Activision have announced that Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is getting a beta, surprise (not really) and with that beta, comes a few ways to get into it.

As always, there are two beta weekends, the first is PlayStation exclusive, meaning that if you are on Xbox or PC, you are out of luck. Access on that first weekend however, is also requires either to have pre-ordered the game digitally, or by redeeming a beta code.

Those who want to take part, without the need to pre-order the game, you can do so in the second beta weekend, for at least one day, it is confusing as heck, because it is confusing, here are the official times for the various platforms.

Beta weekend 1:

• Available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 only. Scheduled to run from Saturday 17 Sept. 3 AM AEST to Tuesday 20 Sept. (You can access the Beta without requiring a PlayStation Plus subscription

• PlayStation Early Access: Saturday 17 Sept. at 3 AM AEST. For those who pre-ordered the game on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 or received a Beta code

Beta weekend 2:

• Available on all console platforms and PC, scheduled to run from Friday, 23 Sept. at 3 AM AEST to Monday, 26 Sept. Cross-play will be active, allowing you to party up with friends and the greater community, no matter what hardware they play on

• Whether you preordered the game or not, weekend 2 is free Open Beta for all PlayStation 4 and 5 owners

• Those who preordered the game for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, or pre-purchased for PC via Blizzard Battle.net or Steam, can begin playing the Beta on Friday, 23 Sept. at 3 AM AEST. Xbox Live Gold is required for Xbox players, and PC players are required to have a Battle.net or Steam account

• Xbox and PC Open Beta is available to all, regardless of pre-order status, from Sunday, 25 Sept. at 3 AM AEST to Monday, 26 Sept.

Let us break it down into the simplest terms possible:

• Weekend 1 is for PlayStation ONLY and requires access to be granted.

• Weekend 2 is open for ALL PlayStation players, no special access needed, Xbox and PC players will need access granted for the first few days of weekend 2, but for the last two days, it is fully open to everyone.

Activision have also provided an infographic, which may help explain it as well.

If you want to ensure you get access to the games beta, you can pre-order the full game now and if you do order the Vault Edition, which grants access to both generations of console platforms, along with a host of digitally goodies and unlocks for the game, check out this graphic below to see what is included.