Gears of War 2 is almost upon us, hitting stores in a couple of days, but unless you have been privileged enough to get your hands on an early copy you probably have no idea what the game is like, outside of what you’ve read in reviews. Sure you have played Gears before, but we were never graced with a glimpse of the game through a beta or demo, which has almost become the standard for such high profile Xbox 360 releases. Ever wonder why Gears skipped out on the beta/demo treatment? Well, let Cliffy B explain.

“Once you play a beta, you can check it off your list -- you can say, ‘yeah, I played it.’ Then you might not feel motivated to get [the final game],” Cliff Bleszinski told Gamepro. Not only does Cliff view demos and betas as damaging to sales, but also to a timely release. “Honestly, we could make a demo, but Gears of War 2 wouldn’t be out until February of 2009 [if we did]. That stuff takes times to put together,” he said.

Those of us who are series fans have waited a long time for the game, waded through all of the hype, and are eagerly awaiting the release of the newest Gears of War like it’s Christmas morning. Unfortunately, there are still several days to wait, and the anticipation is grueling. Too bad we don’t have a beta to ease the pain…