Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Insomniac plans North Carolina studiohttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/insomniac-plans-north-carolina-studio/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/insomniac-plans-north-carolina-studio/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/insomniac-plans-north-carolina-studio/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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.

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]]>epic-gamesgearsofwarinsomniacps3ratchet-and-clankresistanceresistance-2sonyted-priceRandy Nelson2008-06-03T23:05:00+00:00Gears of War getting price drop, special edition emerges June 24http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/02/gears-of-war-getting-price-drop-special-edition-emerges-june-24/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/02/gears-of-war-getting-price-drop-special-edition-emerges-june-24/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/02/gears-of-war-getting-price-drop-special-edition-emerges-june-24/#commentsFiled under: , ,


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.

Gears special edition:

Disc One

  • Gears of War (game disc)

Disc Two

  • Gears of War - Map Packs 1 & 2
  • Gears of War - Theme - 'Emergence Day'
  • Gears of War - Gamer Pics - 'Gears of War,' 'Emergence Day'
  • Gears of War 2 - Trailers - 'Duel,' 'Assault'
  • Gears of War 2 - Theme - 'Bare Your Teeth'
  • Gears of War 2 - Gamer Pics - 'Crimson Omen'

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]]>breakingnewsepicgamerscore-bloggamerscorebloggears-of-wargears-of-war-2gearsofwarAlexander Sliwinski2008-06-02T10:56:00+00:00Gamestop taking preorders for Gears of War re-release, launches June 24http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-taking-preorders-for-gears-of-war-re-release-launches/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-taking-preorders-for-gears-of-war-re-release-launches/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/25/gamestop-taking-preorders-for-gears-of-war-re-release-launches/#commentsFiled under: ,


We're pretty sure that everyone and their dog played the original Gears of War the first time around (aside from most Border Collies, who are, in fact, devout PS3 fanboys), but if you've yet to divide a competitor using a firearm/lumberjack tool, a Gamestop pre-order listing for a $40 Gears re-release might tickle your fancy. We've yet to hear from Microsoft about details for the title (or a confirmation of the game's existence, for that matter), but as the listing reads "Gears of War with Maps", we can only assume it will contain the Hidden Fronts DLC as well as the Raven Down and Old Bones levels, rather than the hit song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. With less than a month until the game's supposed release date of June 24, we're sure to hear more soon.

[Via X3F]

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]]>DLCepicgamestopgears-of-wargearsofwargowmapspre-orderre-releaseremakeGriffin McElroy2008-05-25T18:30:00+00:00Gears of War action figures boxed, grumpy-lookinghttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/13/gears-of-war-action-figures-boxed-grumpy-looking/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/13/gears-of-war-action-figures-boxed-grumpy-looking/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/13/gears-of-war-action-figures-boxed-grumpy-looking/#commentsFiled under: ,


The long-awaited (but never viewed) first salvo of Gears of War action figures should be landing in your neighborhood Hot Topics and comic book shops in the next few weeks -- as a special teaser, manufacturer NECA released a plethora of images of the four burly, sailor-mouthed characters featured in the first series of man-dolls: Marcus Fenix, Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, Locust Drone, and everyone's favorite, Locust Sniper. We can't even imagine the kind of brutal, testosterone-enriched tea parties we're going to hold once we obtain these tiny gunhavers -- especially when our supply of Earl Grey begins to dwindle.

Gallery: Gears of War Action Figures



[Via X3F]

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]]>actionfiguresepicepicgamesfpsgears-of-wargearsofwarnecatea-partyteapartyGriffin McElroy2008-04-13T15:30:00+00:00Gears of War 2 appearing at this month's NY Comic Conhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/02/gears-of-war-2-appearing-at-this-months-ny-comic-con/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/02/gears-of-war-2-appearing-at-this-months-ny-comic-con/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/02/gears-of-war-2-appearing-at-this-months-ny-comic-con/#commentsFiled under: ,


Though it's hard to imagine anything more exciting than obtaining The Hulk's autograph or shaking hands with Iron Man (watch out for that palm beam!), this month's New York Comic Con will also give attendees a glimpse of upcoming testosterone-fueled chainsaw epic, Gears of War 2. The convention will host a special "preview" of the Xbox 360 shooter on Sunday, April 20th, delivered courtesy of Michael Capps, president of Epic Games and Joshua Ortega, a man described as a "writer" for Gears of War 2. Must be some in-joke we don't get.

The New York Comic Con will take place from April 18th to April 20th at the Jacob Javits Center. In New York.

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]]>Comic-ConEpicGears-of-WarGears-of-War-2GearsofWarNY-Comic-ConLudwig Kietzmann2008-04-02T13:30:00+00:00Rumor: Gears of War 2 to feature chainsaw duelshttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/23/rumor-gears-of-war-2-to-feature-chainsaw-duels/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/23/rumor-gears-of-war-2-to-feature-chainsaw-duels/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/23/rumor-gears-of-war-2-to-feature-chainsaw-duels/#commentsFiled under: ,


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.

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]]>chainsawepicgears of wargears-of-war-2GearsOfWargearsofwar2gowxboxxbox360Griffin McElroy2008-02-23T15:00:00+00:00A post about Gears of War 2 box arthttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/a-post-about-gears-of-war-2-box-art/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/a-post-about-gears-of-war-2-box-art/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/a-post-about-gears-of-war-2-box-art/#commentsFiled under:


Since Gears of War 2's brief GDC teaser offered very little in the way of new information (you know, aside from the confirmed return of chainsaws and vast amounts of testosterone), we now have to resort to box art analysis. Though the art from Microsoft's press site is labeled as "temporary," it should be more than adequate to fuel your imaginary trip to the store to pick it up.

You'll also have to imagine yourself mulling over paying $60 or $70 -- as you'll see in the gallery, the Limited Edition seems very much inevitable.

Gallery: Gears of War 2: Artwork and Temp. Box Art

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]]>EpicGears-2Gears-of-War-2GearsofWarUnrealLudwig Kietzmann2008-02-22T03:00:00+00:00GDC08: Gears of War 2 teaser videohttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-gears-of-war-2-teaser-video/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-gears-of-war-2-teaser-video/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-gears-of-war-2-teaser-video/#commentsFiled under: , ,

If you can will yourself to push the "play" button on the above video, you'll see a recording of the brief and maddeningly ambiguous Gears of War 2 teaser trailer shown at Microsoft's GDC keynote. If the close study of Marcus Fenix's armored legs and a brutal chainsaw showdown with a locust don't get you excited, perhaps CliffyB's visit (with a chainsaw bayonet) can quicken your pulse. If, on the other soon-to-be-severed hand, you're wondering what on earth a CliffyB is, there's not much we can do for you. Gears of War 2 releases on Xbox 360 in November 2008.

Video courtesy of our pals at Mahalo Daily.

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]]>EpicEpic-GamesGDC08Gears-of-WarGears-Of-War-2GearsofWarUnreal-3Unreal3Ludwig Kietzmann2008-02-20T17:25:00+00:00GDC08: Microsoft and Epic announce Gears of War 2 for Nov. '08http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-microsoft-and-epic-announce-gears-of-war-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-microsoft-and-epic-announce-gears-of-war-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/20/gdc08-microsoft-and-epic-announce-gears-of-war-2/#commentsFiled under: ,


In what could only be considered as good news for the franchise's cult following, Microsoft and Epic Games have announced their intention to give Gears of War another go. Despite only scraping by with a couple of million units sold, Microsoft is determined to help the motley bunch of macho marines break into the niche shooter market with an Xbox 360 sequel, Gears of War 2.

The game was officially announced by Epic's CliffyB during Microsoft's GDC keynote entitled, "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Commnunity ... and then give them Chainsaws." The game will be coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 in November, 2008. We'll bring you more information as soon as we can get it.

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]]>BreakingNewsCliffyBEpicEpic-GamesEpicGamesGDC08Gears-of-WarGears-of-War-2GearsofWarMark-ReinMicrosoft-Game-StudiosLudwig Kietzmann2008-02-20T14:40:00+00:00The Club nods at Gears of War's 'Seriously' achievementhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/10/the-club-nods-at-gears-of-wars-seriously-achievement/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/10/the-club-nods-at-gears-of-wars-seriously-achievement/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/10/the-club-nods-at-gears-of-wars-seriously-achievement/#commentsFiled under: , ,


For the thorough achievement hunter, there are an elite series of Gamerscore garnering goals that the softcore gamer is not likely to possess, such as Dead Rising's Zombie Genocider achievement, or, well, most of the achievements from Chromehounds. One stands out above the rest, though, requiring a great deal of time and skill to earn -- the "Seriously" achievement from Gears of War. Getting 10,000 kills in ranked multiplayer earns you 50 Gamerpoints, and hopefully, a concerned intervention from a few of your closest loved ones.

Bizarre Creations' latest project The Club gives a hearty nod towards the life-consuming achievement with one of their own -- the cleverly titled "No, Seriously" requires you to kill 10,001 opponents in ranked online matches. Oh, we see what you did there. We'll have to wait until Feb. 19 to see if the game is good enough to merit that kind of time investment, and if Bizarre ripped anything else off of Gears -- such as a steroid-infused protagonist that speaks with the eloquence of Tourette's suffering sailor.

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]]>achievementgamerscoregearsofwarmultiplayernoseriouslyseriouslytheclubxboxliveGriffin McElroy2008-02-10T13:30:00+00:00Gears of War 2 graces GamePro coverhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/gears-of-war-2-graces-gamepro-cover/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/gears-of-war-2-graces-gamepro-cover/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/gears-of-war-2-graces-gamepro-cover/#commentsFiled under: ,


With GDC less than two weeks away, the latest issue of GamePro magazine appears to have coverage of the as-yet-unannounced Gears of War 2. The cover of the March issue was recently unveiled, and while the featured story is Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the cover contains two references to coverage of the much-hinted but never confirmed Gears sequel.

Despite the twice-over placement on the front cover, the announcement of the issue makes no mention of any Gears of War coverage, leaving us a bit skeptical of what the Gears 2 content exactly is. An unconfirmed report from the NeoGAF forums indicates that the content is purely speculative, guessing at a release date and possible features like improved matchmaking.

Add this to the fact that legitimate Gear of War 2 info would be far more cover-worthy than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and the likelihood is that the Gears placement on the front cover is nothing more than an attempt to sell more issues. We'll leave Gears 2 speculation to accidental slip-ups and Amazon pre-order pages, thankyouverymuch.

Update: Epic Games VP Mark Rein has confirmed our suspicions, telling Firing Squad that any preview article hinted at by Gamepro's cover would be "pure nonsense." Ouch!

[Via Eurogamer]

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]]>epicepic-gamesepicgamesgameprogears-of-wargears-of-war-2gearsofwargearsofwar2microsoftScott Jon Siegel2008-02-04T09:20:00+00:00Gears of War dolls of masculinity available spring '08http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/17/gears-of-war-dolls-of-masculinity-available-spring-08/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/17/gears-of-war-dolls-of-masculinity-available-spring-08/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/17/gears-of-war-dolls-of-masculinity-available-spring-08/#commentsFiled under: ,


It's time to play out your own Emergence Day with the first wave of Gears of War action figures featuring Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole and the Locust Drone -- your old He-Man figures are going to have to substitute for the rest of the cast. The figures will be available "late spring of 2008" and the second wave of dolls will crawl out "late 2008."

The figures will be available at Hot Topic, FYE, comic book shops and other specialty stores. There's no word yet currently on price or what the second batch of characters will be, but it seems kind of unfair for Marcus to be without his Dom for an extended period of time (guess Man-At-Arms will have to do for the meantime).

Gallery: Gears of War Action Figures

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]]>actionfigureactionfiguresdolldollsepicgearsofwarnecaAlexander Sliwinski2008-01-17T23:15:00+00:00Watch this space, Epic Games plans to double in sizehttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/14/watch-this-space-epic-games-plans-to-double-in-size/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/14/watch-this-space-epic-games-plans-to-double-in-size/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/14/watch-this-space-epic-games-plans-to-double-in-size/#commentsFiled under: ,


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.

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]]>epicepic gamesEpicGamesgears of warGearsOfWarmark reinMarkReinplay testPlayTestunrealUnreal Tournament 3UnrealTournament3ut3Jason Dobson2008-01-14T11:30:00+00:00Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars, the prequel book treatmenthttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/gears-of-war-the-pendulum-wars-the-prequel-book-treatment/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/gears-of-war-the-pendulum-wars-the-prequel-book-treatment/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/gears-of-war-the-pendulum-wars-the-prequel-book-treatment/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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]

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]]>BookEpicGearsofWarSteven-KentChristopher Grant2008-01-02T11:15:00+00:00CliffyB loves his chainsaw gun, and his toyshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/06/cliffyb-loves-his-chainsaw-gun-and-his-toys/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/06/cliffyb-loves-his-chainsaw-gun-and-his-toys/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/06/cliffyb-loves-his-chainsaw-gun-and-his-toys/#commentsFiled under: , ,


ToyFare Magazine recently did a feature on the 50 greatest fictional weapons of all time, listing the Gears of War Lancer chainsaw gun among the ranks of the Green Lantern's ring, Thor's hammer, and Megatron (you know, when he's in gun form).

And when sexy bachelor designer CliffyB learned that one of his weapons made the list, he did what any of us would have proudly done: totally geeked out and sent in pictures of his toy collection.

A brief interview with Mr. Bleszinski reveals his favorite items in the collection, the all-importance of combining chainsaws and guns, as well as the undeniable truth that nothing is worthwhile until they've made action figures of it. So true, CliffyB. So true.

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]]>cliffy-bcliffybgears-of-wargearsofwartoysScott Jon Siegel2007-12-06T07:55:00+00:00Epic president wanted to cut Gears' multiplayer, Mad World adhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/29/epic-president-wanted-to-cut-gears-multiplayer-mad-world-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/29/epic-president-wanted-to-cut-gears-multiplayer-mad-world-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/29/epic-president-wanted-to-cut-gears-multiplayer-mad-world-ad/#commentsFiled under: ,

Even presidents are human, and as such, they are prone to errors. But Epic president Mike Capps recently revealed that he almost made two mistakes of (sorry) epic proportions when it came to Gears of War. First and most troubling is that he had considered pulling multiplayer from the game because it wasn't moving quickly enough. (Boy, that would have made that eight-hour single player campaign a much more bitter pill, wouldn't it?) Also, he said he wanted to scrap the famous ad set to the brilliant Gary Jules' equally brilliant "Mad World" because, he says, "I thought it was stupid; I was like 'What are you thinking? Nobody knows Donnie Darko any more.'" Wow. Just, wow. Watch the above video to see how great things could have been.

The good news in all this is that either Capps' conscience or employees convinced him in the end to do the right thing. Also, Epic now has an iron-clad recipe for success: Find out what Mike Capps says you should do, and then do the exact opposite.

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]]>epicgearsofwarmikecappsJustin McElroy2007-10-29T15:55:00+00:00Gears of War wins Golden Joystick GotY ... 2007?http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/26/gears-of-war-wins-golden-joystick-goty-2007/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/26/gears-of-war-wins-golden-joystick-goty-2007/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/26/gears-of-war-wins-golden-joystick-goty-2007/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

duh golden 'sticks
When we saw Gears of Wars hoisted up at the 25th annual Golden Joystick Awards, we scratched our heads and checked the calendar. Yep, it is 2007. So why is Gears still winning 'Game of the Year' awards?

As it turns out, the people's choice ceremony was honoring games form last year, and a few, like God of War II, which sorta seem like games from last year. The rather untimely celebration featured nominees like Guitar Hero II and Call of Duty 3 just as their respective sequels prepare to enter the market. Halo 3 Beta was considered among the 'Innovations' of the year, but the actual game, well, that will have to wait until ... next year.

Full list of award winners follows.
  • 02 Ultimate Game of the Year 2007 - Gears of War
  • Sonopress Xbox Game of the Year 2007 - Gears of War
  • PC Game of the Year 2007 (sponsored by PC Gamer) - The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar
  • PlayStation Game of the Year 2007 (sponsored by Official PlayStation Magazine UK) - God of War II
  • Nintendo Game of the Year 2007 (sponsored by Official Nintendo Magazine) - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  • Editor's Choice - Gears of War
  • The Publisher of the Year 2007 (sponsored by Future) - Nintendo
  • The Vivendi Retailer of the Year 2007 - Game
  • The One to Watch (sponsored by Total Film) - Assassin's Creed
  • Next-Gen.biz UK Developer of the Year - Codemasters
  • The GameTribe Online Game of the Year 2007 - World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
  • Nuts All-Nighter - Gears of War
  • The 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year - Guitar Hero II
  • The Innovation of the Year 2007 (sponsored by T3) - Nintendo Wii
  • 4Talent Mobile Game of the Year 2007 - Final Fantasy
  • Games Radar Handheld Game of the Year - GTA Vice City Stories
  • The Sun Family Game of the Year 2007 - Wii Sports
  • The Bliss Girls' Choice Game of the Year 2007 - Guitar Hero II

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]]>gears-of-warGearsOfWargolden-joystickgolden-joystick-awardsgotyJames Ransom-Wiley2007-10-26T16:58:00+00:00Rare duo: Viva Pinata left in Gears' wakehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/rare-duo-viva-pinata-left-in-gears-wake/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/rare-duo-viva-pinata-left-in-gears-wake/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/rare-duo-viva-pinata-left-in-gears-wake/#commentsFiled under: ,


Viva Piñata has found moderate success since its release late last year, with about 500,000 units sold, but it's far from the "next great family franchise" it was positioned as. Over at Gamasutra, James Thomas and Justin Cook of Rare discuss why they thought that Viva made less of a splash than many hoped.

Interestingly, the two say that the game was supposed to be more of a symbol for third parties, showing that Microsoft was serious about games for kids. The sales were still low though, something that, in part, they chalk up to the marketing force put behind Gears of War, which shared Viva's launch window. "So much of the money went towards Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway," Thomas said. "It was a bit of like, 'What about the other franchise?' I think we got left in the wake somewhat. Hopefully with the PC version this Christmas, it might get something of a second wind."

We'd be more likely to attribute Viva's sales to the fact that the game is too complicated for most kids, but sports cartoon graphics that turn many adult players off. That said, we're sure that Gary Jules on TV every 30 seconds didn't help matters.

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]]>gearsofwarrarevivapinataJustin McElroy2007-10-12T16:00:00+00:00Writer drops details about Gears of War moviehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/06/writer-drops-details-about-gears-of-war-movie/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/06/writer-drops-details-about-gears-of-war-movie/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/06/writer-drops-details-about-gears-of-war-movie/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

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.

He's no stranger to video games either, as he's writing the Spy Hunter movie adaptation, and also recently wrote a sequel to The Getaway game for Sony. He's even bummed that Disney didn't bring him in to work on the Pirates video game: "I wish they had called because I could've helped them on that. That was a crappy game. I could've made a really cool game with Pirates. They just don't know the potential of that game. They could've made as much money on that game as they did in the movie. A film that successful they could've easily done $300 million in videogame sales if they had made a good game."

Here's hoping he's still got some magic left in the pen and / or keyboard. He wrote Collateral, which isn't a bad movie at all. Plus he has 30 Days of Night coming out soon, and between those two, we're sold.

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]]>Gears of WarGearsOfWarPirates of the CaribbeanStuart BeattieThe GetawayKevin Kelly2007-10-06T10:04:00+00:00Gears of War emerges on PC Nov. 6http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/04/gears-of-war-pc-emerges-nov-6/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/04/gears-of-war-pc-emerges-nov-6/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/04/gears-of-war-pc-emerges-nov-6/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The PC version of Gears of War -- that would be the personal computer version mind you, not the parentally correct one which replaces all the chainsaws with comically large walkie-talkies -- has been scheduled for release on November 6th. Shacknews reports that the testosterone explosion epic will be bolstered by loads of new content, including 5 single-player chapters, three multiplayer maps, a game editor and a showdown with the Brumak. (In case you're not familiar with Gears of War's monster lexicon, the Brumak is a very large monster that you'll want to shoot as much possible.)

While you're waiting for the wildly popular franchise to arrive on your overclocked and garishly lit machine, read our hands-on impressions and carefully ponder which charismatic thespian would best fit into Marcus' curb-stompers.

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]]>BreakingNewsEpic-GamesGears-Of-WarGearsofWarUnreal3Ludwig Kietzmann2007-10-04T15:25:00+00:00