Can Battlefield 3 live up to the hype? We'll get our first indications next week when the beta launches.

In just over a month, Electronic Arts and DICE will fire the first shot in this fall's most watched financial contest: Battlefield 3 vs. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Before that happens, however, players will have a chance to give Battlefield 3 a run with a beta test that opens on September 29.

It's hard to imagine how much a beta test could drastically change a game that must be essentially finished at this point, especially since the content being tested is limited, but it will most likely inform the now nearly standard day one patch for it.

The beta goes live for everyone on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on September 29.

If you've pre-ordered the game through Origin on PC or picked up a limited edition copy of Medal of Honor last year, you can start shooting up your friends two days earlier on September 27.

The beta itself will contain the Paris-set Operation Metro map within the Rush game mode, which is an objective-based where players have to compete on separate teams to defend/blow up M-COM stations.