We all knew it was coming, and we all knew that a clarification announcement was imminent, but a slip on the Xbox 360 dashboard by Microsoft's PR department has let the Gears of War 3 cat out of the bag.

Developers Epic Games is trying to build the hype for the final episode in the Gears of War trilogy by having enthusiastic front man on the project, Cliff Bleszinski, get out and about during the games release lead up.

In fact, Bleszinski is booked to appear on U.S. Television on Tuesday night.  The show Late Night With Jimmy Fallon was were, amongst other things Epic Games, Blezinski was expected to announce release details for the Xbox 360 exclusive shooter.

Instead, a blunder on the Xbox 360's dashboard software seems to have pre-empted the announcement.  An ad banner on Xbox LIVE Marketplace featuring the games skull logo and the headline 'Gears of War 3 announced' appeared temporarily on networked Xbox 360's around the world.

The subtitle to the banner indicated; 'The epic story concludes April 2011'.

Bleszinski will undoubtedly not be stumped for something to say on the talk show however, he has a reputation for filling in dead air.  Epic Games may also announce further details on their brand new shooter IP Bulletstorm.

An April next year release date for GoW 3 seems a long way off, but with Microsoft aiming to get games such as Halo Reach and Fable III exclusively onto the Xbox 360 platform before the end of 2010, a spreading of release dates for these big games does indeed seem sensible.  But a year is a long time for Gears fans to wait.