Gears Of War 3 To Receive Public Beta In 2011, Dedicated Servers

Shortly after delaying the game by several months, Microsoft and Epic Games announced that Gears of War 3 will receive a multiplayer beta with support for dedicated servers in early 2011. This will mark the first time Epic has held a public beta testing phase for its Gears of War series -- executive producer Rod Fergusson said the studio's traditional development schedule made it difficult for Epic to release a beta and have enough time to adapt their games according to player feedback. With the recent delay of Gears of War 3 from next April to fall 2011 as part of a "business decision between partners", though, the studio now has more time to polish the Xbox 360-exclusive third-person shooter in between the multiplayer beta's release and the final game's launch. Epic has also been running an informal beta with Gears of War 2, adjusting weapons to match their counterparts in the upcoming sequel and even running small-scale tests with dedicated servers, according to a report from ShackNews. Another first for the Gears of War series will be the upcoming game's use of dedicated servers. Gears of War 3 will feature the publisher-run servers for ranked and social matchmaking games, potentially eliminating issues with server hosts receiving an advantage in matches. Gears of War 2 released for Xbox 360 in November 2008 to enormous success, selling 2 million units in its launch weekend. To date, the franchise as a whole has sold over 11 million units worldwide.