Epic Games have just revealed the launch date for the highly anticipated Gears of War 3 beta. As you may already know from the recent Bulletstorm ad campaign, Bulletstorm “Epic Edition” will get access to the beta first on April 18th, the rest of us will have to wait until the 25th or a week more in simple terms, but don’t fret I’m pretty sure Youtube will be overflowing with gameplay videos on the first day of or the day the beta goes live, that’s assuming Youtube allows the footage to stay up.
Anyway, The dates you have to mark down in your calender are as follows.
Key Beta Dates:
Bulletstorm Preview, 18 – 24 April
Owners of “Bulletstorm: Epic Edition” are eligible for a one-week beta preview period featuring the new Team Deathmatch mode on four new maps (Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches and Old Town).Public Gears of War 3 Beta, 25 April – 15 May
The full public beta period begins 25 April. Players can look forward to special events and playlists throughout the beta period. Two additional competitive game modes, Capture the Leader and King of the Hill, will be added during the final week of the beta.
Along with the launch dates, Epic Games also revealed some of the exclusive items you will be able to unlock in beta. They also revealed that these items will carry over into the full retail game which is a nice little bonus.
The exclusive unlocks are as follows.
Beta Unlockables:
Beta Tester Medal – Complete one match in the beta to unlock the Beta Tester medal, which will carry over to your gamer profile in the final game. The Beta Tester title will be featured in the Gears 3 multiplayer lobby as well.
Thrashball Cole – Complete 50 matches in any game type to unlock the Thrashball Cole character variant in the beta. Once unlocked, complete 10 matches as Thrashball Cole during the beta and the character will carry over to your gamer profile in the final game.
Gold-Plated Retro Lancer – Show your ultimate Gears of War fandom by unlocking the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer. Complete 90 matches in any game type to unlock it for the beta, and score 100 kills with it once unlocked to carry the exclusive weapon skin over to your gamer profile in the final game.
Flaming Hammerburst – Complete one match by Sunday, 24 April and unlock this weapon variant.
Flaming Lancer – Complete one match during the week of 25 April and unlock this weapon variant.
Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun – Complete one match during the week of 2 May to unlock this weapon variant.
Flaming Gnasher Shotgun – Complete one match during the week of 9 May to unlock this weapon variant.
