Not long after it was revealed that Gears of War 3—originally slated to launch next April—was being pushed back until the 2011 holiday period, Epic Games announced that the game would also be getting a multiplayer beta. The beta will be public, available some time next year, and, best of all, will feature dedicated servers.

"A big part of what we're trying to do is embrace the different play styles that people have, so this public beta is going to be a very big chance for us to throw it out in the wild and see how well we've met the needs of what players want in order to use different tactics," senior designer Lee Perry told Joystiq.

The news was announced at a recent preview event, where Epic showed off the multiplayer portion of the game for the first time. And while it may be disappointing to hear that the game has been delayed, given the serious issues that Gears of War 2 had when it came to multiplayer, the addition of a public beta and dedicated servers should go a long way towards ensuring the same thing doesn't happen again.

It should also give some additional breathing room for Epic's other game, Bulletstorm, which is set to launch in February. Maybe this will give people enough time to beat Ben's score.