Anyone else's mouth not watering? Yeah, we've got the darn thing pre-ordered, we'll be there in line at midnight with the rest of you, and, once home, we'll be tearing through the cellophane with the usual patience of a two-year-old. We get it, it's meatier, moister and more tender than the first one, but gosh this bird sure looks and smells like the first one Epic served up two years ago.

Admit it, it's odd to think that a potential Game of the Year -- at least, sure to be a critical and commercial success -- is one we, who obsess over this industry, are not obsessing about. Gears of War 2 is just a sure bet. So sure that we don't have to think about it. Was there ever any doubt the game wouldn't "go gold" well in time for its November launch (that's today's news, by the way)? It's not that something's missing, it's that everything's there. Gears 2 is utter professionalism: excellence in design, execution and marketing, right down to the dropped "y." Almost bland tasting, isn't it?

It may seem like a stretch, but we're keeping a close eye on every scrap of information surrounding the collaboration with Goichi "Suda51" Suda and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami (as well as Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment). Publisher Electronic Arts has announced (via press release) that Suda51's studio Grasshopper Manufacture has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for the multiplatform horror franchise. We're curious what the use of UE3 means for the Wii version of the game, given Epic's non-support of the console.

Unfortunately, what's lacking in the press release is any information about the game itself. Said Epic VP Jay Wilbur, "Grasshopper Manufacture is one of the most daring and innovative studios in the world, and we can't wait to see what they're able to do with Unreal Engine 3." Welcome to the club, buddy.

Tucked away in the dark, at the far back of E for All is a fair-sized Gears of War 2 booth with many stations showing off the Horde mode, and handing out COG tags. However, these are fairly normal sized tags, about the size of a dollar coin. So what's up with this image of a giant COG that looks like it could serve as Sauron's ring?

We asked one of the community managers at the GoW2 booth, and he said, "Wait... did you see this image recently? A huge COG tag that's thick and made out of metal? Yeah, there's a big announcement about that coming out. I can't say anything about it really, but keep watching the website all weekend. And no, it's not something you can buy. It's made of metal, is thick, and weighs about two pounds."

Is Epic hiding these in the world somewhere, and there's a contest to find them? Are they items you can win based on your in-game performance like those rings they added to Madden? Is it just a huge paperweight? We'll keep watching the site, which yesterday put up a blurb about COGs. How convenient. What do you think it is?

[Via JoystickWidow]

Much like the Haloz before it, Gears of War 2 will receive a special edition Zune 120. The glossy black media player has the Gears logo laser-etched on the back and comes with 244 pieces of GoW bric-a-brac -- all for $280. The unit is available to pre-order now at Walmart.com and Amazon.com, and will ship on November 7. Same day as the game ... fancy that! No word yet if the military will get its own (sexier) version of the Gears Zune like they did with Halo 3.

[Via X3F]

We've got quite a bit of Gears of War 2 information and rumors, so let's begin, shall we?

1. The Skorge (pictured) -- a towering, 12-foot beast with dual chainsaw staff in campaign -- will be playable in multiplayer, albeit very scaled down, according to an interview with Cliff Bleszinski at AddictGaming (via X3F).
2. Jumping over to TVG, Bleszinki told the website that there are no plans for a PC version. "Here's the problem right now," he said, "the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software."
3. Hopping over to less-confirmed territory, a poster on Evil Avatar who allegedly has a copy of the new GamePro says that a redemption code will be in all new copies of GoW2 that will let gamers download five remade maps from the original GoW.

Since the embargo on coverage lifted today, X3F has collated a list of GoW2 previews from across Internetland, as well as new screenshots and artwork.

Epic Games has released another Gears of War 2 featurette, this one focusing on the weapons that Marcus and Co. will be using when the game emerges at retail Nov. 7. The video, embedded after the break, is tapped from the same vein which produced the "Sounds of War" featurette released last week.

We also captured a quick frame of what we're dubbing the "Predator-Elite" Locust, shown in the image above. Scary!

Between all the hip nerdrock concerts and multifaceted gaming marathons, it was easy to forget that PAX 2008 was a pretty sweet place for developers to show off their big titles. Not that Epic really needs to spread the word about their sequel to 2006's chainsaw-wielding bestseller, Gears of War 2 -- regardless, our Bleszinski-loving sister site, Xbox 360 Fanboy, recently got a chance to sit down with the lead artist and writer for the Locust massacring simulator to ask about some of the finer points of sequeling. If you find yourself hungry for details about the story and art direction for Gears the Second, we suggest hopping over to X3F and skimming through the twin interviews (or, if we may be so bold, the twinterviews).

Epic's Rod Fergusson tells Gamasutra that the developer is approaching the "upper end" of what the Xbox 360 can do, but that consumers won't notice for a few more years. The senior producer on Gears of War 2 explains that the company is much further along with optimizing the console than it expected to be at this point. He believes that trend will continue over the next few years, with "room to grow" on titles shipping two years from now.

Of course, Fergusson's comments are pretty much a tale as old as the industry. Studios get really good at optimizing for a console, only to have the next one thrown their way, which involves stumbling through development and potential for a couple years. God of War 2 in particular is a good example of the type of title possible at the end of a console cycle, just when every last drop of blood is wrung from the stone.

Last night, during a PAX interview we had with Gears of War 2 lead writer Josh Ortega, our "Gears 2 not having a fulfilling ending" fears have (thankfully) been calmed, because we now know the story will not wrap like a certain Spartan 117 sequel.

When asked if Gears 2's storyline will follow in the footsteps of a game like Halo 2 and its unsatisfying cliffhanger, Ortega comforted our worries by admitting that players will "get nice closure." But not too much closure, because Ortega was also quick to acknowledge fact that he didn't want to end Gears 2 "too much where there couldn't be room to expand should you decide to." Because that would totally put a damper on any trilogy hopes. So, no unsatisfying Halo 2-style ending, a sense of fulfillment and room to grow the Gears franchise? Sounds like a campaign winner to us.

When the BBFC isn't busy keeping cool, violent games away from kids with totally square parents, they like to leak out the occasional news tidbit, just so all the game journalists think they're "hip." It's actually a little sad, but it's hard to argue with the benefits, like learning the content on the Gears of War 2 bonus disc that comes with the Limited Edition of the game.

Now, because there are some of you who may want to go into the experience completely pure, we've put the list after the break. But the awesome rebels among you should waste no time in clicking below.

EA's got an impressive stable of original games due in the near future, and it has just added another one to the list: The company announced it's signed a deal with Epic to publish a new intellectual property from the latter's People Can Fly studio, the same folks that brought you Painkiller. It's an action game (duh) coming to the PS3, 360 and PC and that's all EA's saying at the moment.

If you remember, Epic's Mark Rein was extolling the virtues of this mystery game (we're assuming it's the same one) last August, saying, "[They] showed us their early prototypes within only a few weeks and we were totally blown away." Let's hope we get the same feeling when Unnamed EA/Epic/People Can Fly Action Game arrives ... at some point.

Sometimes, all the relentless, in-your-face your-face-is-off violence really gets to us. There are moments when the barrage of bullets ripping through unprotected flesh, or the shuddering chainsaws carving through the bones of an enemy make us wonder if we haven't just become desensitized and bored with our favorite hobby. It's even more depressing when we have to go home and see it all again in our video games.

We'll be able to, as the old folks say, turn it down a notch in Gears of War 2, as MCV reports that Epic's M-rated must-see saw sequel will feature an optional gore filter. It's mainly meant to placate parents who are tolerant of frenetic gun battles and ruthless monster murder, just so long as sparks (and not blood) come flying out of the stumps. The filter is also said to replace the naughty words uttered by the game's motley bunch of macho men ("See you in heck, locust motherfluffers!").

As young lads who were constantly teased and foiled by Phantasmagoria's shocking M rating, we certainly approve of Microsoft's implementation of parental control. Mind you, if you're a kid with a copy of Gears of War 2, you've likely utilized powerful parental control already -- otherwise known as the tantrum.

A dynamic duo of details dropped yesterday at the Gears of War 2 panel at the San Diego Comic Con 08 regarding Epic's epic new installment in their well-received locust-splitting franchise. The first of these announcements, revealed by Cliff Bleszinski, was that the title will utilize "linked achievements" to unlock in-game content -- basically, if you have certain achievements from the original Gears of War on your profile, it will unlock certain bonuses (like extra playable characters in the online mode) in the sequel.

The second, and arguably less thrilling announcement, came shortly thereafter -- the obligatory "collector's edition" of Gears of War 2 was unofficially announced at the panel. It will supposedly include a "miniature replica model" of a Lancer, the iconic chainsaw-infused gun from the series. Sure, the special edition's legendary price of $130 may seem a tad unreasonable, but who said that transforming your cat into a futuristic super soldier was going to be cheap?

Microsoft held a special Gears of War 2 reception at E3 on Monday, giving eager journalists a chance to play the game's multiplayer modes and test their mettle against other journalists. We're proud to say that we managed quite well against our competition, slamming active reloads all the while, though that's perhaps beside the point. You all want to hear about Gears 2, not about how awesome we are at it. Read on for our hands on impressions.