i got the beta by having mount and blade, it was not from steam it was from being accepted, the router is direct connect and i have pc tools firewall plus, pc tools spyware docter and trend micro internet security pro, im not sure wat exactly to add to the safe list cause it might have blocked a program that allows mount and blade to search the internet but i would have no way of knowing wat the name of it is and i searched my antiviruses and fire walls to find someing that could be it, i disabled everything before running the game so i dont think it is blocked by any of my spywares. if you know wat might be the problem let me know, in the mean time im downloading the beta to another computer in my house to see if i get the same results.