Opening the Beta Application site today is at least good news because it was scheduled for "mid-January". Soooo, SE is about a week ahead of the original schedule. So Beta Test Phase 1 may be a week ahead of schedule as well.

The new intro movie is interesting, though it is basically a replay of bits already released. I also noticed the party of players that zapped in did not have neck tatoos. This new footage seems to have been cleaned up. It looks a little different. Certainly no spectacular bits there. I think all the fan-fare was just for the opening of the Beta Application site.