Epic Games likes to keep things interesting with unique playlists for Gears of War 3, and the holidays are a great time to do so. Starting at 12 a.m. November 24, GoW 3 will have a special “Thanksgibbing” King of the Hill event. All shotguns on maps will be replaced by a Boomshot called the Cluckshot. Yes, it’s a poultry gun that shoots exploding chickens. Send the family off to watch the football games, this is going to be too much fun. The Versus Booster Map Pack is available this week also. The free download features five maps for public matchmaking. Two, Bullet Marsh and Clocktower are fan favorites from the first Gears. The other three, Azura, Rustlung and Blood Drive are from the recently released Horde Command Pack.

Gears of War 3 multiplayer, thy name has been Shotgun City for a while now. Epic Games has opted to weaken its newest power weapon, the sawed-off shotgun. Effective October 12, the weapon no longer gibs further than the gnasher shotgun. Shotties are the weapon of choice by a large margin in GOW 3, as evidenced by the stats Senior Gameplay Programmer Pete Knepley displays in the video below. The Gears games helped usher in the era of cover-based shooting, but online multiplayer is still full of people charging ahead with shotguns blasting. They account for 72 percent of quick match kills, with the gnasher responsible for 45 percent.

Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski hasn’t ruled out future Gears of War games, but has always said the third game would finish the story of Delta Squad, In an interview with the The Telegraph he confirmed that Gears DLC will focus on new characters. Cliffy B cited other games he felt did an incredible job with DLC, Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto 4. The GTA comparison is especially important since that game’s DLC featured different characters with only cameos from main character Niko Bellic. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were prime examples of how to do DLC. So it’s good to hear that where Epic is taking cues from.

Epic Games is taking the leak of footage from Gears of War 3 very seriously. Executive Producer Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer it has ways of tracking those who shared spoiler videos. Fergusson said Epic issued a plea to players not to share spoiler videos, and some who did could find themselves banned on September 20 when GOW 3 releases.

Rod Fergusson, executive producer of the Gears of War series, loves the game’s dedicated fans. He doesn’t always understand them, though. In an interview with Edge, he talks about the July leak of GOW 3 footage and the bizarre reaction of some who saw it. Fergusson compared viewing the leaked footage to watching a “making of” documentary about a movie before you see the movie. He said it would be equivalent to a magician showing how the trick works before doing it. Some people even had the gall to complain about spoilers after watching the unauthorized footage.

Epic Games’ Gears of War franchise has conquered video games, branched into comic books and now will go toe-to-toe with comic characters in HeroClix.

The collectible miniatures game primarily focuses on mainstream comic book heroes – Superman and The Incredible Hulk – but is incorporating other properties. The game places miniatures on a grid map and unleashes them in turn-based battles. The maps range from generic locations including back alleys to comic-specific locales including the Justice Society of America headquarters. Six-sided dice help determine the outcome of attacks and the success of superpowers, along with attack and defense values on the figure dials.

If you purchased Bulletstorm’s Epic Edition, you now have access to the Gears of War 3 beta. If not, you’ll have to wait until next week to download it. Epic Games is promising this final part of the Gears trilogy will be a lot less laggy in its multiplayer. There have been a number of tweaks to much debated features including the smoke grenades. One of the big debates in the GOW community is whether or not smoke grenades should stun people and for how long. There is also a new control scheme that the games have needed for a while. Considering how many buttons there are on the 360 controller, the A button was responsible for way too much in these games.

If you’re interested in Gears of War 3, you’re going to have to wait seven more months. Epic Games and Microsoft’s shooter will be out September 20, 2011. That’s okay though. You’ll be find. It’s only 209 days. You can cut that down to 208 days, if you order online and choose a launch date delivery option…

Kinect has been in need of a killer app since day one. There are some decent Kinect games on the market, but the core Xbox 360 gaming audience have been left wanting. It has been rumored numerous times that Epic Games would be stepping up to deliver one of the first mature Kinect titles. To do this, Epic is said to be tapping into the already proven power of its Gears of War franchise.

Not that video game lovers needed another reason to tune into the Spike TV Video Game Awards, but Epic Games is giving us one. Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski announced some exciting gameplay that’s “not what you’re expecting” from the much loved shooter series. “Cliffy B” isn’t giving out more than that, but has shot down rumors that Microsoft’s Kinect motion control would be used.