Stardock Entertainment and Ironclad Games have announced that Sins of a Solar Empire Beta 1 is now available via TotalGaming.net and Stardock Central. The beta is available to all who preordered the game at TotalGaming.net, and its primary purpose is to act as a compatibility test, to ensure that Sins runs smoothly on a wide range of system setups. Beta 1 allows for single-player sandbox games as the Trader Emergency Coalition, while future beta iterations will add progressively more features, leading to the final game release. Visit this thread for details.