Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars, the prequel book treatment
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jan 2nd 2008 at 11:15AM }
Replace the "stop 'n pop" style of gameplay that Gears of War helped popularize with "sit 'n read" and you've got yourself a fairly good approximation of the forthcoming prequel (best neologism ever?) Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars. Written by well-known video game writer Steven L. Kent, The Pendulum Wars oughta fill in all those blank spots in the story that have been keeping you up at night. Blank spots like, "What the hell happened to Aspho Fields?"No, seriously, what? The book is listed as "Gears of War Pendulum Wars The Battle of Aspho Fields" at Amazon.ca. The 352-page first-person reader is being published by Del Rey and is listed with an August 26, 2008 release date. Now they just need to coordinate the movie release and the inevitable sequel to line up around the same time, and we've got ourselves an entertainment media hat trick!
[Via NeoGAF]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
samfish @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:32AM
Are we sure it's first person? It could be third person. Hell, it COULD even be second person!
Also! I was going to make fun of this book, but then I realized that I have little room to talk this time as I'm currently reading translated Haruhi Suzumiya novels that I've been printing off.
...but when I'm done with those and I start reading an actual book again, I'LL BE BACK to make fun of these kinds of books as usual.
Marty @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:49AM
I'm not really into the whole video game book thing (it's a level of nerd-dom that I have yet to reach), but really - a book, a movie, and a game all being released at the same time? That sounds like the kind of cataclysmic event that stands to set the planets out of alignment!
StrangeBum @ Jan 2nd 2008 1:40PM
Well.....at least they aren't trying to divide by zero.
But in relation to the article, meh, I've never really gotten into the whole video game book thing either. I didn't do it with Halo and I won't do it with this. The only one that I enjoyed was the MGS graphic novella type thing that came out not so long ago.
upz @ Jan 4th 2008 5:14AM
I agree with both of you, but this makes even less sense than most video game books. At the risk of stereotyping, I'd venture that the people who like Gears of War enough to read books about it are the very same people who don't read books at all.
cortinator @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:07PM
Great! 352 pages of "Eat shit and Die!", "AWWW C'MON!", The COOOOOOOLE train!", and "I don't think I can count that high!".
If the game's dialogue wasn't so bad, maybe it would have a shot at becoming a good book, but considering the dialogue, I am guessing this book will sink.
xFenixKnightx @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:25PM
What did you expect from big musclebound testosterone filled war vets you dumbass! Epic explained its supposed to make you feel like if your playing a big blockbuster action movie. It does its job. DAMN WELL! If you want a deep storyline take your ass over to RPG land.
Mike-453 @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:31PM
It was from the point of veiw of an average foot-soldier, it worked well.
samfish @ Jan 2nd 2008 1:23PM
So are you guys saying it's not possible to have an elegantly written but still accurate portrayal of war?
Against alien monsters or otherwise?
Maestro @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:01PM
Lol...First Person Reader...Best tag of the year (of course it is only 2 days old)
343 Guilty Fart @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:24PM
I just hope they bother to explain the plot. Wait, what am I doing here in my mansion again??
LiK @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:34PM
they should've made this a game or make it a downloadable movie using the in-game engine instead.
ThornedVenom @ Jan 2nd 2008 6:30PM
Somebody didn't get the "next gen is expensive" memo.
Zeus the God @ Jan 2nd 2008 9:08PM
sumbody dint get da bookz r gud memo
moominsean @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:47PM
i'll have to remember to not pick this up.
horngreen @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:50PM
Blank spots in the GOW story? Say it isn't so! The game had at least 15 lines of dialog other than "git sum bitches" and "Their giving us a BIG ASS dinner". I can't imagine what holes there are in this BRILLIANT story! Love the game though
Royale @ Jan 2nd 2008 1:23PM
I just finished reading the Mass Effect:the Prequel Book and then started playing Mass Effect:the Video Game. I'm glad I read it. It was a pretty good book that built the setting for the video game very well and explained a lot of the back story and politics of the in game story. I'm all for video game novels, especially for a video game such as Gears of War where their is so much they could do with the storyline.
Cal @ Jan 2nd 2008 5:28PM
Am I the only one who actually enjoyed the campaign's story?
ThornedVenom @ Jan 2nd 2008 6:33PM
Who seriously played GoW for the storyline?
I feel left out.
Zeus the God @ Jan 2nd 2008 9:07PM
I did. The story was awesome... I mean, we can see whats in space, but how do we know for a fact what exactly is beneath our feet?
Zeus the God @ Jan 2nd 2008 9:06PM
Ah... That was the only thing good about the Halo series is the books... Hopefully Gears of War can set a higher standard for video game books...
Lol, speaking of video game books, I remember reading Blaster Master in the 4th grade... Hehe- I loved that game.
http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary's/Pictures/NESGameCovers/B/Blaster%20Master.jpg