Gears of War 3 public beta date

By Robert Purchese Published 4 March, 2011

Bulletstorm isn't the only way in.

Buying Bulletstorm isn't the only door to the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta - a public test runs from 25th April to 15th May.

The press release mentions pre-ordering Gears of War 3 at GAME to gain access. We're checking out whether this is an exclusive offer.

Bulletstorm: Epic Edition owners can start early and play from 18th to 24th April.

Participating in the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta can unlock content within the full game. Complete one beta match and you'll get a Beta Tester Medal; complete 50 and you'll unlock the Thrashball Cole character, who'll transfer to the full game when you complete 10 games with him; complete 90 matches and receive the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer, which will transfer to the full game after scoring 100 kills.

A Flaming Hammerburst weapon goes to anyone playing a match by Sunday, 24th April; a Flaming Lancer goes to anyone finishing a match during the week of 25th April; a Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun goes to anyone finishing a match during the week of 2nd May; and a Flaming Gnasher Shotgun goes to anyone finishing a match during the week of 9th May.

Over the course of the Gears of War 3 beta, four maps and three modes will be rolled out. Maps Old Town and Trenches will be included.

What's more, the Gears of War 3 beta will take place on the game's vaunted dedicated servers.

Eurogamer's Christian Donlan played the Gears of War 3 beta late last month.

Gears of War 3 can be pre-ordered now in three versions: Standard, Limited (£59.99) and Epic (£99.99).

Gears of War 3 multiplayer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Daddy-Doom-Bar #1 1 year ago

    Sound. Where do I sign up?

  • robrymond #2 1 year ago

    Game stores have had the codes delivered, I have one next to me now :-)

  • pesser #3 1 year ago

    wait you have have the epic edition of bullstorm or pre-order the game to get into the beta

  • Skooch #4 1 year ago

    Pure, frag-tagging, head-crushing, locust-stomping, EPIC sweetness!

    EDIT: Fucketty bollox, I am on holiday from 22nd April through to the 10th May!!! :(
    Edited by Skooch at 04/03/11 @ 16:40

  • beastmaster #5 1 year ago

    It's looking good.

  • CaptainQuint #6 1 year ago

    I find it interesting that publishers are still keen to deal with companies such as GAME.

  • stuntmaster #7 1 year ago

    wow 99.99 for the epic limited version . never paid that for gear of war 2 limited version

  • stepneg #8 1 year ago

    'Yeah, I understand it's just business, but then gamers shouldn't support this sort of crap and should buy elsewhere. '

    Say's he who is already sorted for the beta, personally I thought Bulletstorm was junk so would much rather pay £5 extra than £40 for a game I don't want which I'm sure a lot of people did.
    Edited by stepneg at 04/03/11 @ 17:07

  • holloguts #9 1 year ago

    I can't understand why to play a beta (demo) you now have to go out of your way to do so. The only reason I can think of is that the hardcore fans of a game will love it regardless of problems and accept its only a beta and will be fixed (like black ops fans have been doing with that beta since november). The none hardcore fans would simply 'not bother going out of their way to get in on the beta, waiting instead to buy the game. It avoids loss of sales to gamers who are not blinded by any new game just because they 'have' to have it. I think it is also another way of trying to give some importance to a game that on the whole has always been a mediocre series.

    I won't bother with this beta (demo), and I don't think after the dissapointing gow1 and gow2 that I will bother with this game on release either. As for multiplayer, what a joke.

  • Ranger101 #10 1 year ago

    Do you get a code if you pre-order the pre-owned version from GAME?

  • Munkeh111 #11 1 year ago

    Damm, I'll only be able to play for like 5 days and I am not just getting gold for a beta

    Having said that, I didn't think they had announced any versions of Gears apart from the standard edition, so hopefully this means we will be getting some info on those later today

  • eviroboy #12 1 year ago

    From what I've heard before now, you don't need to buy either Bulletstorm Epic Edition or pre-order Gears 3 from GAME. All Gold XBL subscribers get access to the public Beta. Bulletstorm EE and Gears 3 pre-orders gain early access (1 week)

  • m0dm0use #13 1 year ago

    did you know there were 200 days to the release of Gears of war 3 :D sweet news I just got my volume 2 gears of war comic in the mail today and now we get codes for gears of war 3 pre-orders, guys dont forget pre-ordering means no money is taken till its dispatched! I dont see any details of this on the game website, and past expeirence I never get codes from game on time. If at all my local game store has denied existance of codes for betas in the past.so pre-order with any location you can find that wont take money till a week before!

    Right-o fellas eurogamer has not posted the right info.

    Game & Gamestation will take pre-orders for the UK and give out codes these codes are not for the early access but the "public" beta period I think... There is a lot of confusion on this so I am not certain about it being three week beta, and not the full four weeks with pre-ordering. hopefuly the guys at epic will get back on twitter and the forums on this matter.

    So epic edition still appears to be the only way in for four week grears of war 3 beta, the pre-order is for "public" beta access.

    Shows how much epic like having ea money thrown at them and not supporting gears of war veterans which is a shame.

    I have read all the gears of war books and comics released, and have two figures of Marcus gears and gears 2 versions. hopefuly the pre-order is for the full four week beta access and not just the "public" perioid.

    so Bulletstorm is the only way... (I think)
    Edited by m0dm0use at 04/03/11 @ 18:38

  • Starkillah_79 #14 1 year ago

    Can't wait to smash Heads! ^^

  • Lotos8ter #15 1 year ago

    I am completely and utterly confused with this BETA. I thought you needed the Bulletstorm Epic edition disc to play the BETA and everything I read just confuses me more.
    My reaction is going to be arseholes to the Beta, I'm not paying to test their game and netcode

  • eviroboy #16 1 year ago

    @TheDellBingo

    The lesson is the code won't work, you also need to have the Bulletstorm disc inserted to use the Beta for early access.

  • Reckless99 #17 1 year ago

    Epic: Are you a hardcore Gears fan? Prove it and buy a mediocre game for £40 to get into the beta, cause ya know, that's what hardcore fans do. Me: Fuck you. That's not rewarding your dedicated and hardcore fans, that's called exploiting them. What happened to good old days where beta was announced and it was free, no stupid strings attached like buy this game or suck someones dick who works for that company.

  • fiery_jackass #18 1 year ago

    >lotos8ter
    "My reaction is going to be arseholes to the Beta, I'm not paying to test their game and netcode "
    My reaction is also arseholes to the Beta, except that their netcode needs testing so very, very much that I might do it out of a sense of civic duty. Mind you, the slightest word of complaint about the netcode on their forums might result in a ban both from their website AND Gears online. Seen it done

  • Genyus #19 1 year ago

    Last class - 20th April
    Exam training - 21th / 24th April
    Learning period - 25th April - 15th May
    Exam week - 17th May

    FML.
    Edited by Genyus at 06/03/11 @ 02:53