Call of Duty is one of the most popular shooter franchises out there. Activision, the owner of this series tends to make an even bigger profit by having the IP (Intellectual Property) developed by two game studios at once, Infinity Ward, the creators of the first games, and Treyarch. While the latest title from Infinity Ward, CoD 4: Modern Warfare, enjoyed a lot of success due to the fact that it tackled modern day conflicts, the decision to take the series back to World War II by Treyarch was met with disapproval from fans.

Although the game promises to follow the battles in the Pacific Ocean between the American and Japanese forces, it still looks pretty bad in the eyes of the public. This is why Treyarch have just announced that the multiplayer beta stage of the game is now available for the Xbox 360. Players who want to participate have two choices, either pre-order the game, and get their own beta key, or enter the CoD website where you might have the chance to receive a beta key.

Set to last “a few weeks”, it will also be available for the PC in a short time. Unfortunately for the PlayStation 3 owners, Activision said that there are no plans to bring this beta stage to their system, so you'll have to wait for the official release of the game on November 11.

This beta stage will offer four multiplayer modes to the participants, Team Death Match, Free-For-All, Capture the Flag, and War. It will allow the gamers to play as soldiers in the United States Marines, the Japanese Imperial Army, the German Wehrmarcht and the Russian Red Army. Only three maps will be available, each with these specific plots:

-Castle: The Imperial Japanese Army faces off against the Marine Raiders in a daytime battle, located on the grounds of an ancient Japanese castle. 
-Makin: The U.S. Marine Raiders square off against the Imperial Japanese Army in a nighttime fight, set in an outpost on the Makin Atoll in the Pacific. 
-Roundhouse: The Wehrmact will fight the Red Army to the bitter end in a daytime struggle that features tank and infantry combat, set in a desolate, war-torn European train depot.

All in all, it is a very interesting offer which will certainly attract a lot of people into pre-ordering the game and testing its nice looking multiplayer.