Visiting the official Gears of War 2 page right now sends you to a splash page with the above image. The dog tags and the image name have the same numerical combination: 033-116-117-126-071. When converted from Octal to ASCII you get "ESC Nov 9" (ESC as in the control character). Microsoft hasn't issued a press release, but it's hard to argue against November 9 being the official release date for Gears of War 2. We expect a confirmation by next week, if not before.

[Via Epic Forums]

While most of the "new" gameplay elements and maps discussed in the above preview for Gears of War 2 aren't really "new" to the video game news consuming populous, it's still nice to see some of the game's fresh features in action. The preview is fairly comprehensive -- there's looks at some of the soon-to-be-covered-in-gore locales, the new gametypes (we absolutely cannot wait for meatflag), chainsaw duels, new weapons and executions, and brand new, colorful ways of describing acts of grisly violence from the game's all-growed-up iconic lead designer, Cliff Bleszinski. We can't think of a better way to spend eight and a half minutes of a Sunday afternoon than to watch beefy combatants get halved.

By the time you read this, there's a good chance the above video has already been pulled. However, if you're lucky enough to be reading Joystiq religiously (as you should), enjoy some leaked Gears of War 2 beta footage, care of Analog Hype.

Update: Now with more footage, including executions and "death crawls," after the break.

[Via X3F]

To accent the release of 1Up's Gears of War 2 multiplayer video, Microsoft has released a bundle of new screens and images of concept art from the game. Peruse the GoW 2 galleries below at your leisure, but fanboys, please try not to spill any Emulsion on the keyboard.

In an "epic"-ally long video with a lot of talking and not enough gameplay footage, 1Up's Dan Hsu interviews Epic's Cliff Bleszinski (no more CliffyB, remember?) about Gears of War 2's multiplayer. Bleszinski discusses various aspects of GoW 2's online chainsodomy, from god-mode animations, to hostage taking, to the new version of the Gridlock map. Although not confirming the final count, he also says about 10 multiplayer maps will ship with the game. Check it all out in the video after the break.

[Via X3F]

Update: Just to clarify, this video was shot in April before Hsu announced his resignation from Ziff.

With Emergence Day: Part Deux on the horizon, Gears of War on Xbox 360 and PC will experience a pricing curb stomp on June 4th, with the Xbox 360 version going down to $40 and the PC version dipping to $30.

If you haven't jumped into the Gears of War emulsion pool yet, it might be worth waiting a couple more weeks until June 24, when the special two-disc version of Gears is released for $40. The special edition contains the multiplayer map packs, along with several other extras (listed after the break). This new Xbox 360 version will not have the PC-exclusive Brumak battle, but we can wait until this holiday for GoW2, when the longing for a Brumak showdown on our Xbox will become but a distant memory.

We're usually pretty skeptical about rumored release dates as developers and publishers often keep that card close to their chests -- however, we can't help but put our complete faith in a man with a name as awesome as Lester "Mighty Rasta" Speight. Yes, Mr. Rasta, who voiced Gears of War's "Cole Train", recently made an appearance at the TriForce panel at Wizard World to shoot the breeze about the company's line of GoW-related replicas. When asked about the sequel's release date, the TriForce crew remained tight lipped, though Rasta suggested asking him again on November 16.

DS and Wii Fanboy's David Hinkle was at the panel to witness the football player-turned-actor's Q+A session, and hopes to further press Mr. Rasta to discover the accuracy of his claims. Given that it falls in the game's suggested November release window, we wouldn't be surprised if Speight's date was legit.

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.

Though other shooters have surpassed it in terms of Xbox Live activity, we still hold a dear, dear place in our heart for the multiplayer portion of Gears of War -- a place intricately carved by an enemy chainsaw. Sure, the character advancement of Call of Duty 4 and Vegas 2 led to a more compelling overall experience, but they lacked a certain panache that only a well-timed curb stomp can supply.

Imagine our excitement when we caught wind of the intimidating flood of details for the sequel's multiplayer component in the upcoming issue of UK's X360 magazine. There's a full list of said details on our Microsoft-related sister site, but to inspire you to continue reading, here's a few tantalizing buzzwords you'll find behind that link: Meatflag, Poison gas grenade, Flamethrower, Ten person multiplayer, Chainsaw duels, and last but certainly not least, Verandas. If that didn't sell you, we don't know what will.

[Via X3F]

Interested in seeing what you'll be playing on your Xbox 360 in the coming months? X3F has compiled the 2008 Microsoft Game Studios Yearbook for you, a list of this year's exclusive graduating class with a detailed account of each title's current status and the stories surrounding them.

The 2008 Microsoft Game Studios Yearbook chronicles the graduates, like the soon-to-be released Ninja Gaiden II, and the titles that didn't make it to grad, like Alan Wake. Yep, he had to be held back for a semester or two. Or maybe three, we just don't know yet.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to introduce the 2008 Microsoft Game Studios graduating class ...

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.

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.

After briefly discussing our unique spelling and French heritage ("Joy-stique," Cliffy exclaimed!) and commiserating about being confused with other companies (apparently, he gets asked if he works for Epyx, the now long-gone publisher of Summer Games) with Epic designer and Chief Gears Dude Cliff Bleszinski (that's CliffyB to you kids), we got down to the serious business of talking about Gears of War 2: The Gears-ening.

Gears 2. It's coming out. We know it's bigger, it's badder, it's more badass.

Getting tired of hearing that yet?

We've heard it a couple times. Our question is, what was the number one thing in Gears 1 you wanted to change? What did you make that you knew you could do better?

If a picture's worth a thousand words, we'll spare you the copious blabber and lead your eyeballs right to the trailhead (just hop past the break to get started!). Be warned though, the path through Microsoft's Xbox 360 Spring Showcase is a long one (but thankfully smooth and well lit). Be sure to sit a few feet from the screen, rest your eyes between galleries and drink lots of water! Enjoy.

Microsoft and Epic dropped a quartet of Gears of War 2 screenshots today, the first, and taken from the roller coaster-like sequence featured in recent campaign videos ("Act One, Chapter Three: 'Assault,'" to be exact). We also dug through the accompanying fact sheet (actually, credit X3F for the dirty work) and uncovered this single, tasty morsel: "new weapon-specific executions." No specific details yet -- but the nasty fantasies dancing in your head right now are probably close enough.