Hearthstone beta key giveaway: grab instant access to Blizzard's new card battling game

Hearthstone is a new card-battling game from Blizzard set in the WarCraft universe. You take the role of one of nine heroes, customise your deck (or roll with a standard preset) and then deploy monsters and spells against other players to destroy them, which levels you up and gives you virtual fun-bucks with which to buy packs of new cards. It's feels like PopCap have made a card game. Magic missiles whistle-thump against enemy cards. Big spells can obliterate the board in a quick, roaring conflagration. It's reactive, satisfying and simple, and you can play it right now if you happen to grab one of the 350 keys we have to give away below.

Update 2: We know that readers had trouble accessing the 13/09/2013 giveaway. For many, the page failed to update and the "grab a key" button didn't appear. While the site was suffering under exceptionally heavy load way in excess of the visits we received for the previous giveaway, some were able to access a Google cache of the site, log in and get a key. There is no evidence to suggest the keys were taken by bots. For the next giveaway we'll ensure that the competition isn't accessible via cache, and we'll reinforce our servers to cope with the demand. Apologies to those who were disappointed, we'll have another 350 keys for you next week.

NB: the third and final giveaway of 350 keys will not take place on this page, head over to the new Hearthstone beta key giveaway page instead.

Click "GET MY BETA KEY" to get your beta key. Once you've logged in, a code you should pop up, and you can follow the instructions below to redeem it.

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How to redeem your key:

Log in to Battle.net account management using your Battle.net account
Go to Games & Codes > Add a Game Key.
Enter your game key—see the “Your Hearthstone Game Key” section below.
Select Windows or Mac as your operating system. This will begin the combined Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft/Battle.net download and installation process.
Once prompted, enter your Battle.net account name and password. The Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft installation process should continue automatically.
Once installation is complete, press Play and enjoy!

And an additional bit from Blizzard: N ote that as a beta tester for Hearthstone, you will also be using Battle.net's new desktop app, designed to improve the launcher experience for all Blizzard games. For more information about this app, check out our blog and FAQ . Your participation in the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft beta test is dependent upon accepting the Battle.net End User License Agreement prior to installing the app.

If you don't grab a key this time round, don't worry. We'll be getting another batch in later this week, and more next week too.

Disclaimer: for all questions regarding the delivery of the code please email pcgamer.betakeysupport@futurenet.com. For all other questions regarding Hearthstone, please contact Blizzard. Future cannot accept any responsibility for any disruption, damage and/or loss to your data or computer system that may occur when using this code. Future is not responsible for any of the products or services offered by Blizzard.

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