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Gears of War 2: Skorge in multiplayer, no PC version, rumored map remakes
We've got quite a bit of Gears of War 2 information and rumors, so let's begin, shall we? 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). 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." 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. Gallery: Gears of War 2 - Screenshots (9/29/08) Gallery: Gears of War 2 - Art/Renders (9/29/08)
Video: Gears of War 2's plethora of weaponry
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!
'CliffyB' defends Too Human from critics
[Update 2: The Giant Bomb user formerly known as CliffyB has changed his user name based on a request from the Giant Bomb staff. Seems this was a case of mistaken/overtaken internet identity. Joystiq regrets the error.][Update: It seems there's some doubt as to whether or not this review was actually written by Mr. Bleszinski or just some Giant bomb user who took his common online moniker. Either way, the review is still an interesting, alternative look at the game. We're looking into it and we'll update as warranted.]After so much hype and so many years in development, many were surprised by the lackluster critical reception for Silicon Knights' Too Human. Count among the surprised Epic Games' Cliff "Don't call me CliffyB anymore" Bleszinski, who defended the game from its harshest critics in a recent Giant Bomb reader review.Bleszinski says he found the game more engrossing than either BioShock or Call of Duty 4, pouring 16 straight hours into it on his first sit down and readying for a second playthrough after a 42-hour quest. While admitting that the story "isn't God's gift to writing," Bleszinski still insists it compares favorably to a lot of other video games. His main beef, though, is with critics who derided the game's combat as too simple simply because they weren't willing to delve into what Bleszinski sees as some complex strategic depth. "It will require some attention to learn," he warns, "If this is too much to ask, do not fret. There is always the Wii." Ouch!The full review goes into an insane amount of detail on Bleszinski's experience with the game. Check it out if you're interested in a well informed, decidedly different perspective on this epic.
Epic: There will be no Gears of War 2 for PC
Sometimes it's just best to get to the point ... even if that point is really sharp and will pierce the hearts of PC gamers. In an interview with IGN, Epic's Cliff "Don't Call Me CliffyB" Bleszinski, designer of Gears of War 2, revealed that, unlike the original game, the sequel won't appear on PC. "Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360, and therefore we're focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2," CliffyB Bleszinski said, adding, "We've decided we're not going to do a PC version this time around." Point made. Now to stop the bleeding ...[Via Shacknews]
X08: Gears 2 DLC to ship 'soon' after game release
In a recent X08 interview with Cliff Bleszinski, our Joystiq compadres learned some information regarding Gears of War 2's planned downloadable content. Most importantly, that it's currently in the works and will ship "very soon within' the [Gears of War 2] launch timeframe."Mr. Bleszinski confirmed that the Gears 2 DLC will be "multiplayer map focused" and will make its release within the magical Gears 2 release window timeframe. As far as pricing goes, Epic isn't saying much, which is totally understandable seeing the controversy surrounding the original Gears DLC was probably a giant headache to deal with. Gears 2 DLC is being worked on and confirmed for release within the launch timeframe. Huzzah!
X08: Cliff Bleszinski talks Gears of War 2
During the X08 event in Toronto last night, Joystiq was able to sit down with Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski and talk chop about Gears of War 2. Cliff discussed the pacing and intensity of Horde Mode, the trouble with too many players in co-op and his quick impressions of Too Human.X08 Toronto allowed invited gamers in the Greater Toronto Area (yes, the GTA) to participate in a showcase of upcoming Xbox 360 retail and Arcade releases. Gears of War 2 was a surprise showing with a multiplayer build from E3 2008. Everyone was on the edge of their seat. Jump in for a few choice comments from Cliff Bleszinski, perfect for those of your reading this in a library and unable to listen to the actual interview! [MP3] Download this interview in MP3 format
Gears of War 2 content unlocked by original Gears achievements, $130 Lancer bundle coming
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?
New Gears of War 2 footage from Gamestop tournament
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/New_Gears_of_War_2_footage_from_Gamestop_tournament'; Joystiq has obtained a video that's set to air at the start of Gamestop's Gears of War midnight tournaments tomorrow. The video contains an introduction by Cliff Bleszinski as well as "never-before-seen footage" from Gears of War 2. Is your interest piqued? Video embedded after the break.%Gallery-22753%
Comic-Con attendees, meet GoW2 and the Cliff
We already touched on the upcoming Comic-Con 2008 festivities, but yesterday Microsoft released an officially official press release detailing all the Gears of War 2 love they'll be showing for Comic-Con attendees. And already, we're jealous we can't attend.Microsoft will have a booth setup on the floor where everyone can get a chance to play Too Human and Ninja Gaiden II, where also on Saturday, July 26th from 2:00-2:45PM the Cliff Bleszinski and GoW2 lead writer Joshua Ortega will be signing Gears posters. Later on Saturday, from 3:30-4:30PM, team Epic will be holding a "Gears of War" Showcase Panel where Bleszinski, Ortega and Karen Traviss will discuss all things Gears and give an exclusive preview of the vehicles and weapons that'll grace Gears 2 come this Fall. NECA will also be on hand selling an exclusive Carmine figure, previewing the General RAAM figure and there will be other Gears comic and novel goodness all over.2008 is the year Gears of War 2 takes over Comic-Con and, depressingly, we can't attend. Though, MS does promise to "Bring it Home" via Xbox Live, so that should help our Gears 2 needs. Hopefully it'll be enough.
E308: Gears of War 2 on-stage demo
Gears of War 2 is arguably the biggest and most anticipated release on any platform for Holiday 2008. Solidifying itself as a force to be reckoned with, Gears 2 was the poster child at Microsoft's E3 press conference. Showcasing a new single-player level, design director Cliff Bleszinski walked attendees through the new Gears experience. Intricate and beautiful environments, large sweeping battles and a horizontally moving elevator? Epic win. Pun is completely intended. If you happened to miss it, or require a place for multiple viewings, we present to you the entire Gears of War 2 on-stage demo from E3 2008.
E308: Cliff + X3F sticker = OMGBBQ MEGATON!
We think this blog's title pretty much says it all folks. We actually got a chance to stick the Cliff Bleszinski with an X3F sticker during the Gears of War 2 reception and he was kind enough to pose for a photo with his most obsessive uber fanboy, me, Dustin. I can now safely say that my blogging dreams have been fulfilled. Joy! Though, we'll admit, Cliff was a bit apprehensive about the stickering thing, but once our noble X3F intentions were made clear and his worries about being ninja-stuck were settled, he played along. Slapping a sticky sticker to his forehead and embracing his most obsessive Gears fan (yes, it was a full embrace ... honest!) we snapped the photo and the rest is history. Cliff got X3F'ed ... can you believe it guys? W00t times like 20!Oh, and be sure to keep your eyes peeled on our E308 X3F Sticker gallery, because we'll be adding a whole bunch of new and totally "epic" photos soon'ish. Stay tuned!
E308: Gears of War 2 screens, renders and art
You'd think that since the Microsoft Press Conference was over we'd all curl up and think about the awesomeness. Naw! We still got a ton of stuff to show and tell you! So grab a cup of coffee for another content explosion.This update is all about Gears of War 2. Microsoft released a handful of news screens and concept art for the anticipated sequel today as well as a shot at the retail box art for the game. Word around the Twitter campfire is Cliff Bleszinski's original motto of "bigger, better and more badass" for Gears 2 has been replaced by "epic and intimate." This box art screams it.[Thanks, N'Gai for the quote]%Gallery-27627%%Gallery-27628%
Gears of War 2's 'Day-One' map, multiplayer bots revealed
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.
GoW2: Day-One revealed, bots confirmed and more
Coming straight from last night's airing of GameTrailer TV's pre-E3 episode of exclusiveness comes a truckload of new Gears of War 2 information. The two biggest announcements are the revel of a new multiplayer map called Day-One and confirmation that Gears 2 multiplayer will in fact support multiplayer bots. Oh yeah. The Day-One map takes place on the city streets where a ginormous emerge hole has opened up smack dab in the middle of the map where an angry Seeder will pop out. And when he does, watch it, because it causes mini-earthquake. Also, Cliff confirmed with Geoff Keighley that Gears 2 will in fact support AI controlled bots in multiplayer, very similar to bots that are oh so prevalent in the Unreal Tournament series.
Cliff wants less controller buttons, more waggle
Take a look at your Xbox 360 controller and think of one object you could compare its looks to. Seriously, what do you think it looks like? If you said a martian aircraft due the amount of buttons it has, then congrats, you think just like Cliff Bleszinski.Talking with CVG, Bleszinski discussed the 360's controller, admitting that "if you look at a controller right now it looks like an alien spaceship." Cliff hopes that next gen, Microsoft creates an Xbox input device that has "fewer buttons on the controller" and recommends doing something more "with a built-in camera or a little motion sensitivity." "You look at the Wii controller with less buttons - they added functionality by doing waggle" Bleszinski explained, "there are other ways of providing interactivity without having every single finger doing something at once on a friggin' controller."And as much as it pains us to admit this, sorry Cliff, we don't totally agree with you on this one. The Wii is the Wii and the 360 is the 360, try playing a FPS on the Wii or using motion detecting cameras and tell us how competitive or fun it ends up being.
Get your daily dose of murder with this Gears of War 2 Multiplayer preview
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.
1Up talks Gears of War 2 multiplayer with Bleszinski
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.
Cliff: GoW2 fixes annoying shotgun host advantage
In an exclusive interview with Gamepro, the one and only Cliff Bleszinski confirmed that for Gears of War 2 they've fixed one of our (and most everyone's) major gripes with the original Gears' multiplayer. The way too annoying and totally unfair shotgun host advantage. When asked about multiplayer feedback Epic received from Gears of War, Cliff responded by saying that "people loved it [multiplayer] but they didn't like the host advantage. They got tired of the shotgun inconsistencies. We're fixing all of that. They didn't like the randomness of the chainsaw, so we put the chainsaw duel in -- may the best man win!" Indeed, may the best man win and may we be the first to say yippy-skippy perfect day! Thank you Epic. That's the news we wanted to hear.Make the jump to read Gamepro's complete Cliff Bleszinski interview where he not only talks about axing shotgun host advantage (double yippy skippy!), but also discusses the Unreal Engine, new multiplayer game modes, the option to use an Uncharted inspired control scheme as well as ... Bloom Blox? Yup, he talks Bloom Blox.[Via NeoGAF]
Gears of War 2 multiplayer detail explosion
The July issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly has an extensive 13-page blowout of Gears of War 2 multiplayer details. Earlier last week, some information leaked from and article in X360 Magazine, but the EGM cover-story by outgoing editorial director Dan Hsu includes a world of new information ripe for the picking.Some information between the X360 and EGM article is slightly different. Most notably, some of the buttons involved in getting rid of a downed enemy are strangely different. However, since we don't talk about Gears 2 enough around here, we have all the info you need here.From new weapon stats, the possibility of bots and the ability to blow you and your enemies up with a diabolical grenade--here is the newest info from EGM's fantastic July cover story. The issue also includes an extensive interview with Cliff Bleszinski, so any Gears fan should check it out.All the info we got from EGM's cover story, after the jump!
2008 Yearbook: Microsoft Game Studios
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/2008_Yearbook_Microsoft_Game_Studios'; After a solid year for the Xbox 360 in 2007 many thought the system could never showcase the same amount of quality exclusives in a single year.In the 2008 Microsoft Game Studios Yearbook, we've compiled a list of this year's graduating class with a detailed account of each title's current status and the stories surrounding them.From heartbreaking cancellations, surprise feature announcements and expected sequels, the 2008 MGS Yearbook is filled with fun facts and information on your soon-to-be favorite titles. Also included in the yearbook are special joke awards given to each title that releases in 2008 that poke fun at the details most commonly argued about in the comments.From Ninja Gaiden II to Alan Wake, the 2008 Microsoft Game Studios Yearbook will have something for everyone.Ladies and gentlemen allow us to introduce the 2008 Microsoft Game Studios graduating class ...
