Epic Games has decided to leave the third Carmine brother's life in your hands. Not exactly the most responsible choice, but Epic definitely has some good intentions here. You see, to vote you have to purchase a digital T-Shirt for your Xbox Live avatar stating "Save Carmine" or "Carmine Must Die". All proceeds from the shirt sale go directly to the Child's Play charity. The sale begins on July 29, so you have more than a week to sit and ponder how important Carmine's existence is to you. Prices have yet to be announced. Alternatively, if you're at the San Diego Comic Con this week you can buy a limited edition real version of the t-shirts at the NECA booth (#3145).

Does a children's charity fund justify killing a video game character? Anthony and Benjamin Carmine died in Gears of War 1 and 2 respectively without any such charitable conundrums. Will Clayton Carmine meet a similar fate? Knowing Xbox Live's typical audience I can't say the outlook is very good.

It's hard not to root for Carmine's survival, in my opinion. In fact, if Gears of War 3 ended up being a Saving Private Ryan style movie, where the COGs were forced to search and bring home the third brother after his brothers were killed in action, I would be quite pleased. Likely though, we're talking about a five second sequence near the beginning of the game where Carmine either get shot in the head or doesn't.

Still, charity is charity, so find some change in your couch and purchase a Carmine T-Shirt come July 29th. Gears of War 3 is aiming for release on April 5, 2011 for the Xbox 360.

Which way are you going to vote, Ranters?