Gears of war 3 multiplayer beta goes live next week

ANYONE NOT PATIENT ENOUGH to wait until late September for the next installment in the Gears of War game franchise can tide themselves over with the open beta that starts later this month.

The game, or the demo at least, will appear in the XBox Live Marketplace on 25 April and will stay live until the 15 May, while very early adopters, or at least those not new to the franchise will get a slightly earlier start than the rest of the world on 18 April.

"Enlist in the most explosive gaming event of the spring: the Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Beta! Get into the Beta by preordering Gears of War 3 through select retailers," wrote the firm on its website.

"The Beta begins April 25 and ends May 15. For those of you who purchased the Bulletstorm Epic Edition (on Xbox 360 only), you get early access to the Beta".

The mention of Spring might be an important inclusion in the above statement as GoW 3 is likely to face stiff competition from game we never thought would happen, Duke Nukem Forever, which is coming out ten years late in June.

Early players don't just get kudos amongst their friends, they will also unlock a number of features that can be carried over to the full game.

According to Epic Games, just playing once will earn you something called a flaming hammerburst, or a flaming sawed-off shotgun. Neither of which you are likely to earn in Mario Land, or equivalent. µ