Gears of War 3 beta schedule detailed

Those who purchased the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm have been mutilating one another in the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta test for a week at this point. Those who forwent Bulletstorm in favor of simply preordering Gears of War 3 will be pleased to know that they, too, can now rev their lancers and launch into the fray.

Along with announcing the opening of the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta, Epic delineated a schedule for what players can expect over the next several weeks. Up first will be the Team Deathmatch and King of the Hill modes, which will be tested from April 25-May 1. Gamers will be able to engage one another in the Thrashball, Checkout, and Trenches maps.

Seriously, this image is not a spoiler.

From May 2-8, Epic will open up the Capture the Leader game type as well as the Old Town scenario. The last week of the beta--May 9-15--sees gamers able to launch into any of the three battle modes on any of the four maps.

Epic is also planning a few incentives to keep gamers engaged with the beta. These include exclusive medals, weapon skins, and character model variants that will carry over to the retail edition of Gears of War 3 when it launches for the Xbox 360 on September 20.