Gears of War 3 PS3 version is now online and fully playable

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There's one slight catch - you need a PS3 devkit

Gears of War 3
(Image credit: Microsoft)

A Gears of War 3 version built for the PS3 has finally made its way online, over a year after it originally surfaced.

Just below, a hacker who goes by the name of PixelButts announced earlier this week that they had uploaded the unreleased version of Gears of War 3 that was constructed specifically for the PS3. It goes without saying that this version of Gears of War 3 was never made publicly available back when it originally debuted as an Xbox 360 exclusive game.

You can download the Gears of War 3 build for the PS3 right now through PixelButt's link just above. However, you'll need to own a PS3 devkit to actually run the modified version of Gears of War 3, and the hacker themselves confirms above that they won't be supporting it in any way with future updates.

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This all follows on from the PS3 build of Gears of War 3 originally leaking online in the first half of 2020. Back then, PixelButts announced that they'd uncovered the unreleased version of the game, and subsequently uploaded eight hours of footage online for people to view, although there was a fair amount of confusion over what the intention of the unreleased build was.

Shortly after this footage aired, Epic Games revealed that it was nothing more than an internal test undertaken by the developer. "This footage is a byproduct of Epic’s internal Unreal Engine 3 testing process, which utilized both Gears and Unreal Tournament, and was never part of any actual product work for PlayStation 3," a spokesperson for Epic Games said.

It's quite fascinating that the internal test build of Gears of War for the PS3 is actually playable online. Even though the build turned up through nefarious means (PixelButts is a self-professed hacker, after all), it's still intriguing to know that Epic was originally testing out Gears of War 3 on a platform that it never stood a chance of releasing on.

In terms of current Gears of War development, the future for the franchise remains unclear. Just last week, current developers The Coalition revealed that they were shifting to "next-gen development" for unannounced projects, but they wouldn't be revealing any new projects for a fair while yet. However, one developer at The Coalition struck down recent rumors that the studio is working on a Star Wars-related project, which alleged that the Gears developed was branching out into the Star Wars universe with a brand new game.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.