According to a post on Major Nelson’s blog, Sega’s Phantasy Star Universe beta is now available. Gamers with an Xbox Live Gold account can now download the 900+ megabyte package from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The beta period officially ends on October 18th, but since a feat of exceptionally good planning has the Xbox Live service down for maintenance for 24 hours starting on October 17th, gamers will get even less time to experience the preview. Hopefully Sega doesn’t see its servers crash like they did at the launch of Phantasy Star Universe in Japan, which could make the testing even less effective.