmish game by adding AI opponents to you session setup. The main feature of Dragonshard is the two level setup of every map; above ground it's the usual rts stuff, in the underground you'll need to collect treasures and defeat monsters. It also incorporates the new Dungeons & Dragons Eberron world setting for the first time ever in an rts.

A release is scheduled for this September.

In other news: