Gears of War posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Rumor: Gears of War 2 to feature chainsaw duels

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 23rd 2008 at 3:00PM }

You may have come to this conclusion when you saw the debut trailer for Gears of War 2, but Variety blogger Ben Fritz is claiming that the hot, chainsaw-on-chainsaw action featured in the preview wasn't just a stylish cutscene -- it's also going to be a gameplay mechanic in the uber-anticipated sequel. Fritz apparently spoke to people who are "close enough to the development team at Epic to know" that chainsaw wielders will now be able to repel, and possibly counter, each other's attacks.

Epic hasn't confirmed this, but given the feature's appearance in the trailer, and the frequent complaints about an "unbalanced" chainsaw combat system in the first Gears of War, we think it's safe to assume we'll be spending many long winter nights playing Lumberjack Bushido Blade when the game drops this November.

Watch this space, Epic Games plans to double in size

by Jason Dobson { Jan 14th 2008 at 11:30AM }

Having tired of rubbing actual elbows with fellow teammates, Epic Games' always verbose VP Mark Rein has confessed that he and his squad of developers have "pretty much run out of space" in the company's North Carolina base of operations, and that plans are well underway for an expansion to "at least" double the facility's current size. According to a report by North Carolina's News Observer, the devs coughed up a cool $1.57 million for the new office space, which will be positioned on a five-acre lot adjacent to Epic's current 31,000-square foot HQ.

Headcount at Epic currently stands at 94, with current growth of around one new employee a month expected to continue for the next couple of years. So with all of this added space, will the developers get to spread out, and maybe quit knocking over each others' Mt. Dew as they reach for their mouse? Unlikely, as the report notes that the new facility will instead be largely used to house the numerous play testers that visit Epic, rather than have to rent out space down the street. We understand the need completely, though until the devs get additional space of their own we'd suggest judicious application of lids.

Writer drops details about Gears of War movie

by Kevin Kelly { Oct 6th 2007 at 10:04AM }

GamePro has an exclusive interview up with Stuart Beattie, writer of the forthcoming Gears of War movie. He's been tapped for the job since he did a bang-up job writing the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It's too bad they didn't use him for the sequels, because they were ... craptastic.

He drops some interesting details about the upcoming film, including the fact that 300 ain't too bad of a reference movie, "That film was shot completely on green screen, which is amazing when you actually see the film. It's probably how we're going to do Gears of War."

Beattie will be pouring himself into the job apparently, "I hope it's extremely collaborative. From my point of view it's definitely going to be, because I'm going to be riding their asses about it." Personally we don't care whose ass he rides, as long as a good movie comes out of it.

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Epic's Mark Rein: Consoles will define look of PC games

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jul 30th 2007 at 4:25PM }

Speaking to CVG, Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has expressed his belief that graphical advancement in PC games will be partially reined in (OOF!) due to the limitations and financial viability of consoles. "Publishers are generally putting their money where the highest return is, and in the past that's been on consoles and I think that's still the case," said Rein. "So if you build the game that's a really super amazing high-end game, how do you make all the money you could make from that game, because it'll be too high end eventually to be on PS3 or Xbox 360."

As a result, Rein expects consoles to "pretty much define what the next five years of games look like on the PC" and titles pushing the DirectX 10 envelope to be in the minority. PC versions should, however, benefit from several enhancements a la Gears of War. "That's the value to me of the PC, that the source content we have is still really high resolution, much higher than we can show on a 512MB machine. You can use that content on the PC, you can express it in higher resolutions and higher frame rates and turn on more effects. I think that's what you'll see, PC games where we turn it up higher."

Though it sounds like console technology is cramping the PC's style, the Xbox 360 and PS3 (and those who develop for them) are still immersed in the design transition from single processors to parallel architectures. There's a lot more wind to be coaxed from those sails yet.

Gears of War will be roadie running onto Macs

by Dustin Burg { Jul 17th 2007 at 10:00AM }

We thought we heard the extent of how far Gears of War was willing to stray from its Xbox 360 roots, but now we're hearing about an even further departure. In an interview with Game Head's Geoff Keighley, Mark Rein talked up Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War and accidentally let the news slip that both games were headed to the Mac platform. Rein confirmed Gears' Mac-bound status when answering Keighley stating that "yes, Gears is going to come to the Mac and so is UT". The news was not followed by a release date or how far in development the Mac versions are.

Anyone willing to bet that Gears Mac will have even more content than Gears PC all of which won't be available to 360 owners? Anyone? Nobody? Shucks ...

New GoW PC content not coming to the 360

by Dustin Burg { Jul 13th 2007 at 12:30PM }

The Advanced Media Network sat down with Epic's Mark Rein and Cliffy B to chat about their big E3 announcements and learned some sad news about the new Gears of War PC content. When questioned about whether or not the new campaign missions or multiplayer maps announced for the PC version would be headed to the Xbox 360, Rein said it was "unlikely [that] we will bring that content to 360". Cliffy B further emphasized their doubt by stating that "if we didn't have any sort of exclusive on the PC, why would people buy the PC version?". The Epic crew explained that bringing the PC content over to the 360 would be an extremely time consuming task and that they're currently focused on other projects like Unreal Tournament 3.

Being the Gears fan that I am it's hard to hear that new, exciting multiplayer AND campaign content will be available, but not for 360 owners. And no, there's no way I'm personally buying a beefy computer to run Gears of War PC just to experience the new content. No matter how you slice the news it sucks for 360 owners and Gears enthusiasts ... it's simple as that. Now, I'm going to go cry myself to sleep.

[Thanks, Jason S]

First video of Gears of War on PC

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 11th 2007 at 1:15AM }

The just-announced Gears of War looks fantastic on the PC. The already-beautiful Unreal Engine 3 is pushed even further on Games For Windows as can be seen in this first ever footage of the game running on the PC. With new levels, a level editor, and more surprises on the way, will Xbox 360 owners cry at feeling neglected by this "super-awesome" version?

Gears of War and Viva Pinata go to PC

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 10th 2007 at 11:07PM }

Gears of War is no longer a Xbox 360 exclusive. Neither is Viva Pinata. Two of Microsoft's premiere console titles is now getting the Games For Windows treatment. The Game of the Year-winning shooter from Epic will gain a few enhancements on the PC, such as five new levels, a new editor, and "some very big surprises." Could the game look even prettier on a DirectX 10 PC? Believe it. Thankfully, the game will run on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Viva Pinata and a major list of new Games for Windows titles were revealed at the Microsoft keynote, including titles such as Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Blacksite: Area 51, and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.

Gears of War PC montage video leaked [update 1]

by Dustin Burg { Jul 6th 2007 at 8:35PM }

Looks like someone made a boo boo. Those silly cats over at GameVideos.com posted a video entitled "Gears of War PC 'E3 Action' montage" and quickly pulled it. But fret not fanboys, because Quellex saved the video and posted it on YouTube for everyone to enjoy. But before you take a look at this leaked Gears PC montage be warned that it may make your inner fanboy scream with anger and disgust. Why? Because the video showcases what looks to be not only new multiplayer maps and additional campaign missions, but it also showcases a boss battle with a Brumak. Yup, that same Brumak that didn't make it into the 360 version of Gears. Hopefully there's more to this story that'll come out of E3, something along the lines of all the new additional PC content being available for free to Xbox 360 owners. Otherwise we shun you Epic and your PC content ... we want to fight Brumaks too!

Update 1: We've removed our link to the YouTube video at GameVideos.com's request, but now that the ~~giant cat~~ Brumak's out of the bag, it's gonna be awfully tough to get him back in.

[Via NeoGAF]

Cliffy B's adolescent story inspires comedic skit

by Dustin Burg { Jul 6th 2007 at 4:15PM }

We knew Cliffy B liked the spotlight, but we didn't know he also enjoyed comedic improv. The other night, during a DSI Comedy Theatre performance in North Carolina, the improv crew invited Cliffy B on stage to tell of his childhood, his Nintendo roots, and how badass he thought the Nintendo Power Glove was back in the day. As expected, Cliff's storytelling is pretty darn good, but the improv crews' rendition of his story leaves us scratching our heads a little. No matter, it's Cliffy B taking the stage, so be amazed and give the storytelling and improv a watch. Video ever so conveniently embedded above.

[Via Digg]

Gears of War soundtrack drops July 31st

by Dustin Burg { Jul 6th 2007 at 11:45AM }

Gears fanboys will be excited to know that the sweet, sweet sounds of our beloved Gears of War will soon be lovingly lasered onto a piece of media plastic. The official Gears of War Soundtrack was announced yesterday and will hit major retailers and be available online July 31st. The CD will feature 28 musical tracks that will chronologically take listeners through Gears' campaign and feature the Northwest Symphonia orchestra. Think of the soundtrack as a musical version of the whole "destroyed beauty" motif. Complete list of all 28 tracks are viewable after the break including our favorites "I Will Kryll You" and "Running With Boomers".

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Today's most standup video: CliffyB, the comedian

by Ross Miller { Jul 6th 2007 at 12:30AM }

You know the old saying: game designers always want to be comedians, and comedians always want to be game designers. As part of DSI Comedy Theater, Gears of War creator CliffyB provided humorous anecdotes on his childhood and what drove him to the Nintendo World Championship. The troupe provides performance inspired by CliffyB's stories.

We don't want to spoil any of it, so go on and check it out yourself. Video embedded after the break.

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Fanswag: Gears of War Modeling Book Winners

by Dustin Burg { Jul 2nd 2007 at 3:00PM }

Our Gears of War Modeling Book Contest has come to an end and we had some talented folks send in some great Locust creations. Not only did we have some great entries, but we also received entries that weren't really entries. Looking in our inbox we received emails from out of the country (this is a US only contest), entries that didn't include any attached artwork, and entries that were out of the country AND didn't include artwork. Those emails made us laugh and exercise our "delete email" finger. But, in the end, we came away satisfied with the creations our fellow fanboys submitted. So, we bet you are wondering which three entries were chosen to win a copy of Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste: Character Modeling 2, what the Locust creations look like, and if Epic Games will be using the winning designs in the Gears of War sequel. Well, the answers to all those questions and more are posted after the break. Click along and come join our Locust art gallery fun.

Gallery: GOW Contest Entries

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Reminder: Submit art for GoW Modeling Book Contest

by Dustin Burg { Jun 29th 2007 at 4:15PM }

Did you know we're giving away three hardcover copies of Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste: Character Modeling 2 that feature amazing Gears of War artwork and are valued at over $50 a piece? You did huh? Well, quite being so lazy and send in your locust artwork already! Remember, all you have to do to win a copy is create a new, never before seen Locust creature and send it to us in .jpg format. But you better hurry, because the contest ends July 2nd when we'll be picking our favorite entries who'll win a copy of the modeling book. Complete list of contest rules, details and how to enter are available on the contest page. Run along now and get creative!

Xbox 360 goes disco at Bonnaroo

by Alisha Karabinus { Jun 26th 2007 at 1:58PM }

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival can be described in many ways, but gamer's paradise is not the first phrase that comes to mind. Monstrosity of music, perhaps, or neo-hippie nirvana -- these are much more apt descriptions. However, one tiny corner of the farm was in fact an electronic Eden, gamer style, at this year's festival.

We were curious about the console's presence at the festival, and the Microsoft rep on hand wasn't shy about answering questions. "Why not Bonnaroo? There are tons of people, it's good exposure for the system, and it's a great chance to demonstrate the 360." From what we saw of the crowds in the tent, she was right about the exposure. The Arcade was never empty, and several of the consoles had small crowds clustered around the screens.

The Xbox 360 Discothéque Arcade, like so many of the enclosed structures at Bonnaroo, didn't look like much from the outside. Dust-streaked white walls shielded gamers from the boiling Tennessee sun, and the doorway was perfectly positioned to catch the occasional (and very welcome) breeze. Inside, thick shag rugs and battered sofas turned the Arcade into the perfect chill-out area. While the tent wasn't air-conditioned, the simple presence of shade made the Arcade a big draw for gamers and nongamers alike.