Elite: Dangerous beta 3 launches October 28th

As promised a few weeks ago, the second stage of Elite: Dangerous' closed beta has begun. Beta 2 opens up more of the galaxy (well, it is a big load of empty space, after all), filling it with new star systems and outposts, and adding a reputation system so that you can't go around being an utter space bastard without suffering any repercussions. Along with a big list of what beta 2 contains, Frontier Developments has revealed the date on which we can expect beta 3 to be grafted onto the game: October the 28th.

Here's that big list of beta 2's most notable new bits:

New progression, with combat ratings from ‘Harmless’ up to ‘Elite’.
Reputations per system and per faction that influence attitudes and prices offered to players.
570 star systems and 381,033 cubic light years to explore.
Discovery, exploration and charting of new systems and the option to trade gathered data.
Detailed system maps.
New Outposts (small, exposed ‘roadside café’ stations in remote systems).
New Ocellus starport.
Further upgradeable Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks for all ships.
New weapons, including mines and a Cargo Hatch Limpet built for non-lethal piracy.
Visibility of other ships in supercruise, and the ability to track pilots through supercruise and hyperspace.
In-game GalNet newsfeed, reporting story events from around the galaxy and each system.
Gradual ‘wear and tear’ on ships.
New Lakon Asp Explorer ship.
All backers names from the appropriate crowd-funding reward tiers have been added to the NPC naming database.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.