Gears of War 2 due this November

Sequel to multi-million selling title to remain Xbox 360 exclusive.

At GDC this evening Microsoft has confirmed what everyone was hoping for: Gears of War 2 will ship this November for Xbox 360 and will be exclusive to that platform. Epic took centre stage at Microsoft's GDC keynote, demonstrating the latest version of the Unreal Engine 3 running on the Xbox 360, and more importantly Gears of War 2.

Epic's Tim Sweeney highlighted the new features of the latest version of the engine, including ambient occlusion and more realistic dynamic shadows. The engine demo showcased improved water effects and the ability to feature more characters on screen at once. The last part of the demo focussed on new destructible scenery, with holes being blown in a wooden fence. Keynote watchers then had to wait until the end of the show before they were treated to a trailer for Gears of War 2.

Details are slim at the moment, but the fact that the game is coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 this November will be music to Xbox gamers' ears. Hopefully the game will include a number of features we are hoping for, as detailed in our recent Top 10: things that will make Gears of War 2 great.

Xbox LIVE members will be able to download the first Gears of War 2 trailer on Marketplace later today. Check out the debut trailer for Gears of War 2 over on the VideoGamer.com video player.