Gears of War 3 Beta Invites Available From May 8

Epic Games has revealed that participants of the Gears of War 3 beta will have the chance to invite their friends into the scheme via a "buddy token" system later this week. In a post on the Epic Games forums, the developer explained that anyone who has played at least one game in the beta will be granted a special token on May 8, which can be given to a friend on Xbox Live, allowing them to also play in the beta. Xbox Live users in the U.S. will also be able to earn extra buddy tokens, by completing specific "challenges." These include purchasing Gears of Wars content from the Xbox Live Marketplace, playing more than 20 hours of the beta, adding an extra 12 months to your Xbox Live Gold subscription, and playing over 100 hours of any Gears of War title. U.S. Xbox gamers can earn up to five tokens in total, although players outside of the U.S. can earn just the one. All players have until May 4 to earn these tokens, which will then be handed out on May 8 at the start of the "Never Fight Alone" period of the beta. The beta will then end for all players a week later on May 15. The full game is set to release at retail on September 20. A recent survey showed that Gears of War 3 is the most anticipated "core" game release of 2011 in both the U.S. and the UK.