A Microsoft spokesperson told Edge late in October that the game wouldn't be released in the country? “?indefinitely?”?,? ?just hours before Microsoft hurriedly retracted its statement and claimed there was no announcement to be made.? ?Now the game appears set for an official launch some time in? ?2009,? according to a Dengeki report.? Details barely go beyond the announcement that the game will launch?; ?no specific date,? ?prices or SKU variations were announced,? ?and Microsoft's Japan arm didn't clarify whether any of the game's content would be edited.? The original Gears of War was one of the first titles to crack the Japanese software charts during a time when the? ?360? ?console was selling at its slowest.? ?The game sold? ?33,212? ?copies in Japan in its first week and entered the software charts at number seven.? ?Epic recently announced that the game's successor had sold over? ?3? ?million copies internationally.? Japan's official launch of Gears 2 won't mark the first time the title has arrived on the shelves of the nation's retailers?; ?wholesale volumes of import copies were shipped shortly after the game launched. Source via Kotaku