The "Never Fight Alone" phase of the Gears of War 3 beta will begin May 8, allowing players to invite friends into the foray. Participants in the beta will earn "buddy tokens" by finishing challenges or completing tasks ... like giving Microsoft more money.
Every person who has played a game in the Gears beta will receive a buddy token. Additional ways to obtain a token are by purchasing any Gears content off the Xbox Live Marketplace or by adding a 12-month Xbox Live Gold subscription to your account. Tokens can also be earned by having played 20 hours or more of the Gears 3 beta -- time already spent does count -- and by playing more than 100 hours of "any Gears of War title, lifetime to date."
Players have until May 4 (this Wednesday!) to complete the tasks and earn up to five tokens. Participants don't need to take any addition action for their tokens, and the alpha-numeric codes will be distributed by email starting May 8 (so make sure your account details are up to date). This will give players a week to team up with their buddies for some Gears 3 action before the beta ends on May 15.