Those that pre-order the first person shooter from retailer GameStop will receive a key to download the beta, which will run for "a few weeks." Codes are also available by registering at CallofDuty.com.

The beta packs four playable factions--U.S. Marines, German Wehrmacht, Japanese Imperial Army, Russian Red Army factions--along with four game types--Team Death Match, Free-For-All, Capture the Flag, War--and the following maps:

• Castle: The Imperial Japanese Army faces off against the Marine Raiders in a daytime battle, located on the grounds of an ancient, Japanese castle.
• Makin: The U.S. Marine Raiders square off against the Imperial Japanese Army in a nighttime fight, set in an outpost on the Makin Atoll in the Pacific.
• Roundhouse: The Wehrmact will fight the Red Army to the bitter end in a daytime struggle that features tank and infantry combat, set in a desolate, war-torn European train depot.

A PlayStation 3 beta will not be released, as the game's official site claims that "the Xbox 360 and PC environments will provide the feedback that we need to make any back-end technical modifications to the co-op and multiplayer features, which means an optimized experience for everyone, independent of the console they own."

The full version of Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War hits PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii on November 11. The n-Space-developed Nintendo DS edition arrives the same day.