When it comes to Xbox 360 exclusives this year, there are certainly some slim pickings. Of course there is one title, Gears of War 3, which Microsoft hopes will come out of the gate with some huge sales numbers, and completely erase any perceptions that the Xbox lineup this year is a bit lacking.

Also sharing that sentiment Gears of War 3’s designer Cliff Bleszinski talked about some of his aspirations for this conclusion to the Gears trilogy. While Cliffy B realistically doesn’t see Gears 3 touching Call of Duty numbers, he does think Halo-style numbers are in reach.

Obviously with a couple more titles already under their belt, and a more established name in the shooter genre, Call of Duty has a slight advantage, but Halo and Gears’ popularity are fairly close to each other. What Bleszinski would absolutely love to see Gears 3 deliver, in terms of sales, are numbers close to 10 million. Bleszinski would be so gracious to see such high numbers that he would practically "die."

Still, despite lofty aspirations for what could be the swan song entry in the series, Bleszinski acknowledges that the team at Epic Games has an uphill battle in trying to convince gamers that Gears 3 is worth picking up. In order to combat that trepidation — that stems largely from the lackluster online multiplayer in Gears 2 — Bleszinski says that Epic has packed Gears 3 with a ton of content.

“We also wanted to deliver a game that has enough stuff so people don’t see it as a campaign rental. So you have Beast Mode, you have Horde mode, great versus multiplayer, a great campaign... hard to deny it. So we want a $60 day one game that people want to keep forever."

After a beta experience that “ironed out” a ton of the multiplayer’s kinks and two solid showings at E3 2010 and 2011, Gears of War 3 has definitely proved that it is more than worth its price tag. Whether the title will end up selling in the same vicinity as Halo’s numbers, however, is hard to tell, but the anticipation is definitely there.

Do you think that Gears of War 3 will deliver sales numbers that mirror Halo? Are you excited for the title despite some missteps with the previous iteration?

Gears of War 3 releases September 20, 2011 on the Xbox 360.

Source: Industry Gamers