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GoW headed to the silver screen
Grab your over-priced popcorn. A big screen trailer for Gears of War will roll before 5 upcoming theatrical releases including Miami Vice, Pulse, A Scanner Darkly, Clerks 2, and Little Miss Sunshine. Not content to share time with ads for Raisinettes, CliffyB is hinting at a fullscale GoW movie -- with Uwe Boll in the director's chair. Just kidding. It's not a horror flick.[Thanks Luis]
Gears of War hits the big screen
Fear not, Uwe Boll and Paul W. Anderson are not teaming up to deliver a Gears of War 'epic.' Instead, Gears of Wars (the video game) will be appearing in theatres nationwide in the form of a trailer, aired before select R-rated flicks, including Clerks 2, Little Miss Sunshine, Miami Vice, Pulse, and A Scanner Darkly.Epic president Mike Capps did warn that, for most gamers, the footage would be nothing new, but the promotion is a chance to "see it on a massive theater screen and hear it in badass 5.1." In other words, fanboys, we recommend you don't splurge on a movie ticket just to see this trailer.
Gears of War + Church = Good Design
CliffyB, the lovable Mario master behind Gears of War, recently sat down with Xbox.com to discuss (what else?) Gears of War. The topics covered include the characters, enemies, weapon design, and co-op among other things. On the possibility of a feature film: "The only way we'd ever consider doing a film of our property would be if the absolute right people were attached who understood not only the game and its universe but also the (hopefully!) rabid fanbase that we'd like to acquire." Also of particular interest is the dev team's inspiration for the game's locales: "I kept pushing for beautiful environments; you can have a post-apocalyptic world but why does it always have to be boring industrial buildings and concrete bunkers? One of the most inspiring moments that really secured the idea of this European influence on the architecture happened one day at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London." See the cathedral after the break. Just try and tell me it doesn't make you want to kill the locust horde.
Gears of War previewed
Planet Xbox 360 has put together a small preview of Gears of War's single-player/co-op mode. Details about Microsoft's self-proclaimed killer app are surprisingly slim -- the E3 showing was limited to CliffyB's demo at the keynote, followed by 'backstage' multiplayer sessions -- so the Planet Xbox 360 piece likely contains some tidbits you've never read about.The preview covers the basics, including plot, gameplay, and weapons. You'll learn about planet Sara, the Pendulum Wars, the Locust Horde, and the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG). You'll begin to conceptualize how CliffyB and the Epic team have laid out the controls and designed the AI. And, you'll start to imagine the ass-kickings you're gonna dish out with toys like the Hammer of Dawn, the Torque Bow, Bolo Grenades, and the chainsaw-equipped Lancer Rifle.[Thanks, Matt]
CliffyB gears up for war
Here's a pre-E3 interview with the famous CliffyB. Old stuff, but interesting nonetheless. I like to think the "B" stands for "Bunny" instead of Brez..Blez... whatever.
MTV hosts game designers roundtable
MTV News' Stephen Totilo somehow managed the Herculean task of getting four major game designers -- Harvey Smith (aka Witchboy; Deus Ex), Will Wright (The Sims), David Jaffe (God of War), and Cliff Bleszinski (aka CliffyB; Gears of War) -- to sit down and talk to each other ... during the week of E3. The roundtable took place at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight amidst the backdrop of their currently running I AM 8-BIT art show. Though it begins with more input from host Gideon Yago, it quickly evolves into a conversation between the four designers, running the gaming gamut from design to violence in games to the art question, all with a healthy sprinkling of (the outspoken) David Jaffe's trademark pottymouth.While MTV only ran an edited version, MTV's online-only Overdrive channel is hosting the whole shebang. It's unfortunate that MTV decided this didn't deserve to be aired on television even though they've managed to make room for another half-dozen airings of the Gears of War promotional special. But seriously, if MTV's doing this, what does G4 do nowadays?[Warning: Ever attuned to the pulse of the younger generation, MTV had the foresight to recognize that nobody under the age of 34 uses Mac OS and, accordingly, they've made their Overdrive site only compatible with Internet Explorer running on Windows.]
Joystiq Interview: Epic's Cliff Bleszinski
To help promote the MTV2 special on Gears of War airing tonight, Microsoft was facilitating some quick phone interviews with the game's lead designer, Cliff Bleszinski (aka CliffyB). We got his thoughts on the game's reception at E3, the ongoing console wars, his application of the "mom test," and thoughts on episodic content (hint: he digs it). I wanted to congratulate you on the success of Gears of War at E3. In a year without a lot of standout titles, Gears of War was the talk of the show. That said, why wasn't it playable on the show floor?We wanted it to be playable with the versus multiplayer. Thing is, the show floor -- to me -- is a clusterfuck. It is an absolute trainwreck of noise, and boobs, and sweat, and swag, and there is no worse venue to pick up a game and start to play than the show floor of E3. Taking people away from the show floor and putting them into the little theater is a much better experience and that's what we wanted to do with the versus multiplayer. Our gift and our curse with Gears is we're doing something slightly different: you're not out there looking out the barrel of the gun the entire time; shooting enemies that die in two shots; running and gunning like every other game. You have to take cover. You have enemies that take more than two shots to take out, and they're smart, and they take cover, and flank you. Learning that in E3 is not the proper venue to do that, which is why we chose to go with hands-on versus multiplayer because it was a bit more accessible. Now when a person buys the game and sits down in their living room and they go through the tutorial and go through the proper steps to learn how to play the game, they'll dig it. We're really feeling they'll get what we're going for. But presenting that at E3 would have been a mistake.
Gears of War special on MTV2 2nite
As promised during Microsoft's keynote, the inside look at the production of Gears of War is airing on MTV's more music oriented (but, but, but) sister site MTV2 tonight. Sure, we all remember the disappointment of the Xbox 360's MTV debut, but Gears of War: The Race to E3 has the right idea. According to the media alert, production is being handled by LivePlanet (the Project Greenlight guys) and Geoff Keighley (who actually knows a thing or two about games), so you can start setting your expectations unreasonably high now. The show airs tonight at 10PM Eastern/Pacific on MTV2. Don't worry about missing it, it'll air again and again and again. Check out an additional clip from the show of CliffyB meeting world's richest gamer, Bill Gates (embedded after the break.) Apparently Bill likes the chainsaw/gun combo. [Via Gamerscore]
MTV to broadcast Gears of War: The Race to E3
You know the game, you know its creator, and now you're about to get the chance to see it all come together for the biggest videogame gathering in the world. MTV2 is going to be showing Gears of War: The Race to E3 tonight at 10PM EST. Not unlike the other reality stuff you see on the channel, this is also guaranteed to have drama, angst and outlandish acts of geek life. Actually, this show will feature all of the behind-the-scenes action from one of the most badass development houses in the industry. Backed by CliffyB, it will follow the six-week road to LA and all the development from the inside. Speaking with IGN, Cliff had this to say: "MTV captured the essence of us making the game. They caught us going to the airport, me getting nervous backstage at the news conference, they caught me with talking with Bill Gates, givin' each other s&^%, all sorts of stuff. It's pretty amazing." His hopes are that it will give everyone, not just fans, a taste of life behind the game. This will be a rare sight to see, including some game elements that we haven't had a chance to look at yet (like the sidekick Anya).
CliffyB's guided tour through Gears of War
You already know what we thought of CliffyB's space marine action shooter, Gears of War (in case you don't, it's awesome!). Now listen to what CliffyB has to say about it. Gears of War Realm (that's right, a GoW specific fansite is already up and running) has posted a video of CliffyB's part in an E3 panel with a troika of console-specific gaming luminaries including Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3), Xavier Poixwho (Red Steel on Wii), and Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War on Xbox 360, duh). Cliffy talks a bit about his design of the game -- "it's almost like a platform game but instead of jumping up, you're jumping forward and around the world" -- before walking us through the first level with running director's commentary. I always love the juxtaposition of thoughtful CliffyB (see Smartbomb) and pimp-suit CliffyB. Thoughtful CliffyB is on display here. [Thanks, Luke](Update: I've embedded a higher-quality video after the break. Thanks for the link, James!)
J Allard: Caribbean Queen
Ever wonder what CliffyB would look like as a tennis-playing transsexual? The other day I ran across a facial recognition app that matches a picture of your face up to celebrities who supposedly look like you; useful for determining who should play who in the movie of your life. After spending an hour or so submitting friends and family, I moved on to gaming industry celebrities—with disturbing results: The marketing team at Microsoft has worked long and hard to transform Xbox guru J Allard from bloated regular nerd to skinny Matrix-esque nerd. Have their efforts paid off? I was sure Allard would come back with either Moby or Dr. Evil, but instead the software crossed the digital divide to dig up 80s pop has-been Billy Ocean, thus creating a bizarre link between the 360 and "Caribbean Queen." Pre-make-over J Allard, with his fatter cheeks and science teacher haircut could be mistaken for Tony Soprano in a pitch black room. But apparently Old Allard bares a mathematical resemblance to French President Jacque Chirac. Guess who's coming to dinner with Nintendo VP Reggie "Kicking ass and taking names" Fils-Aime? It's Sydney "They call me Mr. Tibbs" Poitier. I was impressed that Reggie scored the only Oscar winner. This one is by far the most troubling. With his boy band hair, delicate features and super geek success story, CliffyB is a hero to wannabe game designers and amateur gay porn stars everywhere. But how many vodka chasers do you have to swallow before mistaking this dude for Anna Kournikova? Oh God, check out the jaw line. It's freaky. For what it's worth, Ken Kutaragi matched up with the entire population of Japan. While I'm making fun of people who have a lot more money than me, I should mention (for the benefit of Kristin Kreuk and female Smallville fans everywhere) that I'm a dead ringer for Tom Welling. Email me. I have scientific proof.
The Gears of War buzzkill post
Earlier today we received several tips pointing us to a user-submitted piece of guesswork by an indiviudal using the nom de guerre "Hedgehog Boy" on gaming site GameDreamZ. He wrote, "One particular game demo that set the net alite [sic] was a 'Gears of War' demo possibly hitting the Marketplace this month! Yeah, the timing is laughably imaginative, but the demo is real, and may be coming sooner than you think." We've been spared the trouble of effusing skepticism; Epic's Mark Rein responded to the rumors saying, "There is no chance a demo level of Gears is hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace this month, next month or the month after that. We love the Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade and have lots of cool ideas how we can leverage them but not until the game is finished and we don't realistically know when that will be at this point in time."We weren't spared completely though! The screenshots that we linked to yesterday had been released by Epic's publisher without their permission. Rein said, "They were never intended for release and they don't come anywhere close to representing what the game looks like today." That gets me to my final point:No demo and no screenshots? Yesterday I wrote "Let's hope the gameplay lives up to the screens." Epic seems to be preempting the hype by playing their hand very close to their vest.[Via Gaming-360]
Gears of War screens still impress
The ever-dependable Xboxyde has posted 9 new screenshots of CliffyB's upcoming sci-fi shooter Gears of War. By the looks of these screens, GoW is still on track to be one of the best looking games ever. Let's hope the gameplay lives up to the screens.
