They probably won't give a release date until they're comfortable with Alpha testing results. Alpha doesn't sound like it's starting until after the final save, and you can except it to last a month to ensure the stress testing goes ok.

I speculated in another thread, but I think it's going to be around March for retail. Betas for a game don't necessarily have to last 6 months. The only reason the beta would last this long is if the game is bug ridden. They had a foundation to build off of, so ideally the beta shouldn't last too long, and Yoshida has expressed the same in thinking beta won't last very long.