Xbox – How are people playing betas before they come out

xbox-360

Last night I noticed I had a friend playing the Gears of War 3 Beta and was playing team death match (I don't know where he came from just a random off of Xbox live). I messaged him over and over again trying to find out how this was possible but he never responded. I searched online for a good 45 minutes and NOTHING just that the beta starts the 18th for Bulletstorm Epic edition owners and the 25th for the rest of us. I honestly gave up and just figured maybe he knows someone important or something.

However today one of my personal friends said he saw a person online playing it as well. He investigated further and determined there is 90MB update when you log into bulletstorm and now the Gears of War 3 beta icon is lit up. However when he tries to launch it he receives a message that it won't be available until the 18th. I understand that officially it won't be available until the 18th but I still want to know how this is possible. Did they hack it? are we both crazy? I guess it's also possible we both know people that work at Epic?

How is it possible for people to play betas before they come out? I have seen people playing full games before they release due to them working in retail ect.. but what about betas?

Best Answer

Beta tests are accessible in different ways, depending on how the developers want to do it.

Ways to participate in private beta:

  • Be a part of the developer team
  • Know someone on the developer team
  • Know someone who knows someone on the developer team

Ways to participate in public beta:

  • Complete a sign-up process before the beta begins, then be randomly selected
  • Buy a game which contains beta access to another game
  • Pre-order the full game

Essentially, you just have to know how that particular beta is being carried out, and/or be very lucky.