It’s official – Gears of War 2, the long awaited sequel to the 4.5 million-selling blockbuster that practically carried the Xbox 360 for quite some time will be hitting homes this November.

Everyone knew Gears 2 was coming, but everything was purely speculative until this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, where Microsoft finally decided to spill the beans.

Providing a climactic ending to an already action packed keynote (mostly dealing with user created content coming to the Xbox Live Arcade), Epic Games Lead Designer Cliff “Cliffy B” Bleszinski took the stage and made the announcement, complete with teaser trailer and fanfare.

To our team the original game was just a tease, the appetizer to the Gears of War characters and new style of gameplay. We were so amped to get to the next chapter, and dig deeper into the universe of this franchise,” said Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer for Epic Games. “Gears of War 2 is an even bigger, better, and more badass experience than the first game, and we can’t wait to get it in the hands of eager gamers this November.”

Much like the original, which shipped in November 2006, Gears 2 will be available in a normal edition, along with a special collector’s edition. No details are available on what will be on the collector’s edition.

Joe Sinicki is a Blast Magazine correspondent and former Games/Tech editor.