SAN FRANCISCO, California – Epic Games had a big GDC 2011 with new technology shown at their booth that pushes Unreal Engine 3 technology forward. The game maker announced that the closed beta for Gears of War 3 will begin on April 18 for anyone who bought the Xbox 360 Bulletstorm Epic Edition of the game. Anyone who pre-orders Gears will be able to jump into the online action on April 25. The beta will end on May 15, which will give the studio plenty of time to fine-tune the online multiplayer gameplay before the fall launch of the Microsoft Xbox 360 exclusive game. Cliff Bleszinski talks about the new game in this exclusive video interview.
Epic is rewarding Bulletstorm gamers who ponied up for the more expensive Epic Edition of the new shooter. Those gamers will get an extra seven days of online Gears gameplay with dedicated servers that aren’t going to be as crowded.
The beta will contain access to three multiplayer modes and four exclusive maps. As announced previously, the beta will run on dedicated servers. Team Deathmatch will be hosted on four new maps: Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches, and Old Town. As the beta progresses, Epic will add Capture the Leader and King of the Hill to the mix.
Gamers who earn unlockable content during the beta will be able to access that content when the final retail game ships this fall.
