How to get your friends into the Gears of War 3 beta

Have you played in the Gears of War 3 beta yet? Even a single, solitary game? If so – bam! – you just earned another access code to share, sell or selfishly hoard all to yourself. For the final week of the multiplayer, starting on May 8 and ending on May 15, Epic and Microsoft are enabling players already in the beta to invite one more person into the fray.

With a little extra work, however – or a little extra money – you can invite up to FIVE friends and family members. Here’s how:

• Play at least 20 hours in the Gears of War 3 beta before this Wednesday, May 4, and you’ll earn a code. Time already spent previous to this announcement will count.
• Play at least 100 hours of the Gears of War franchise before Wednesday and you’ll earn another code. These 100 hours can be spread across multiple titles – Gears of War 1, Gears of War 2, DLC packs, single player, multiplayer – and, again, previous time logged will count.
• Purchase any Gears of War content over Xbox Live, such as add-ons or Avatar items, and you’ll receive yet another code.
• Purchase a 12-month subscription to Xbox Live, or add 12 months to your current subscription, and – yes – you’ll get a code.

Again, these tasks must be completed before Wednesday to count. The extra codes will be emailed on Sunday, May 8, leaving a last week to play before the beta comes to a close on Sunday, May 15.

What do you think? Is access to the Gears 3 multiplayer beta worth this kind of time and cash? Are the folks at Microsoft and Epic being generous… or greedy? Does the fact that GamesRadar’s planning a reader match for later this week sway you in any way? Tell us in the comments.

May 2, 2011

Charlie Barratt
I enjoy sunshine, the company of kittens and turning frowns upside down. I am also a fan of sarcasm. Let's be friends!