Gears of War 3 for Christmas 2010?

Some have assumed that a new Gears of War game won't be revealed until the next generation of consoles are on their way, but a fresh rumor reports that we could be seeing Gears 3 by Christmas 2010. EGM is spreading the gossip, where it is also claimed that the title will have an all-new "five player co-op experience." The hint here is that five people can play through the campaign mode, which seems a little more like fan fantasy than anything else. It may be true, it may not. As inevitable as Gears 3 is, talk of a follow up game wasn't expected for quite some time. Perhaps the success of the last title was just too tempting to merely sit on.