Pre-Order Gears of War 3 from GameStop, Get in the Beta

Looks like Bulletstorm isn't the only way to get into the Gears of War 3 beta now! Epic Games and GameStop have announced that just by pre-ordering your copy of the game at GameStop will automatically get you into the Gears of War 3 beta.

Previously announced as the only way to get into the Gears of War 3 beta, Bulletstorm was the way to go, so long as you got the Epic Edition of the game. In my honest opinion, this isn't a good idea. The reason behind this is because Bullestorm in itself is a great game, but people are only buying it just to get into the beta. I even came along certain people hoping to get on the Gears of War 3 beta got disapointed at the fact that it didn't even start.

Even though, at first I thought it was meh, it gets really good and does deserve a chance to get played through fully.

One thing that we did get an announcement of from this is that there is a release date for the beta! For Bulletstorm: Epic Edition owners, it will start on April 18th. For those who pre-order, the beta for them will be released on April 25th, giving Epic Edition owners a week for a head-start.

Besides the Retro-Lancer you'll be unlocking, you'll also get to unlock a few other things as well, pointed out by Joystiq in Epic Games' press release:

• 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 - 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.

I just gotta say this is one helluva beta, especially with all these unlocks.