Gears of War has gone gold

Even those of us philistines who don't own an Xbox 360 are drooling at the upcoming release of Gears of War. And why not? From all accounts, it's graphically gorgeous, incredibly intelligent, and could be a fantastic way to wile away hours of your time.

And now, [H]ard|OCP reports Epic's beauty has gone gold in plenty of time to make its November 12th release date. Expect to see a lot of coverage via XBox Live channels as we get closer, too - launch day will even include a 24 hour tournament. The winner of the tourney will get a Gears of War guitar and a spot on the worldwide tournament in a year.

Along with the rated matchups, players will be able to win other prizes in an hourly sweepstakes, including a surround sound system. There will also be matches against members of the band Megadeth and the designer of Gears, Cliff Bleszinski. Overall, it should be a fairly jam-packed launch.

Are you looking forward to the game? How about the high-scale launch day festivities? Tell us your thoughts in the forums.