Microsoft is pulling out all of the stops for one of the big games of 2011. Gears of War 3 is getting 20,000 midnight launches across the country. Epic Games final chapter in the original trilogy hits stores at midnight on September 20.  The game is already the fastest pre-selling Xbox exclusive in history.  

Hailed by fans and critics as this year’s must-have entertainment experience, Gears of War 3 is poised to ignite the 2011 holiday season and deliver an epic finale to one of the most celebrated sagas in gaming. Today, Microsoft and Epic Games announced that around the globe, more than 20,000 retail locations will open their doors at midnight on Sept. 20 to millions of fans eagerly awaiting the game’s highly anticipated release.

“This is by far the biggest, most polished, and most ambitious game we’ve ever made,” said Epic’s design director Cliff Bleszinski. “I’ve been lucky enough to work on some big games throughout my career, but Gears of War 3 represents a crowning achievement for our team, and we can’t wait to share it with fans next Tuesday.”

In the U.S., launch celebrations will kick off in New York City at a marquee event at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square, to be broadcast live during a special episode of GameTrailers TV featuring special guest Aisha Tyler, and airing from 11:30 p.m. – 12:01 a.m. local U.S. time on Spike TV. Attendees will be among the first to play Gears of War 3 before it hits retail shelves at midnight, compete in tournaments for exclusive prizes, meet the game’s developers, and see an exclusive concert in the Best Buy Theater featuring VMA Best New Artist nominee, Big Sean. Fans in the New York area will also be able to participate in a scavenger hunt to secure VIP access to the event and win coveted Gears of War 3 swag, including Limited and Epic editions, and more.

“Game launches like ‘Gears of War 3’ represent the type of event that happens a couple of times each year that brings out fans in masses to celebrate,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “We’re thrilled to partner with Microsoft to host a launch celebration at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square, and we’re committed to making it an unforgettable event for the fans.”

Culminating from a sweepstakes contest launched at San Diego Comic-Con in July, one lucky fan will have a chance to meet “American Chopper’s” legendary designer Paul Jr. at the New York City launch event and need to make extra room in his or her garage to accommodate a custom Gears of War 3 chopper built by Paul’s team. The two-part series on the making of the Gears of War 3 chopper that debuted at Comic-Con premieres tonight, Monday, Sept. 12 on Discovery, and concludes with the final episode on Monday, Sept. 19.

More than 20,000 retail locations around the world, including 13 Microsoft Stores in the US, will mark the launch of Gears of War 3 with midnight launch events in cities around the globe. The marquee launch events will be held at the following venues:

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.