The "Gears of War 3" team left the gaming community in suspense leading up to its release announcement on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," and now it looks like they're going to do the same over a longer timeline in 2011. The sequel has been delayed way past its April 2011 target launch and re-branded as a game "for the holiday season."
"'Gears of War 3' promises to be the biggest entertainment launch of 2011," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "The teams at Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games have done great work thus far readying the title for release in the spring of 2011. However, we've elected to move the launch of 'Gears of War 3' until fall 2011 to make it the marquee title for the holiday season."
As you can see, the game's makers don't want you to see this as a late game per se, just a game that's getting some extra love.
"I know fans are going to be disappointed with the new release date, but rest assured that this is a business decision between partners, and not a quality issue," Epic Games executive producer Rod Fergusson explained on the official "Gears of War 3" site. "'Gears 3' was on track to be the most polished Gears of War game ever when it released in April, and this additional time allows us to polish it that much more before it hits shelves next fall."
Whether you buy that or not, 'Gears 3' won't be sliding into your 360 until at least a year from now, so go ahead and cross it off your Spring and Summer 2011 to-do list. In the meantime, you can go entertain yourself with one of the novels or something.
How do you feel about the "Gears of War 3" delay? Do you think it will turn out to be a good decision in the end? Share your reactions with us in the comment section below.