Gears of War shipping early?

Epic's Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War is finished and should ship to US retailers on 7th November. "Waaaait-a-second," you say, "wasn't it down for the 12th?"

Well, the 12th is Emergence Day, Microsoft has been explaining, when it will be staging all sorts of celebratory events, but in actual fact the game ought to be on the shelves of some retailers as soon as the 8th, which is handy.

It's due out over here on the 17th - and it'll be interesting to see whether retailers break the street date, as sometimes happen in these situations.

In the meantime, our American friends will be enjoying an Emergence Day packed with activity, including a 24-hour Gears tournament on the 12th, with the winner receiving a Gears-branded guitar and a pass into the finals of the forthcoming "Global Gears of War Tournament", due to take place in 2007.

There'll also be sweepstakes and an exclusive free Gears of War gamer pic and theme only available on 12th November, while Megadeth and CliffyB will be hopping onto Live to take people on, too.

What a mad world. Mad World, incidentally, is also the accompaniment to a rather interesting new Gears of War trailer, which you ought to be able to find on Xbox Live Marketplace.