Gears of War 3 formally announced

Gears of War 3 has just been formally revealed live on US TV.

The announcement was made by Epic Games' lead designer Cliff Bleszinski on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. A teaser was also shown, confirming an April 2011 release.

It brings to an end nearly half a year of speculation as to when we'd see the final chapter in the Gears trilogy. Last September, Epic president Michael Capps said if Gears 3 happened, it'd be on the next-gen consoles. He soon retracted his statement, however, stating that the game would be on the current cycle of consoles.

A report from Edge emerged in March of this year that claimed the game would release on April 8, 2011, with an announcement on April 8, 2010 - something to which Epic VP Mark Rein told VG247 at the time: "You're kidding, right?".

Bleszinski announced two weeks ago he would appear on Jimmy Fallon to show off a new game from Epic for the first time. But after the formal announcement was put on hold until Monday from Thursday, a massive Microsoft mistake on Friday outed Gears of War 3 on Xbox Live via a dashboard ad, confirming an April 2011 release date in the process.

Bleszinski said at the weekend he would have two games to announce on Monday, although that turned out to be Bulletstorm from People Can Fly, which was separate from the Fallon reveal.

Bit early to start jumping about, but go on then, get pumped