Activision have just announced they will be opening up a multiplayer Beta for Black Ops 3 for free for five days at the end of August (Wednesday 19th to Sunday 23rd). Just to clarify though, the “free” beta is only available to people who have pre-ordered the game.

And let me get on my soap box for a minute...

I’m sure I don’t need to get into lecture you on the evils of pre-ordering, yes Pixel Judge tell you about games that are available on pre-order, I recently talked about the merits of the Act of Aggression pre-order, due to the fact that you can get a full refund on Steam for any pre orders right up until release. But the main thing is; pre-ordering or not pre-ordering should be your choice, even if it’s against your own interests. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to accept it when cynical marketing techniques are used to manipulate and lie to us. Don’t tell me its free ONLY to pre orders, that‘s quickest way to piss me off.

So pre-order if you want, its only £47 on Xbox One and Playstation 4, and only £45 on 360 and PS3, and only £40 on Steam for the Digital PC edition, and only another £35 for the season pass. But remember pre ordering is giving a company money before you know if their product even works or is any good, and pre ordering is not free.