Epic may ban those who spoil Gears 3

Those who shared Gears of War 3 campaign spoiler videos online may be banned from playing the game, Epic has said.

Earlier this month Epic said it was keeping track of those who shared videos of Gears of War 3 ahead of release - and promised "repercussions".

Following the high-profile leak of a pre-release version of the game, videos of the campaign popped up online, spoiling the Xbox 360 exclusive's story.

"We're extremely diligent about getting that stuff taken down and issued a call to fans to not perpetuate it... and just keeping track of those who do," executive producer Rod Fergusson told Edge. "I don't think everybody's aware of the potential repercussions of those types of actions."

Speaking to Eurogamer on the issue, Fergusson explained exactly what he meant by "potential repercussions".

"We have a banning system built into our stuff so we can go in and identify certain people," he said. "Some people aren't smart about what they do. They'll be disappointed on 20th September when they can't get in and can't play. They may be banned."

Last month Epic said it had joined forces with law enforcement to investigate the leak of an unfinished version of Gears of War 3 onto the internet.

At the time the Unreal Engine maker warned fans that the footage lifted from the leaked game did not do the final game justice.

Those who shared campaign spoiler videos were "going against everything we're trying to accomplish," Fergusson told Eurogamer.

"We had one of my video chats and somebody went into the chat room and tried to yell all caps spoilers throughout the chat room to try to ruin the experience for the thousand people who were watching me. It's that kind of stuff that just drives me crazy.

"If you don't value this community, you don't value this experience, then we don't value you. I'd rather pick that one bad apple out of the pool so everybody else can have a better time."