'Guild Wars 2' beta comes to Mac OS X today

The Guild "Wars 2" beta is now available for Mac OS X and will be connected to the game's live servers, allowing players on both Mac and Windows operating systems to play together.

The Guild Wars 2 beta is now available for Mac OS X and will be connected to the game's live servers, allowing players on both Mac and Windows computers to play together, publisher NCSoft announced today.

The Mac beta is available to anyone who has already purchased a copy of Guild Wars 2. Users must activate their game code and go through the Guild Wars 2 account management site in order to access the beta client.

Anyone who purchases Guild Wars 2 starting today will be able to play it on both PC and Mac. The game will be a universal purchase even after the Mac beta closes; players only need to buy it once for access to both versions.

Developer ArenaNet is working with TransGaming, a company that specializes in programs for running Windows games on Mac products, to allow fluid play across both operating systems. This ensures that all future updates and patches will be available simultaneously across both platforms.

Guild Wars 2 was released late last month for PC. The game was recently the target of a mass phishing attempt, in which hackers tested usernames and passwords stolen from a popular fan site against ArenaNet accounts.