Gears 3 out on September 20 worldwide - info embargo lifts 8pm GMT tonight
Microsoft's confirmed it'll launch Gears of War 3 worldwide on September 20, as well as releasing new info on weapons and maps.
Japan gets the game on September 22.
The news comes via way of Xbox EU community boss Graeme "AceyBongos" Boyd.
GoW3 was previously delayed from an April 8 launch to fall this year back in October of last year.
Microsoft's also confirmed new multiplayer details, including new maps like Trenches, Overpass, Mercy, Checkout, and Thrashball.
New weapons for the game include the Bayonet Charge, the Retro Lancer, the Sawed-off Shotgun, the OneShot, the Incendiary Grenade, the Digger Launcher and tweaks to old weapons Hammerburst and the Classic Lancer.
Each weapon will also feature its own execution move.
Impressions from the game as well as interviews and news on the multiplayer beta will arrive later on tonight at 8pm GMT.
"Big" announcement
Producer Rod Fergusson previously tweeted that a "big" announcement on the game would be made today.
He said:
"A big Gears 3 announcement hits tomorrow!"
The news comes as Microsoft is holding an X11-type event in San Francisco this week. Justin Kranzl was at the event for VG247.
To help tide the release of the game, a multiplayer beta for Gears 3 will take place later this year.
The taster was first announced last year, when Epic announced it would take place early on this year. Scheduling reasons had kept the company from previously doing a taster until now.
The beta will be used as feedback for what will eventually go into the main game later this year.
Epic announced near the end of last year that those who buy the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm for 360 will get access to the beta, but Fergusson said earlier this week that buying the People Can Fly shooter isn't the only way in.
"No, but it’s the best way in with [a] headstart and exclusive content," he said.
Gears of War 3's multiplayer will also support dedicated servers, with Epic design boss Cliff Bleszinski saying its addition will give players a "level playing field."
"[Dedicated servers] are more about online performance because when you have a client-server architecture with Gears, you have somebody hosting and that host has somewhat of an inherent advantage over everybody else, which becomes this big [negative] thing," he said at the time.
"Like, in Gears or in Counter-Strike, if somebody kicked your ass, you claimed they were wall hacking even though they weren’t. And now if you win in Gears it’s, ‘You have host advantage!’ But by removing [client servers] you suddenly have a level playing field for everybody. We have a server farm that Microsoft is helping us out with, so people will have a level playing field."