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People Can Fly doing Gears of War prequel trilogy 'a likely scenario,' says OXM
Here we are, roughly six years into the "next-generation" lifecycle and we're seeing the third installments of major franchises. In a one-year period, we'll see Resistance 3, Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3, Assassin's Creed: Revolution (sort of), and Gears of War 3. And while not all of these episodes represent the end of a considered story arc, Epic Games hasn't been shy about calling Gears of War 3 the end of the line for Dom and crew. Which raises the question: Who will handle the lucrative Gears franchise going forward? "Gears of War will live on, of course, but in what form?" the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine posits, via CVG, before suggesting "a prequel trilogy developed by Epic-owned People Can Fly (Bulletstorm) as a likely scenario." With Bulletstorm failing to reach profitability (and presumably failing the basic litmus test for being franchised), People Can Fly will be looking for something to work on. With three Gears titles under their belts, the core North Carolina-based Epic team may be eager to move onto greener pastures. For now, they're working on RAAM's Shadow, the first piece of campaign DLC in the Gears trilogy, and notably a prequel. Sounds like a nice way to hand things off, doesn't it?
PSA: Free Gears of War 3 DLC map pack available now
The Gears of War 3 maps bundled with the "Horde Command Pack" are now available for free. The "Booster Map Pack" includes new arenas Azura, Blood Drive and Rustlong, along with tweaked favorites Bulletmarch Mulletbarch Bulletmarsh and Clocktower. The pack strictly offers the maps from the Horde Command Pack and does not include the updated Horde fortifications, playable characters, or the weapon skins. "RAAM's Shadow," a campaign-based addition, is the next piece of Gears 3 DLC on deck for December 13, at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). %Gallery-135685%
Gears 3's Bullet Marsh video flythrough will devour you whole
It's very, very important that you don't travel too far from the light in the upcoming, rebooted Gears of War 3 map Bullet Marsh. Not because its shadiest corners house equally shady characters -- unless, of course, you consider maneating Kryll swarms shady. Which ... um, you might, now that we think about it. Epic recently posted some information and a video flythrough of Bullet Marsh, one of the five free battlegrounds included in the Booster Map Pack, due out Thanksgiving Day. Check it out, and seriously, watch out for those swarms. Getting eaten by bugs is one of the worst ways to die in Gears 3, right behind getting chainsawed in half, curb-stomped and exploded.
Best Buy: Get Gears 3 and 800 MS Points for $35
Want to put an end to the Locust threat on the cheap? Best Buy has the deal for you then, as it's currently offering Gears of War 3 for 35 bucks. As an added bonus, the retailer will even throw in an extra 800 Microsoft Points to boot. That's like getting some DLC (or one third of the season pass) for free. Just head over to the deal page on Best Buy's website, follow the instructions and get to chainsawin'.
Gears of War 3 getting Title Update 2 tonight with spectator mode, easier medals and mutators
Epic's Rod Fergusson says on Twitter that Gears of War 3 is getting its Title Update 2 this evening at 2am PDT. Here's the list of what's changing; the biggest update is that the game is getting a spectator mode for gaming leagues to use which will turn the normally 5v5 matches into 4v4, with each team getting an optional spectator spot. Players grinding for rewards will appreciate the update as well, as the Leader and Vengeful medals are easier to earn, as are the Roadie Comet and Regen Enemies mutators. The update also tweaks some UI functionality, including adding an indicator during King of the Hill matches, and adding the option to remove the UI for machinima and video producers. And there are a few bugfixes as well -- host migration in Horde will now stick to the same wave as when it happened, and there are fixes for the lost progress and profile freezing issues that players have experienced. Fergusson says the update will bring down the game's dedicated servers temporarily, and players will need to restart their games to load it up. But follow those instructions, and you can be back to scratching all of the grubs you want.
RAAM's Shadow priced and dated; Horde Command Pack maps go free on Nov 24
If you've purchased the Gears of War 3 Horde Command Pack, now available, you've got access to three new maps titled Azura, Rustlung, and Blood Drive. However, if you wait until November 24, you'll be able to snag those three maps along with two Gears 1 favorites, Swamp and Clocktower, in the free "Versus Booster Map Pack" update. Of course, that free update leaves out the new Horde fortification upgrades, the new playable characters and weapon skins and, perhaps most importantly for some of you, the Horde Command Pack's 250 Achievement points. But if it's single-player DLC you're interested in, RAAM's Shadow will be available on December 13 for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). That buys you "more than three hours" of prequel gameplay, six new multiplayer characters, and another 250 Achievement points. It also gives us another opportunity to learn more about Locust war hero, General RAAM ... what are his motivations? What about his feelings?%Gallery-135685%
Gears of War 3 'Horde Command' DLC available now [update]
Gears of War 3's first major piece of DLC, "Horde Command Pack," has been temporarily delayed. Epic Games made the announcement on its forums, blaming a "technical issue" for the last-minute postponement. "We have folks working around the clock to resolve this issue ASAP so you can all play and enjoy the Command Pack," Epic noted. "The Epic Games Community team will stick around and keep you posted with any further information." Epic informs us that the current delay will not affect the launch plans for the second piece of DLC, "RAAM's Shadow," already scheduled for December. Update: Less than a day, good on Epic. The "Horde Command Pack" is available now. [Thanks, Dusty] %Gallery-135685%
Gears of War 3 celebrates Halloween with pumpkin heads
Have you loaded up some multiplayer in Gears of War 3 yet today? You may notice something festive: all players now have gigantic cartoonish pumpkin heads in celebration of Halloween. The video above was captured and sent in by one of our readers. Overall, it's a pretty neat nod to the holiday, if we may say so, though the headshot around the 1:20 mark is a bit unsettling. We don't like the idea of blood inside of a pumpkin. [Thanks, KingOfGods]
Gears of War 3 ventures into 'RAAM's Shadow' DLC this December
You can now count time travel and resurrection among the miracles made possible through DLC. Microsoft and Epic Games have announced "RAAM's Shadow," an add-on campaign for Gears of War 3 that precedes the events of the first game and brings back a few familiar, snarling faces. Due on Dec. 13, "RAAM's Shadow" sees Zeta Squad attempting to evacuate Illima City in the wake of Emergence Day. Your muscular protagonists for the trip are Michael Barrick (plucked from Gears of War comics), original character Alicia Valera, Gears of War 2's tattooed Tai Kaliso, and a perforation-free version of Lt. Kim. (Presumably, he's still got the codes.) RAAM's running time is pegged at three hours, and it offers a couple of other bonuses. For $15 / 1200 MSP you'll also get six more multiplayer characters, the "chocolate" weapon set (we're unclear if that refers to a color scheme or a dairy-based construction), Achievements amounting to 250 Gamerscore and -- oh, what's this? "In addition to fighting as a new squad of Gears, players will step into the boots of RAAM himself, and for the first time storm the human stronghold from the perspective of one of the series' most legendary bosses." As with the first round of upcoming DLC, "Horde Command," Gears of War 3 Season Pass owners get RAAM'd for free.%Gallery-137122%
Bricks of War murders a lot of Lego Locust
Legos make everything better -- if you need proof, simply play the video above. Entitled Bricks of War, it's a pretty great interpretation of the Locust genocide Marcus Fenix is responsible for. What happened to live and let live?
September NPD: Madden, Gears, Dead Island are hits (Updated with Nintendo hardware numbers!)
It should come as no surprise that Madden NFL 12 beat everything else in NPD's software chart for the month of September, unless you're really not into sports games and forgot it came out. Second place is also pretty expected, with the massive rollout of Gears of War 3 massively rolling into people's homes. Third place, however, is a bit more interesting -- Dead Island, from semi-obscure publisher Deep Silver, outsold almost everything else based on the strength of that trailer and the word "zombies." Find the top ten after the break. In hardware, Microsoft reported Xbox 360 takes the top hardware spot once again, touting 438,000 units sold in the month. Nintendo reports sales of 360,000 3DS units in the five week September reporting period, as well as 240,000 Wiis and 145,000 DS systems. Sony has not released official sales numbers for the PS3 or PSP. In larger trends, total industry sales are down 6 percent year over year, with a mere $1.16 billion changing hands in September.
Gears of War 3 stats show shotgun domination; sawed-off weakened
This isn't going to make the rollin' shotties crowd happy. Effective today, the sawed-off shotgun in Gears of War 3 no longer results in "gibs" at a range further than the gnasher. Epic shared that little detail along with weapon stat slides that showed, among other things, that shotguns comprised 72 percent of quick match kills. "Pretty much, 45 percent of the kills are caused by gnasher [in quick match]," Epic's Senior Gameplay Programmer Pete Knepley explains in the video. "Gnasher domination is still continuing, but it's not as bad as Gears 2, where it was pretty much 10 to 1 against the lancer." If you're looking to avoid the Gears shotgun frustration fest®, head into a "ranked match" instead of "quick match" to reduce the odds of being shredded.
Gears of War 3 'Horde Command' DLC detailed by X-Play
Gears of War 3's "Horde Command" DLC arrives on November 1, and X-Play has a clip detailing the contents. The video explains the new command center fortification, along with the Onyx Guard decoy, fire turret and Silverback upgrades. Horde Command will be available for 800 MSP ($10) standalone, or unlocked with the Gears of War 3 season pass. Check out X-Play's video after the break.
Gears of War 3 causing some Xboxes to grind to a halt [Update: Epic responds]
Gears of War 3 players are flooding the Epic forums with complaints of freezing issues, which occur when players attempt to load a game mode. Specifically, it seems to be limited to splitscreen Horde play with two profiles -- when the glitch hits, it permanently alters one of the profiles, making it impossible to enter any game mode. So ... that's not a great bug. Epic is aware of it; in fact, Epic rep Rykard posted a questionnaire attempting to nail down the exact issue. We're checking in with Epic for an ETA on the fix. Until then ... try not to play Horde mode in splitscreen. Update: Epic Games tells us, "Getting this resolved is a priority for Epic. We are collecting information internally, sourcing as much as possible from the community and exploring potential fixes. We do not have any recommendations to share with players just yet." [Thanks, CJ]
Gears of War 3 'Horde Command Pack' gets defensive Nov. 1 [update]
Gears of War 3's first DLC pack, "Horde Command," will enter the fray on November 1. Available for 800 MSP ($10), or through the game's "season pass," the DLC includes three new maps, a few characters (Onyx Guard, Big Rig Dizzy, Bernie), weapon skins and, most exciting, new fortifications for Horde mode. The new fortifications include a command center that allows players to call in support from snipers, mortars or Hammers of Dawn. A decoy upgrade that can create a fighting Onyx Guard bot, a sentry upgrade that adds a fire bolt for more damage and is really helpful against berserkers, and a Silverback upgrade with rockets and repair cost reduction. Update: Contacted Microsoft about "Horde Command" compatibility with non-DLC users. Answers after break. %Gallery-135685%
FIFA 12 first on UK charts, beats GTA 4 debut
FIFA 12, obviously, debuted at the top of the UK charts this past week. The semi-surprise is the latest installment of the footie franchise became the third largest multi-format debut ever, surpassing Grand Theft Auto 4 and sitting comfortably behind Call of Duty's Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2, which hold first and second place, respectively. According to Chart-Track, FIFA 12 unit sales were up 18 percent from FIFA 11, with revenue up 34 percent. Last year, EA announced that FIFA 11 was its "fastest selling sports game ever." Unless the rest of the world suddenly develops some football aversion, it would appear that FIFA 12 is about to best that record. Gears of War 3 experienced a 76 percent drop in sales from its mega premiere, but it was still enough to maintain second place. Codemaster's F1 2011 kept the gas on and held its position right behind Gears for a second week. Debuts that didn't make the top ten last week included Activision Blizzard's slapdash X-Men: Destiny in 18th, and the PS3 version of Child of Eden, which helped the series jump 765 percent and into 29th place. The UK top ten can be found after the break.
LEGO Lancer is a ludicrous, life-size labor of love
We've been known to have a bit of a penchant for LEGO ourselves, but the kits we snap together usually come with diagramed instructions and have more to do with fanciful medieval castles than brutal alien slaughter, and they sure as hell aren't life-size, functional engineering marvels. PlumBrothers' 1:1 scale Lancer is one of the most impressive LEGO builds we've seen in a long, long time, partly due to its aesthetically accurate construction, but mostly because of the boggling amount of engineering that went into this thing. Not only is it a working rubber-band gun, but the weapon's rubber payload is loaded into working clips. Once the safety (!!) is disabled, the user has their choice of single or burst firing modes at their disposal. The chainsaw even moves and everything. Screw gold, plastic is the new hotness.
Gears of War 3 sold over 3 million units in first week
Microsoft announced this morning that Gears of War 3 surpassed three million sales during its first week at retail. The publisher also reveled in this small window of opportunity to say that Gears 3, in just one week, "has already grossed more than any 2011 video game to date." That's a record it'll be lucky to hold past November 8 when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 drops. The success of the latest sequel also pushes the Gears of War franchise over the billion dollar mark in lifetime sales, Microsoft claims. It is also the only Xbox 360-exclusive franchise to reach this milestone after being introduced during the current console generation -- ruling out the longer-running Halo for that ultra-specific sales commendation.
Gears of War 3 campaign DLC will focus on different cast
We know to expect the voice of Aisha Tyler in upcoming Gears of War 3 campaign DLC, but the rest of the cast remains a mystery. Posting in a NeoGAF thread, designer Cliff Bleszinski shared some additional details, explaining that the story won't be focused on the game's core cast. And though it won't be based on the Gears of War graphic novels either, former Stranded-turned-COG Michael Barrick will appear. "No, it won't be the graphic novel, but it will have all new campaign content that doesn't have Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird in it," Bleszinski wrote. "Expect Barrick and more..." We're assuming Aisha Tyler won't be the one playing Barrick.
Gears of War 3, F1 2011 race to top of UK charts
Codemaster's annual F1 racing series would have taken the checkered flag for a second year in its debut week on the UK charts, but with competition like Gears of War 3 it'll have to settle for a respectable second place finish. According to Chart-Track, Epic's conclusion to the Gears trilogy sold nearly as many copies in its first week on sale as the first two combined during their launch weeks. Gears 3 is the seventh largest Xbox 360 launch to date (Call of Duty: Black Ops rules that roost). Zombie RPG Dead Island won't die. Having held the top spot for the past two weeks, the title finally shambles on down to third. It's poetic, really, since it's keeping Zumba Fitness company. The unholy fitness game, which danced into fourth last week, must be a death walker since it refuses to die, despite insane competition. Zumba Fitness keeps selling as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Driver: San Francisco, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and Resistance 3 slip down the charts. Check out the UK top ten after the break.
