Gears of War 3 Delayed Until the 2011 Holiday Season

Fans Will Have to Wait an Extra 5 Months to Play Gears of War 3

Jennifer Amlie, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Oct 1, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Video games are delayed all the time. Usually the reason is they're not ready, there is too many glitches, or more content is being added. I can accept that. Nobody wants to play an unfinished game. So when Epic and Microsoft announced that Gears of War 3 is now delayed until the 2011 holiday season, they must have a good reason, right?

Why is Gears of War 3 being delayed?
When I first heard about this, I assumed it was the usual reasons. I was wrong. Epic and Microsoft are being very blunt about the delay. In a statement they said "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." This means the game is technically ready for its original April 2011 release, but it's being delayed simply to make it a big Christmas title. It's a business decision that makes gamers wait an extra five or six months to finally witness the end of the trilogy.

Is this fair to fans of Gears of War?
Epic and Microsoft are delaying the game, but they also say it gives them time to add more polish. Is that just a way to placate fans? If it was going to be ready in April, what else are they going do? I'm not sure I'm buying the more polish excuse, especially since the majority of the statement is about delaying just for the holiday rush. Christmas has always been a huge time for video game sales, why didn't they set the release for Fall 2011 to begin with? Hopefully, we'll get some more information about the delay and what the extra time is being used for regarding the game's content in the next few months.

What about Clayton Carmine?
I'm assuming that means we have to wait the extra time to find out the fate of Clayton Carmine. In July, Microsoft and Epic began the contest where Gears of War fans choose if the latest brother from the popular Carmine clan lives or dies. Gamers voted by purchasing either Save Carmine or Carmine Must Die shirts for their Xbox Live avatars. The voting ended at the beginning of September. While it was fun campaign, I'm upset we will have to wait even longer to find out what happens.

Sources:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1124698p1.html

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Published by Jennifer Amlie - Featured Contributor in Technology

Jennifer has been playing video games since the NES was released. The Legend of Zelda is her favorite series. She also enjoys BioShock, Gears of War, Fallout, and countless others. When she's not gaming, she... View profile