Epic Games has announced that it will run a beta for its upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive, Gears of War 3, in early 2011. Not many details have been shared just yet, but it has been confirmed that the game will run on dedicated servers.

The developer has been testing out some of the new gameplay mechanics and weapon balancing in an informal GoW 3 beta which runs on GoW 2, but the game will be getting its very own official beta early next year, and in an unexpected move, it will run on dedicated servers.

Bad Company 2 is another Xbox 360 game that runs on dedicated servers, and local gamers have reported that thanks to slick net-code, latency is (miraculously) not an issue, even though they are playing on distant remote servers. Most console games use a peer-to-peer networking system, which allows players to connect directly to each other.

One suggested reason for the decision to move to dedicated servers, is to resolve the long standing complaint that when playing on a peer-to-peer setup, the game host always has an advantage with latency. However, peer-to-peer matchmaking also makes private games possible, and many gamers prefer to play exclusively with their friends, as opposed to Xbox LIVE’s infamously petulant online gaming fraternity.

The game is still on track for release in April, and the reports from international press whom have managed to get time in with preview code have been highly positive.

Discuss the Gears of War 3 dedicated servers on the MyGaming forum.