CVG
Gears of War 3 - the fastest pre-selling Xbox 360 exclusive in history - finally released in the UK last night, with a London launch event held at GAME Oxford Street.
According to GAME, fans queued for over 30 hours outside stores across the UK, and at one minute past midnight thousands of gore-hungry punters got their hands on the Epic shooter as more than 400 UK stores opened their doors early.
First in line at the London event was 23-year-old John Aston from Harrow, who'd queued since 2.30pm on Sunday afternoon. The reward for his efforts? A bag full of Gears swag, handed over by the voice of Dom himself, Carlos Ferro.
Microsoft said there were 20,000 Gears 3 launch locations globally, stretching from New Zealand to Times Square.
"There's a guy who's been in line for nearly a week in New York City," said Chris Wynn, lead producer for Gears of War at Microsoft Studios. "We, too, couldn't be more excited about this launch. The story is epic, and the game is stunning. The visuals are better than any game you're going to find on Xbox or any other console."
Welch also said he expects over four million people to be playing Gears 3 by the end of the week.
This morning Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski confirmed campaign DLC for the shooter, which he says will be "unique and cool".
