Gears of War 3 hit store shelves with more than 20,000 retailers worldwide marking the occasion with midnight madness events. At the blockbuster game’s marquee launch event in New York City at the Best Buy Theater, well over a thousand rabid fans flocked to the launch party in iconic Times Square to be among the first to experience the year’s highest-rated Xbox 360 exclusive.

CARY, North Carolina -- With the launch of Gears of War 3, Epic Games is bringing the first trilogy to a conclusion. But it’s certainly not the end of a franchise that has sold over 15 million copies and counting for Microsoft. Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic, took some time to talk about the franchise and offer his thoughts on the video game industry in this exclusive interview.

When Microsoft launched its Kinect device last year, casual players of all ages flocked to the device, plunking down $149 and taking part in full body motion control, a far cry from the limited functionality that the Wii offered through its remote from years ago.  However, a lot of folks cried foul when they realized the "all ages" sort of games that were coming out for the device.  Well, relax.  A few titles that are now available, along with some coming soon, assure that the Kinect will be a better device for everyone.

Microsoft was already bitten in the butt once trying to get into the high definition movie era with an external HD-DVD player, only to have the format drop dead not even a year after its release.  Instead, it has gone back to streaming 1080p entertainment through its Zune service.  Still, many folks are wondering if Microsoft will give the Blu-Ray format a try, in an attempt to compete with Sony's built-in player for the PlayStation 3.  According to a recent story from an Italian Xbox 360 magazine, they possibly could be.

Major League Gaming (MLG) experienced an all-time high as 138,000 peak concurrent online stream viewers watched the Raleigh Pro Circuit competition held August 26-28, breaking previous MLG records. Viewers from 173 countries watched the live streams and more than 3 million hours of video were consumed throughout the weekend. Working with Streamworks, MLG was able to deliver uninterrupted 720p high definition, high-quality video streams of the  competition  despite Hurricane Irene. Streamworks will continue to work with MLG to deliver live and on-demand coverage of all 2011 and 2012 Pro Circuit competitions.

Los Angeles – Microsoft used Activision’s first annual Call of Duty XP fan festival to unveil its latest bundle. The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 console, wireless headset with Bluetooth and wireless controllers will ship to retail this fall. Microsoft, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games teamed up to create a Call of Duty collectible, just in time for the most epic Call of Duty experience yet. Aside from its (air)striking good looks, the console will play unmistakable Call of Duty sounds when powering up and when the tray is opened.

If you're a fan of "shmups", or space shooters where one lone ship attempts to take on a large scale of enemies, then you'll probably have fond memories of Radiant Silvergun, a game released for the Sega Saturn by the developers at Treasure.  Like all of their games, Silvergun has a masterful challenge to it, but also the kind of visuals and sound that really bring the shooter genre to life.  And now, years after that classic's arrival on the game scene, it's set to return, this time as a digital download on Xbox Live Arcade.  And it's coming sooner than you think.