If you're a fan, you'll most likely have in your diary that the Gears of War 3 beta officially kicks off on Monday, April 18, for Bulletstorm "Epic Edition" owners, followed by the April 25 entrance of those who pre-ordered via GameStop. Whatever way you plan on getting your hands on a copy, you will need Xbox Live Gold membership to be able to enjoy it all. As this will be the first time Gears 3 goes public, here's a quick video preview of what's expected to come.

If all goes as expected, be sure to log in at 0900 EST because you should then be able to head over to the beta, and enjoy unlocked weapons, medals and skins through the various achievements. These, of course, will also be made available in the full game � but its just a quick tip for getting there first.

Here are some quick details which we've got at the moment, for the playable maps and modes, they will be:

• Deathmatch on Thrashball
• Checkout
• Trenches
• Old Town
• Capture the Leader
• King of the Hill

Playable COG models include:

• March
• Dom
• Anya
• Cole
• Baird
• Thrashball Cole (unlocakble)
• Prescott (CTL only)

And lastly playable Locust models include:

• Standard Drone
• Savage Grenadier
• Flame Grenadier
• Kantus
• Savage Theron
• Myrrah (CTL only)

[via Gamesradar]