Gears of War region-free?

Internet terrorists report that the US version of Gears of War actually works on PAL Xbox 360 consoles, which is good news for anybody who can't be bothered to wait until next Friday's European release.

And by Internet terrorists, of course, we mean our old pals the importers, who are so very naughty and bad and must be punished. In this case it's Videogamesplus, whose blog keeps track of games that prove to be multi-region.

We played the review code that formed the basis of Kristan's 8/10 verdict on an Xbox 360 debug unit, although we also had US pre-orders in place and are expecting a boxed copy to materialise tomorrow morning. (Well, we're expecting the postie to turn up with it.)

And if you opt for the quickest shipping options, you might find you end up with a copy of it sooner too - it all depends on whether you're willing to take the chance.