Gears of War 3: Public beta date is in!

Gears of War 3 hits the Xbox 360 on September 20th, but waiting is for losers.

If you want to play the bloody, homoerotically charged third-person chainsaw-’em-up early, Epic has revealed the Gears of War 3 public beta will kick off on April 18th if you bought the ‘Epic Edition’ of Bulletstorm. If you didn’t pick up Bulletstorm, you’ll have to wait until April 25th, and also preorder the title at GameStop (for U.S. or Canadian gamers) or GAME (for British players).

Anyway, there’s also a bunch of free in-game stuff you can bag as part of the beta. A lot of which is very flamy:

? Beta Tester Medal – Complete one match in the beta to unlock the Beta Tester medal, which will carry over to your gamer profile in the final game. The Beta Tester title will be featured in the “Gears 3” multiplayer lobby as well.
? Thrashball Cole (see screen above!) – Complete 50 matches in any game type to unlock the Thrashball Cole character variant in the beta. Once unlocked, complete 10 matches as Thrashball Cole during the beta and the character will carry over to your gamer profile in the final game.
? Gold-Plated Retro Lancer – Show your ultimate “Gears of War” fandom by unlocking the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer. Complete 90 matches in any game type to unlock it for the beta, and score 100 kills with it once unlocked to carry the exclusive weapon skin over to your gamer profile in the final game.
? Flaming Hammerburst – Complete one match by Sunday, April 24 and unlock this weapon variant.
? Flaming Lancer – Complete one match during the week of April 25 and unlock this weapon variant.
? Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun – Complete one match during the week of May 2 to unlock this weapon variant.
? Flaming Gnasher Shotgun – Complete one match during the week of May 9 to unlock this weapon variant.

[Via press release]