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Call of Duty 5 gets Euro date, beta

PC and 360 tests to open in October.

The Call of Duty: World at War European multiplayer beta test will begin in October for PC and Xbox 360. Either a PS3 beta has yet to be announced, or simply won't happen. Wii beta tests have yet to be invented.

Publisher Activision Blizzard has announced that the Boot Camp will open its doors on an unspecified date next month, also confirming the UK release date as 14th November. That puts the UK a mere three days behind the US, where the game will see first light on 11th November.

Players will be able to try their hands at the new squad system, as well as experimenting with the features inherited from Modern Warfare, such as the perk system.

Treyarch boss Mark Lamia is understandably "excited to share a sneak peak of Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer with the community", explaining: "The team has worked hard to build upon the great history and foundation of Call of Duty multiplayer and we can't wait to go online to ramp up for our November launch."

The fifth game in the series reverts to a more traditional WWII setting after Modern Warfare's foray into contemporary battlefields, sort of like Back to the Future with artillery. Expectations are obviously high after the success of Infinity Ward's game, so why not get an inside edge on how it'll handle?

More information will be released via the series' website, and here, as it emerges. Assuming all those SOCOM people go away so our server starts working again.