We hope you used pencil when you marked up the August 26 quadrant of your Burly Men of Sera calendar with the following info: "Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars by Steven L. Kent today!" Turns out the preorder info on Amazon.ca – even the cover image! – was a tad premature; Epic and Del Ray Books announced that the Gears of War prequel trilogy of books will be written by sci-fi veteran Karen Traviss, and the first installment will be called Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields (there's a joke here ... what's an Aspho?). No word on why Kent's out – an Epic representative tols us, "While we think very highly of Steven L. Kent's work, we are not working with him at this time."

Here's a snippet from the presser: "Marcus and Dom can take anything the Locust Horde throws at them – but will their friendship survive the truth about Dom's brother Carlos?" Well, will it? We just don't know, but you can find out when it roadie runs into your neighborhood bookstore on October 28, just in time for the sequel's November 7 Re-mergence Day.

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.

In the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, baby-faced Geoff Keighley got a chance to have a pow-wow with Gears of War 2's designer and poster boy, Cliff Bleszinski, who revealed some of the game's heretofore unannounced additions. Chief among said additions are a new multiplayer map titled "Day-One", which features a sizable emergence hole and its massive, treacherous occupant, and the inclusion of AI bots in the game's multiplayer modes, as featured in another of Epic's staple franchises, Unreal Tournament.

Other big reveals during the episode include the revivification of a map from the original Gears' "Hidden Fronts" DLC pack titled "Subway", the addition of player-controlled tanks, and a limited edition red, Gears of War 2-themed Xbox 360 to be released around the title's launch. With the veritable cornucopia of information already unleashed about Microsoft's holiday blockbuster, we're beginning to wonder if they've got any frags up their sleeves for next week's showcase.

Capcom has announced that Epic's Unreal Engine will be providing the stunning and inevitably shiny visuals for another of its upcoming titles, a new project being developed somewhere in Europe. Keiji Inafune, Mega Managing corporate officer for Capcom, described the technology as "a perfect fit" for the unnamed title, deeming it capable of "ensuring a high-quality game experience." We rather like those.

The developers will also benefit from having "thorough knowledge" of Unreal Engine 3, though if they encounter any problems, they should send an e-mail to the folks working on Capcom's Unreal-powered jetpack-em-up, Dark Void.

Actually ... we only have seven.

But they are new shots from the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament III! We thought you might like to take a look at 'em before the game's summer release. In case you've forgotten, the Xbox 360 version of Epic's frantic fragfest features five "exclusive" maps, split-screen capabilities and two new characters.

Raleigh, NC had better stock up on Ambien. GameDaily reports that Burbank, CA based Insomniac Games – creator of Resistance and Ratchet & Clank – plans to have a North Carolina office open for business by January 2009. Insomniac art director Chad Dezern will head the studio, with gameplay lead Shaun McCabe taking on the role of production director. Both Insomniac veterans will head east once development wraps on Resistance 2.

The studio, situated in the same "Research Triangle" area of Raleigh-Durham as Gears of War developer Epic Games (no peeking, guys!) will be home to roughly 30 new Insomniacs working on current and all-new franchises for PS3. In his interview with GameDaily, Insomniac president Ted Price points out that a team of 30 should be just the right size for creating a big-time PS3 title using the company's refined tools and technology. PS3 fans should be (rightfully) excited by the prospect of Insomniac likely bringing another all-new franchise to the system by way of the new studio, as the Burbank home base continues to develop future Ratchet and Resistance installments.

The latest EGM magazine features one final cover story by outgoing editor Dan Hsu, but boy does he go out with style. The main act is a rather detailed preview of Gears of War 2 with quite a bit of new details about the game. You will now be able to take pictures during the game and upload them to a website for sharing and voting.

Also noticed during their playtime was an Epic dev "watching a video," which is perhaps a hint at saved films. Other hinted features include 4-player co-op and AI bots for multiplayer. Our friends at X3F have some more details, including new weapons and what to do if you find yourself knocked down or stumble upon a downed enemy. The latest EGM, with GoW2 on the cover, should be on newsstands already.

Sega has extended its licensing agreement with Epic Games for use of Unreal Engine 3 with an "unannounced cross-platform title." According to the press release, details of the project will be announced at a later date.

If all this feels like deja vu, that's because it is. Sega's original license was announced in May 2007, except then it was for multiple unannounced projects, details of which were to follow. As of this writing, we still don't know what those titles were, and we couldn't find any news over the last year. Our then-best guess Condemned 2 uses Lithtech Jupiter EX. Universe at War and Sonic Unleashed utilize the Alamo and Hedgehog engines, respectively.

If May 2007 announced multiple unannounced titles, whatever happened to them? Is this a new game or related to the older projects? A Sega representative said that they have no comment to either question at this time. Our new guess? Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami is working on a mystery title for Platinum Games, who now has an extensive publishing deal with Sega. However, we don't know if Sega would have to make a new license deal for a game it's not developing in-house.

Hello once again, loyal reader. The team at Big Download has had an extremely busy second week with lots of features, downloads and news to report about on the PC gaming scene. It doesn't get much bigger than the release of Penny Arcade Adventures (and yes we have the PC, Mac and Linux demo versions available to download) and of course Age of Conan was pretty huge as well. We are still trying to iron out a few more bugs on the site but we are pretty happy with what we've got so far. Let's take a quick look at the highlights for our second official week:

Exclusive Features:

• PvP vs PvE: ArenaNet on Guild Wars: We chat with game designer Isaiah Cartwright on how they develop the PvP and PvE aspects of Guild Wars.
• Epic's Mark Rein on Chair Entertainment purchase: We chat briefly with Epic Games' VP on their acquisition of Chair Entertainment
• Age of Conan: The pros and cons: Should you buy Funcom's new MMO? We look at the pluses and minuses of the fantasy game.
• Big Iron: Age of Conan's demanding tribute: Our hardware columist takes a look at what kind of PC you will need to run Age of Conan
• MODverlous Monday: Our new weekly mod column takes a look at two Half-Life 2 mods
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a look at the classic title N
• Casually Speaking: Orisinal and the Zen of design: Our casual game columist checks out an impressive casual game web site
• Talkin' Smack: Online voice chat in kids' games: An editorial on how game designers might deal with the tricky issue of game voice chat for children
• Guide to Team Fortress 2 Medic Achievements: Check out the final two parts of our extensive look at the various achievements for the Medic class in Valve's multiplayer shooter: Part 5; Part 6

Gears of War 2 designer Cliff "Don't Call Me CliffyB" Bleszinski (note: yes, we have turned his name into a text macro to avoid misspellings) has confirmed with Microsoft's Gamerscore blog that the squad-based commands of the original game have been axed for the sequel.

Bleszinski also talked about the chainsaw vs. chainsaw system, which is not random like the original but based on whoever hits the B button the most. "I didn't want it to be quick time event because I think I'm kind of tired of those in most games," he said. In the video embedded above, he also talked about the use of the crowd system for epic battles and what he likes to label the "summer blockbuster type video game experience." Gears of War 2 is due this November.

CliffyB is no more. Wait, wait, don't cry. The Gears of War designer didn't give himself brain damage in a freak hair dye accident or anything. (Although we're still haranguing him about his use of plutonium-based styling gels. It's not worth it, man!) No, Cliff Bleszinski just doesn't want to be called CliffyB anymore, telling MTV that it's "time to grow up a bit."

Sadly, in learning today how to spell Cliff's last name, we had to forget the spelling of another game designer's surname. We mention this only so you know who to blame when we start talking about BioShock designer KennyL.

Epic Games today announced its acquisition of Utah-based Undertow developer, Chair Entertainment Group. Under directors Donald and Geremy Mustard, and CEO Ryan Holmes, Chair Entertainment becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Epic, keeping both its name and "its focus on creating new original game properties which utilize Epic's Unreal Engine technology."

We've placed the full press release, which contains the usual "We're thrilled to buy this awesome company!" and "We're so glad this amazing company bought us!" quotes, after the break. Not specifically mentioned is how the acquisition will affect Chair's Ender's Game projects, if at all. After requesting comment, we were promised an update "as soon as one is available." Funny, we were just about to tell you readers the same thing.

Alright, that's it. Nobody is allowed to describe any aspect of their game as "bigger and better" anymore. Let's try and expand that promotional vocabulary, people. Let's go for, "Hey, my game is greater and grander!" Or perhaps, "My game's online mode is sicker and more substantial!"

That's roughly what Epic designer, CliffyB, had to say about Gears of War 2's cooperative mode when Shacknews asked about four-player action. "We're not announcing anything about co-op at this time, we'll probably get around to it around E3 time, but rest assured, it will be bigger and better," he teased.

On a related note, Bleszinski did tell us that the saw-tastic sequel's multiplayer mode would at least benefit from a party system this time around. "I think that if we were not to have a feature like that, it would probably be a pretty big f*ckup." As for missing out on four-player Locust culling? That would be a bigger and better f*ckup, surely.

Update: The video is up.

Man, running through a post-apocalyptic city and sticking a chainsaw into anything that moves is just the perfect thing for a Friday night. That being said, we've decided to stay in this evening and watch the first Gears of War 2 gameplay footage instead. If you want to catch a glimpse of all the testosterone-driven, monster-shooting madness promised in Epic Games' sequel, all you need is an Xbox 360 and enough dexterity to find the trailer on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Well, we suppose you'll need an internet connection too. Also, electricity.

Those of us lucky enough to possess computers (and internet and electricity) can also find the video on 1UP at 10:30PM PST -- that's a full 30 minutes before it gets to Xbox Live. When the embeddable Gamevideos clip becomes available at around the same time, we'll be sure to stick it up on Joystiq. We're staying in tonight, remember?

Although they have an in-house engine for the Battlefield series (Frostbite), EA DICE has gone with Epic's mega-popular Unreal Engine 3 for the Parkour-inspired Mirror's Edge. According to the development team (via Electronic Arts PR), the reason was that the Mirror's Edge project began early on in Frostbite's development, so they decided to use the more-developed Unreal technology instead.

DICE is also developing "a new lighting solution that truly makes Mirror's Edge stand-out visually." If you haven't had a chance to check out the trailer, do so now. Full statement after the break.