For the first time in the history of the franchise, Gears of War 3is having a multiplayer beta. Epic Games plans to roll out the beta early next year, to be sure they have ample time to react to the gathered intel. Behind the scenes, a big chunk of the testing will be devoted to optimizing the new dedicated servers that will drive the multiplayer experience for gamers around the globe. Epic will use data from the beta to iron out kinks in Gears 3’s new host migration feature before the product shipsinSeptember, 2011. Host migration will be available in all multiplayer modes, including Horde and Beast. Epic will also be putting a new matchmaking system through its paces, which should solve many of the issues people had in Gears 2.
Above: Why don't you and your friends get with me and my friends?
Betas can be a tricky business, since many gamers are highly critical even though they’re not looking at a finished game. So Epic is taking time to ensure that the beta is as slick as possible, but can still deliver useful data in time to be of benefit to the final product. We’ll be sure to let you know the second dates are announced for the Gears 3 beta.
Oct. 7, 2010
