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Aussies to get free Live this weekend
Emergence Day is fast approaching the land down under*, and according to Australian gaming site, PALGN, Microsoft is giving Aussies a free weekend of Xbox Live Gold to celebrate. Starting this Friday at 3PM EST and ending Sunday at 10PM EST, the free weekend will give Australians a chance to play some Gears of War the way it was meant to be played. Additionally, David McLean of Microsoft Australia believes that Gears of War is on its way to becoming the 360's fastest million seller, outdoing all original Xbox titles. We have to ask the same question as PALGN, though: does that include Halo 2?How many of our Australian readers are picking up Gears this Friday (or possibly nicked it already)? If GOW isn't your thing, we suggest you wile away the weekend with Small Arms instead.*It was really, really hard not to make a Men at Work joke here.[Via QJ]
Microsoft lets it slip: Gears is a trilogy
CliffyB can deny it all he wants, but Gears of War is getting a sequel, two sequels in fact. In a recent interview with GameDaily, Jeff Bell, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing for Interactive Entertainment Business (say that three times fast), confirmed that GOW is a planned trilogy. To wit:"The goal of this ad is to establish Marcus Fenix as the hero of the Gears of War trilogy."Bell was of course referring to the now infamous "Mad World" ad for Gears of War. For those interested, the interview also discusses Microsoft's strategy in the burgeoning console wars, but really, who cares about that, right? Gears of War is a trilogy, just like that other game we could mention. And trilogies, as we all know, are the new hotness.[Via You NEWB. Thanks, KilgoreTrout XL]
GOW claims top spot in UK sales
Gears of War continues on its path to world domination (much to Bungie's chagrin) this week, and has now become the number one selling game in the UK. Furthermore, it has become the fastest selling 360 game in UK history, beating the previous record holder, Pro Evo 6. Even more, Gears of War is the second fastest selling Microsoft game ever (behind Halo 2, natch). Finally, it's the third fastest selling game overall this year, with Pro Evo 6 and FIFA 07 holding the top two spots. With Gears of War a success around the world (so far), can Game of the Year be far behind?
GOW knocks Halo 2 from Live top spot
Today is a momentous day. For the first time since, well, ever, Halo 2 has officially been knocked from the number one slot on Xbox Live. If you keep track of Major Nelson's weekly updates on the most played games on Live, you'll know that Halo 2 consistently trumps all other Live titles, even all the fabulous titles on 360. That's right, one original Xbox title is routinely played more than any 360 title. Until now, that is. Of course, now the question is: how long will it stay there? We'd like to extend our congratulations to Epic and to Microsoft for their success. So, have you made the switch from Halo to Gears?[Via Joystiq. Thanks, Sherveen Mashayekhi]
European Emergence Day festivities begin
To all of our European readers, happy Emergence Day! It's been a long time coming, but now you can finally celebrate Gears of War with the rest of the world (we hope you enjoy all of the cheaters). Huzzah! As an extra special treat, European 360 owners (except Germany) can now download the special Emergence Day theme and picture from Xbox Live Marketplace. So, now that you finally have your hands on Gears of War, what do you think? Does it live up to the hype we Yanks have been generating? Is curb stomping everything it's cracked up to be? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think.[Thanks, honz12]
Gears of War Wiki guide needs your help
The lads at GearsRealm.com have started a Gears of War wiki guide to help budding Gears players reach their full potential. There is a problem, though: the guide is empty. Right now, it even lacks the basic information that you can find on Wikipedia, which is why Gears of War Realm needs your help. If you've got some valuable information about Gears that you'd like to share -- pictures, map layouts, strategies, tips, etc. -- head over to the guide and start building it up. We've already learned one valuable tip, the reload melee trick, that assures us our bullets will always be boosted. We're sure all of you have plenty of other tips to share (it's not like people on my friends list are playing anything else). Besides, what else are you going to do today? Work? Study? No, we didn't think so.[Thanks, Luke Wallace]
Gears already riddled with cheaters
Emergence Day was supposed to be a celebration. A celebration of chainsaws, headshots, and curb stomping. It looks like it was a celebration of something else entirely: cheating. Remember the hubbub about not having friends in ranked matches of Gears? It looks like it was all for naught, as getting into ranked matches with your friends is easy as hell. All you have to do is host a game and your friends find your name in the host list. So, in pursuit of points and prizes, there were plenty of stacked teams yesterday. Gamer Andy tells of a particularly nefarious exploit using 5 people. "But GOW uses teams of four," you say, and right you are. The fifth person is actually on the opposite team, a saboteur for whatever clan is trying to rise to the top of the leaderboards. That not cheatery enough for you? How about the fact that the host has the power to start the match at any time, whether all members have clicked "Ready" or not? This makes it easy to stack games with uneven teams of 4v3 or even 4v2. Easy, ranked pickings for anyone. But wait, there's more. Another nasty exploit can be employed during execution matches. In execution, players can only be killed via curb stomp or execution. After a predetermined amount of "bleed out" time, a downed player will simply revive. So, cheaters start by stacking a 4v3 game, execute 2 opposing players, and leave a third alive. The third player is then shot down, but not executed. Why? Because downing a player is worth more points than executing them. Once the player revives, cheaters shoot him down again, wait for him to revive, rinse, repeat. This continues for the duration of the round. This also leaves the victims with an unfortunate choice: quit a ranked match and risk negative feedback from cheaters, or stay and endure fruitless minutes of death and rebirth.We'd like to believe that all this cheating was merely for the sake of winning some of the Emergence Day prizes, but we know better. Sure, cheaters may have hoped for a prize, but they would have cheated regardless. The unfortunate truth is that some people are just jerks (especially Pod 6). A lot of these problems could be solved simply by tweaking the lobby system -- not displaying host names, not letting hosts force start matches, etc. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the upcoming patch. Has anyone experienced these exploits online?[Via Inner Angst]
GOW: ranked friends matches a possibility?
Many people are understandably upset that they can't play ranked matches of Gears of War with their friends. After all, Halo 2 spoiled us on this feature, and most assumed it would be standard on a game as big as Gears. Unfortunately, thanks to the workings of the TrueSkill system, ranked friends matches are a no-no. Don't resign yourself to this grisly fate just yet, though. Numerous sites around the net are latching on to a few choice words from Epic's Mark Rein, featured on Gamer Andy. When asked about the current matchmaking system, Rein had this to say:"Yeah, Microsoft came to us and said there would be a lot of cheaters if we did it that way so for right now this is how it is. In the future we might roll out some additional functionality."Could ranked friends matches be in the cards? We hope so. If non-ranked matches is all we'll ever be able to play with our friends -- in Gears or any other game -- will it change your feelings about Xbox Live?[Via Major Nelson]
Error: Do not pass GO, do not collect GOW
Reports are coming to Xbox 360 Fanboy that many of our readers on the East coast are having trouble getting a copy of Gears of War. Readers report of showing up the morning of November 8th -- as instructed by EB/GameStop -- only to be turned away. Reader Mark FitzGerald sends this unfortunate message:"The shipments were supposed to come in 11/7/06. Upon not arriving a pre-recorded message was sent to everyone's phone who made a pre-order telling them they could pick it up 11/08/06 at 10:30 a.m. EST sharp. Upon arriving this morning at many locations customers were surprised to learn shipments were "delayed" until the afternoon. but again at about 3:00 p.m. EST, calls were sent again to pre-order customers telling them due to a shipping error, the game again would not be available until 11/09/06 at 10:30 a.m. EST. They are giving a five dollar refund to all those who pre-ordered"Other readers write in with similar shipping error stories. How about your neck of the woods? Does your local store complain of shipping problems? If so, were you offered any kind of refund or discount once the game finally shows up?
The X360F Gears Of War Play-a-thon
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, announcing the 360 Fanboy Gears of War Play-a-thon. I'll be picking up the game this afternoon and playing the eff out of it. I can only assume that the other X360F bloggers will be picking it up in short order as well. By now, I'm sure you all know that multiplayer GOW is where it's at, so I ask you all to check out the offficial X360F leaderboard at MGC and find someone to play with, whether it be co-op or versus. If you'd like to play a few rounds with little old me, send a friend request to SenseiRAM (I know, I know, number 70 on the leaderboard). And since the leaderboard only holds 100 people, anyone who isn't listed can feel free to share their Gamertags here. So, go find a buddy an rev up that chainsaw, power your way through the campaign, or lay down some punishment in multiplayer.Once we've all gotten a chance to play and get the hang of setting up custom games (if possible), we'll try and set up an X360F multiplayer frag fest later this month. Have fun and we'll see you on Live!
Metareview: Gears of War
The day has finally come, and embargoed Gears of War reviews are pouring onto the internet. In case you were wondering, Gears of War is apparently the best damned thing since the discovery of fire. The reviews so far are universally good, with an average rating of 95 on Metacritic. 1UP (10/10) "...you really need to play this visual and visceral masterpiece for yourself. When you do, you'll find plenty of minor problems, just like I did...but you can always find reasons not to give a game a 10." Gamespot (9.6/10) "Gears of War is a game that capitalizes on all of the promises made by the next generation of gaming. It looks more than a few steps beyond what consoles have been doing to this point, and the gameplay is supremely fulfilling from start to finish in all of its various modes. While there have certainly been plenty of similar shooters before it, the game's great weapons, amazing graphics, and absolutely thrilling action make it stand out from the pack in a big, big way." IGN (9.4/10) "Even with the minor faults, Gears of War is easily a contender for game of the year. The graphics, sound and presentation are nearly unparalleled. The gameplay is phenomenal and you'd be hard pressed to find a more complete package. Gears of War has shown what Xbox 360 is capable of. Now it remains to be seen what other developers can do to keep up." It should be noted that all of these reviews point to problems in the game. Most notably, they mention flawed enemy and squad AI, occasionally cumbersome controls, and very shallow multiplayer options, and yet, these universally acknowledged flaws are not enough to dip the score below 90%. We try to keep effusive, glowing praise out of our metareviews, but this game looks like it's shaping up to be the killer app it was always meant to be. Anyone lucky enough to get their copy yet? Tell us what you think.
Grab Gears at Target, get 3 months of Live
If you haven't already reserved your copy of Gears of War, Target is offering 3 months of Live Gold with a pre-order of the Gears of War collector's edition. Effectively, this means the collector's edition will net you the collector's tin, bonus DVD, art book, and 3 months of Live for 10 extra bones. Not too shabby. The offer expires November 8th, so get it while the gettin's good. If you weren't planning on the collector's edition before, will 3 months of Live sweeten the pot?[Thanks, delerious]
GOW merch madness, new faceplates, crate
Sure, Gears of War makes a great videogame, but it makes an even better lunchbox. Joystiq got their hands on the first images of the impending tidal wave of Gears merchandise (all of these are made by Mad Catz). The image above is in fact not a lunchbox, but rather a "console crate," presumably for hauling your 360 to Gears of War LAN parties. It looks like there will actually be 4 different faceplates, with 3 of them exclusive to different stores. See each faceplate after the break.
Random GOW thing: a tattoo (it's real)
This is just getting ridiculous. In a twisted version of a Klondike Bar commercial, some guy is so crazy about Gears of War, he got a tattoo. Like, a really real tattoo. The grisly design depicts a red gear emblazoned with a skull tearing its way through his flesh. According to Major Nelson (it's his Flickr account) this guy was actually flown in by MTV, claiming to be the most hardcore Gears fan alive. Let's hope the game lives up to its reputation, because this guy's arm depends on it! It's not like he'll be able to turn that thing into a heart with "MOM" in the center if the game turns out to be crap.Have any of you gotten a GOW tatoo? Done anything else crazy in anticipation of the game?[Thanks, Doc P]
Tons of new GOW multiplayer vids
The fine folks at GameTrailers are apparently having a ball playing Gears of War multiplayer matches, because they won't stop posting videos of them. Right now, they are up to twelve (!) different videos. We've picked one in particular for its chainsaw wielding, headshot making goodness. Plus, you'll get a chance to see what it's like to play as one of the Locust horde. This video, and all the others, looks like a lot of fun. Check it out after the break. Oh, and the video is age verficataion required. And don't think you can cheat just because there's absolutely nothing we can do to stop you.
Gears of War: Marketing unnecessary?
Let's face it, at this point everyone is at least curious about Gears of War. But some people ... some people are downright nuts about it. The recent trailer and its numerous remixes prove that people are really excited about this game. Seriously, these people are so excited for it that they are actually making their own commercials for it. Come on, have you ever made a commercial for anything? One could say that it's no different from wearing a Nike shirt; people are just showing their love for a certain product. Still, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone make their own Nike commercial. It's like Microsoft doesn't even have to market GOW anymore. That said, the Gears of War montage embedded above kicks ass. Bring on Emergence Day already. We're ready for it (and some are more than ready).[Via digg]
Your Gears of War questions answered
IGN has posted an article that clarifies a few things about Gears of War. The article gives the lowdown on weapon selection, the cheapness of the chainsaw (read: it isn't), multiplayer modes, difficulty, and downloadable content. The multiplayer modes sound like a lot of fun, especially Resurrection. In Resurrection, you have to finish off your opponents. Otherwise, they revive after 30 seconds. According to the article, it makes for great team work as you protect your wounded. It's also worth noting that using the chainsaw isn't as easy as it looks. Epic has spent a lot of time perfecting the balance around the chainsaw, making sure that it's not too powerful. The game has three difficulty modes: casual, hardcore, and intense. Intense is only unlocked after clearing the game on hardcore. Also, don't be surprised if Gears downloadable content hits Marketplace before Christmas.Gears is getting closer every day, and we're getting pretty excited. What should we do to celebrate its release? What do you guys think, is it time for a 360 Fanboy Live party?[Via Fraggerrock]
Some schmo already has Gears of War? [Updated]
Dutiful 360 Fanboy reader, AlexH, spotted a suspicious photo on Flickr. Uploaded by user, Brymo, the picture claims to show off his 360 game collection. No big deal there. Lots of people host pictures of their hobbies, collections, etc. There is one little issue, though. Almost halfway up the stack is a copy of Gears of War. You know, the blockbuster game that's not supposed to emerge until November 7th at the earliest. So, we have three possibilities. One, he actually has a pre-release copy of GOW. Two, he's joking. Three, he likes to steal display boxes from GameStop. In the words of Judge Judy, don't piss on our leg and tell us it's raining. 'Fess up, Brymo, if that is your real name.[Update]Brymo has spoken. He says it's just the box that came with a t-shirt when he pre-ordered at Best Buy. See our follow-up post.
Gears of War trailer remixes
Many people, myself included, thought that the music selection in the latest Gears of War trailer was inspired. It served both to highlight the action and to contrast the rawk music that we usually get in game commercials. Still, not everyone liked it, and Aeropause decided to take it one step further. They took the trailer and set it to several different tracks, ranging from country to 80's ballads. In so doing they have proven an old adage: everything needs more cowbell (see above video). Watch our second favorite video after the break.
Happy random GOW thing day!
Mike from the Xbox Domain sent us a video from Gears of War. We know what your thinking, "I've already seen tons of GOW footage." This one is a little different. Made by an Epic employee during the holidays last year, this GOW video is filled with Christmas magic. Check it out after the break.
