Steam News announces the promised public beta test for R.U.S.E. is now underway, offering the chance to test a prerelease version of this real-time strategy game from Ubisoft and Eugen Systems. Here's word on the test:

In the public beta, players will have the opportunity to choose one of the 6 unique factions available in the game (US, UK, GER, USSR, FRANCE, IT) and train themselves against the artificial intelligence on the "Blitz" map before entering the multiplayer challenge.

With 7 multiplayer maps (from 1 vs. 1 to 4 vs. 4...or free for all) players will be able to test their strategist skills against enemies combining up to 10 different ruses to lure their opponents in one of the 3 multiplayer game modes (1939, 1942, 1945).

Also, this page has a workaround for a screen resolution issue for participants in the VIP beta, saying a patch to fix this is on the way.