Finally, a date has been disclosed. EA announced via Twitter that the highly anticipated Battlefield 3 beta will launch on September 29 - just over a week from now - prior to BF3's release on October 27. You'll get to play a single map, Paris' Operation Metro, in Battlefield's "Rush" game mode.

Anyone who pre-orders the digital PC version of the game at Origin will be granted access to the beta, as will anyone who pre-ordered a Limited Edition of Medal of Honor. Furthermore, if you purchased Medal of Honor on Steam prior to July 26 you too will have access. In that instance, to get your beta key, click the "CD Key" link from within the Medal of Honor page inside your Steam Library. You will still need Origin to download and play the beta though, so grab it from www.origin.com/download.

For those that aren't aware what "Rush" is, here's the description from DICE:

"First introduced in Battlefield: Bad Company, Rush has now made its way to the heart of the Battlefield series in Battlefield 3. An objective based mode, the attackers have to arm and detonate pairs of M-COM stations in each area of the map to unlock the next area and the next pair of M-COM stations. While defenders have an unlimited amount of spawn tickets, attackers only get new tickets every time they destroy a pair of M-COMs. If all M-COM stations on the entire map are destroyed, the attackers are declared the winning team. If the defenders manage to deplete the attacker's tickets to zero (by killing them), the defenders are declared the winners.

"As an all-out warfare mode, Rush features a large variety of vehicle setups tuned specifically to that map's landscape and features. Players can find all types of vehicles on Rush maps, including transport vehicles, armored vehicles, helicopters, and of course, jets. Rush offers a compelling objective based all-out warfare game mode for Battlefield veterans."


There are a few changes to the mode, however:And here are the system requirements: