Open beta for PSU starts this weekend [update 1]

Phantasy Star fans rejoice! The open beta of the upcoming Phantasy Star Universe is coming to Live Marketplace this weekend. There is no exact date listed for the beginning of the beta so, start looking for it on Marketplace tomorrow -- or you can feverishly check every five minutes, like me. The download will only be available for two days, so get it while the gettin's good. There is one caveat and a concern, though. The caveat: you must have Xbox Live Gold to participate -- though you'll only need Silver when the retail game ships. The concern: we have no idea whether or not you can retain your gained experience should you decide to purchase the retail version. Oh, one more thing, we can only assume that this is for North America only. European friends, let us know if you've got it in you're area. For more info on the beta, visit the official site.

PSU ships on October 24th. Until then, happy hunting.

[Thanks, Simon]

Update: Contributor vid33nyc1 pointed us to a handy Q&A thread in the PSU forums that cleared up some questions.

• The beta will be available in the US, Europe, and Japan.
• Whatever happens in the beta, stays in the beta. No levels, items, etc. will carry over into the retail version.