This may be a little late to be posting this, but never the less here is the coverage if the Gears of War 3 Midnight Madness Event at Gamestop where it was sponsored by GamingBolt.com and Calibur 11.  As I am sure most of you know, many Gamestops and other retailers held Tournaments where they were playing Gears of War 3 before the actual midnight release of the game.

Unfortunately, Epic Games had never officially gave the OK to every retailer to be able to open an early copy for a Tournament.  Our local Gamestop happened to be one of them, hence the reason the Tournament is being played on Gears of War 2 with no title updates. Everyone at the event still had a blast whether they were inside playing in the Tournament or waiting outside in the cold as they peered in at the red glow of the Calibur 11 Vault being played on, as Midnight could not come sooner so everyone could rush home with their specific editions of Gears of War 3 to tear open.

We gave little Damien another shot at winning the Tournament as we could not resist, as the 1st prize winner got a copy of Gears of War 3 and an exclusive Berserker Shirt only sold by Calibur 11.  I’m sure you can tell the difference when our professional camera man is working the camera and when I am, as I am not the best at it, especially at the end considering I was pointing at the Calibur 11 logo on the shirt when I mentioned who makes the Vaults… which you obviously can’t see.

Huge thanks to Calibur 11 for letting us hold the giveaway that night as well as Tritton and Epic Games for making our Gears of War Giveaway Month so successful.  Also another big thanks to David Bressman for your help, as the Midnight Madness coverage wouldn’t have been made possible without him.

Read our Gears of War 3 Review and check out our unboxing/feature of the Gears of War Vault here.  You can also read our review of one killer pair of headsets that any Gears of War fan will appreciate, the Tritton Dobly 7.1 Gears of War 3 Headset Review.  Although our contest is over you can still grab the Vault, the Berseker Shirt and more at Calibur11.com.  Also if you entered into the contest without winning anything, you may still have an opportunity as some of the winners have not replied yet, in which case we will randomly choose other entrants.

To mark one of the biggest games of the year, Gears of Wars 3, 258 GAME and 170 gamestation stores across the UK will be opening their doors on midnight on 20^th September, giving Gears of War fanatics the chance to buy the game first and get playing hours ahead of everyone else.

GAME’s flagship store on Oxford Street will be hosting the official UK midnight launch, where gamers will be treated to exclusive meet and greets with Gears of War veteran: Carlos Ferro (voice of the super-badass Dom Santiago).

Limited edition Gears of War 3 posters signed by the game’s developers, Gears of War t-shirts alongside other fantastic gaming goodies and Gears of War memorabilia will also be given to fans on a first come first served basis. Customers will also have the a chance to win one of five Samsung 40” D5520 Smart LED TVs that will be given away on the night.

Neil Ashurst, head of UK PR at GAME said: “With over 400 stores opening at midnight to celebrate the launch of Gears of Wars 3, we’re ‘gearing’ up for what is set to be one of our most explosive nights of gaming yet. Gears of Wars has proven to be a blockbuster series for fans and we’re excited to be giving them the earliest chance to pick up a copy.’’

Stay tuned for more info. You can participate in our Gears 3 goodies giveaway here.

Gears of War 3 is getting closer and closer to it’s official launch date on September 20th, or for many the night of the 19th.  At the Best Buy Theater in Time Square – NY, New York USA, there will be a huge Midnight Release Launch for the game.  There will be Gears of War 3 on gaming consoles, ‘Gamer Grub‘ food and product giveaways, inside and outside the theater.

It doesn’t end there as Epic Design Director Cliff Bleszinski will be there on hand to meet and take photos with as he is a pop star now.  Did you know that?  In addition to that, the chopper/motorcycle custom built inspired by Gears of War 3 from American Chopper will be there, and to top it off a surprise musical guest will be preforming!  I think  it is safe to say it could very well be Ice T and his band BodyCount, as he not only voices the Aaron Griffin character in Gears 3 but, the band has wrote a song called ‘Gears of War’ made specifically for Gears of War 3 that is in the game as well as the soundtrack if I am not mistaken.

You might want to cancel your pre-ordered game at your current store and go pre-order it at the Best Buy in New York City, to get your game there, attend the event and maybe even get your copy signed by Cliff Bleszinski.  Either way, if you are a Gears of War fan and you live in the Tri-State area, you might want to go because this will be one huge event.  The event will be on Sept. 19, 2011 (8 p.m.–1 a.m.) or if you live in New Jersey (Mercer County) or it’s surrounding areas, you might want to join GamingBolt.com at the Nassau Park Blvd Gamestop for a Midnight Madness Event, with giveaways and more.

Several sources have confirmed that Gamestop outlets in their cities won’t be holding any Gran Turismo 5 midnight launches.

This comes as a real shocker as this is supposed to be Sony’s biggest release for the year.

One reader told us that when he asked a Gamestop employee, he replied that they were not holding a midnight launch since they thought that the game is not big on hype and there’s not enough to demand to merit a midnight launch.

Other retailers, such as Gamestation and Game think otherwise thankfully and are going forward with midnight launches for the game.

Let us know if the Gamestop outlets in your city have ditched midnight launch for GT 5 aswell. Suprising news this.