# Gears of War 3 arrives April 5, series sales top 12 million



## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

[UPDATE] Microsoft formally dates, details final installment in series, which arrives in Europe April 8; TV appearance confirms female squad members, new Thresher Maw-like enemies, apocalyptic conclusion to trilogy; full trailer inside. 










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[UPDATE] Hours after the Gears of War 3 trailer debuted on the talk show _Late Night_ (see below), Microsoft decided to formally announce and date the game. The game will arrive in North America and Asia on April 5, in Japan in April 7, and in Europe and all other territories April 8. Like Gears of War 2, it will be Xbox 360-exclusive. 

 One year before Gears of War 3's release, Microsoft is already firing up the hype train.




As indicated by the trailer, the game will offer an apocalyptic finale to the series, which Microsoft revealed has sold 12 million copies. According to Microsoft, the last human city saved at the end of the second game has been obliterated, with Marcus Fenix trying to protect the remaining humans from the Locust horde. In his interview on _Late Night_, detailed below, Epic Games designer director Cliff Blensinzki detailed the game's new enemies and features. 

_[Original article is below]_ 

Last Friday, word of Gears of War 3's April 2011 launch leaked out on Xbox Live. When Epic Games' new project Bulletstorm was announced today, many wondered what the studio's design director, Cliff Bleszinski, would have left to show off on his appearance on the talk show _Late Night with Jimmy Fallon_ tonight. 

 Female soldiers are amongst Gears of War 3's new features.




A fair amount, it turns out. As expected, the veteran developer--who got his first game design gig at 17--announced that Gears of War 3 is indeed in development, and will likely release on April 8, 2011. Bleszinski also offered up some heretofore unknown details about its storyline and gameplay. 

"In this game, there are these new enemies called the Lambent, which are these crazy kind of tentacle monsters that can mutate when you fight them," boasted Bleszinski to Fallon. "We have all sorts of new weapons, including the double-barreled shotgun, and we finally have female soldiers in the game, which is something that people have been asking for for a long time. " 

To illustrate what he meant, Bleszinski showed off the first trailer for Gears of War 3, titled "Ashes to Ashes." True to its name, the spot showed a metropolis filled with the still-standing charred remains of human civilians, which crumble into sooty piles when touched. 

 Razors are in short supply on battle-ravaged Sera.




Series hero Dominic Santiago--now sporting a grizzled beard--plows through a crowd of the charred-but-delicate figures, pursued by a horde of Locust. The gun-toting subterranean hulks are driven back by a salvo from series protagonist Marcus Fenix, whose armor looks greatly deteriorated, and a new female character with blond hair. 

Suddenly, both Locust and human are attacked by towering, burrowing snake-like creatures that look like the Thresher Maws from Mass Effect reenvisioned by the Resident Evil 4 character-design team. It is possible the creatures are either allied with the Lambent, the mutated version Locust the latter fought in Gears of War 2, or an extremely mutated form of them. In the forthcoming novel _Gears of War: Anvil Gate_, the Lambent invade the surface of Sera, the planet that is the series' setting. 

Finally, the trailer cuts to a black screen with the phrase "Brothers to the end," which then fades to "The end," auguring a dark finale to the series.


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## Matteo (Jul 12, 2006)

Yeah. Another GOW. I loved the first two. Curious to see if they made changes to the Horde portion. It is an all time favorite among friends.

Matteo


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

This is reckless. It's obvious they will be only adding content and making no real adjustments to the engine. Otherwise they'd be unable to give a firm date 1 year in advance. I think the engine is great, but I'd hoped they would at least try to improve it some.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Gears pretty much does nothing for me. I know I'm against the grain, but the graphics never really blew me away despite the crowd, I find very few single player shooters interesting, and i found the online modes had limited appeal for me, I just had no interest in dealing with enemies that could take a full clip to the face. I could go on all night about the things I find wrong with it, but being in the minority, there probably isnt a lot of point 

Safe to say, the third instalment really isnt going to impress me. If Halo was my favourite single player campaign since Goldenye (Half Life 1&2 on a par IMO), and I thought the 3rd one of those was trash, this has got no chance.

Sorry peeps, but thats just me.


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