14 DAY TRIAL // The multiplayer beta stage ran for Gears of Wars 3 earlier this year helped its developer, Epic Games, learn a lot about player behavior and resulted in a lot of improvements being brought to the final version of the game, out later this month.
Gears of War 3 is getting ready for release and, according to Epic Games president Mike Capps, it's going to be the best game it's ever made, largely because of the extended development time and the multiplayer beta it ran for it earlier this year.
Gears of War 3 was scheduled to appear in April, but the developer, together Microsoft, its publisher, delayed it into September, in order to get some extra polish on its features. The lengthened development time also allowed the company to run a multiplayer beta for it, which, says Capps, was a huge help.
"This game was done quite a while ago in terms of we did what we were meant to do. We just kept adding and polishing," he explained. "The beta was a big example of that. We never planned to do a beta but when we got some more time we said, 'let's do it' and it was huge for us. We learnt so much from how people were using different weapons, how certain maps worked, how combat would and wouldn't work, how leveling was working... and all of that fed into making the game better."
What's more, the tracking systems used in the beta by Epic Games are now a part of the final Gears of War 3 edition, meaning the studio can change things on the fly without having to issue title updates for it.
Asked by CVG whether or not the extra development time will show in the quality and the reception of the game, Capps confirmed that while he believes the lengthened schedule was beneficial, it all comes down to the players.
"I guess the real question coming down to it is going to be, do the fans appreciate that we spent that much more time on the product? If this game is really successful, if the multiplayer is really successful in a way that Gears of War 2 was, then that will really tell us if we did the right thing by putting all that extra time in. So I'd like to say yes but I'm going to wait and see if everybody likes it on September 20."
Gears of War 3 is out this month exclusively for the Xbox 360 console.