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GOW crew gets busy in Hollywood graveyard
Is anything funnier than sacrilege? We think not. The peeps over at Gamerscore Blog have posted some pictures from last night's Gears of War party at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles. Above we see CliffyB -- "Scratch Master Cliff," as he likes to be called -- laying down some fat beats ... inside a mausoleum. Apparently, the acousitcs are fantastic. It looks like Hollywood's spirits got some revenge, though. See how after the break.
Gears is gold, Emergence Day goodies
Microsoft has just sent word that Gears of War has officially gone gold, which means the game is ready to be pressed, boxed, and shipped. To mark this occasion, several Emergence Day activities have been announced. Set to begin at 12:01 a.m. on November 12th, the activities range from tournaments to gaming with Megadeth. A 24-Hour Leader board Tournament. The tournament winner receives a one of a kind "Gears of War" branded guitar as well as an automatic bye to the finals of a Global "Gears of War" Tournament planned for 2007. Hourly sweepstakes drawings and prize giveaways including the chance to win one of several Samsung HT-P29 Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound Systems An exclusive free "Gears of War" Gamer pic and theme only available on Emergence Day Game with Fame sessions with legendary heavy metal band and "Gears of War" fans Megadeth, the game's lead designer Cliff Bleszinski and other members of the Epic Games team Never before seen videos including a special Emergence Day transmission from Cliff Bleszinski An MTV "Gears of War: The Road to Launch" Sneak Preview Not a bad list of events. Anybody plan on joining the tournament? The 5.1 system looks a little "blah" if you ask us, but we certainly wouldn't turn down a free one. If anybody doesn't want their's, we'll take it. Also, Gears of War is great and all, but we'd like to know if we could also challenge Megadeth to Guitar Hero II. And once again, if you'd like a shot at winning GOW for free, all you have to do is carve a pumpkin.
New GOW trailer pulls at your heartstrings [update 1]
There is a new Gears of War trailer available on Xbox Live Marketplace. This one is a little different from previous trailers. Instead of focusing on killing, death, and chainsaws, this ad focuses more on the "destroyed beauty" theme of the game. Set to the Tears for Fears song, "Mad World," -- performed here by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules -- the mood of the trailer is perfect. We can't help but remind everyone how gorgeous the game is, either. If they really wanted to, Epic could make a Gears movie just using the game engine.For those of you away from your 360, you can check out the trailer on Xboxyde here. We'd still suggest you download the 720p version from Marketplace when you get the chance, though. Only 12 days left, people. Don't forget to enter our Pumpkin Carving Contest if you'd rather not pay for your copy of GOW.Update: The song also includes Gary Jules
X360F Contest: GOW themes & picture packs [update 1]
It's getting perilously close to Halloween (CliffyB is going as a bunny. A chainsaw happy, curb stomping bunny). So close that we think it's time for another contest! The prize: a free Gears of War theme and picture pack for your Xbox 360. You may remember that we got a few extras at our local GameStop during the "After Dark" event last Saturday. We couldn't give them away before because they didn't work. Well, now they do. Huzzah!Since the prize isn't as grand as, say, a copy of Lumines Live!, we're making this contest a little easier. All you have to do is leave a comment describing what 360 inspired costume you'll be wearing this Halloween. We'll pick 5 random winners. The winners will be announced tomorrow. See, that's easy. We've got five to give away, so that's five chances to win, five times the fun.But wait, there's more. If you don't win tomorrow, stay tuned for another contest, in which you could win a copy of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (hint: hope you like pumpkins). And hopefully, we'll have even more swag to give away after that. We've gone contest crazy, I tells ya! So, leave us a comment telling us what your (possibly fictional) costume is, and you could be a winner.General contest stuff: only 1 entry, please. Winners will be decided completely randomly. The quality, or lack thereof, of the entry has no bearing on its odds to win. That's it. Have fun.Update: The contest is now over, click here to see the winners.
GOW pictures worth a thousand words
The Gears of War photoshop contest we told you about a couple of weeks ago has drawn to a close. If you don't remember, the object of the contest was to create a Gears of War image. That's it. Some funny (and not so funny) images were sent in to Aeropause and they have picked their winner and compiled some of the best entries into a single post. The entry pictured above is one of our favorites. Head over to Aeropause to check out the winning image (he gets Gears of War!) and some honorable mentions.
X360F at the GOW "After Dark" event
A buddy and I hiked out to GameStop last night for the Gears of War "After Dark" event. You know, the one with the "exclusive" video that's been on the internet for a whole day now. Of course, the dinky YouTube video doesn't really do the game justice like a 42" HDTV (I forced myself not to watch the leaked video so I could see it on a big screen). We met some GOW fans, shot some (probably awful) video, and we even got some swag. Read on for our experience and X360F's first video evar -- shot by good friend and occasional commenter, thomdano (scroll to the bottom if the thought of reading about our visit makes you cringe).
X360F will be at Gamestop tonight [update 1]
Sure, we've all seen the video now, thus nullifying tonight's Gears of War event at GameStops around the US. In fact, Joystiq even told everyone there's really no reason to go. Call me stubborn then, because I'm going. A buddy of mine has even agreed to film it, assuming the GameStop goons will let us. What's more, I promise that any swag I receive will be swiftly given away right here on Xbox 360 Fanboy. So, if by some bizarre cosmic coincidence you happen to be reading this and live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, you can meet my buddy and me at the Woodland Hills GameStop (I'll be the guy in a red shirt that's being followed by another guy with a camera). Come by and chat with us about Gears of War. You might even see yourself on the internet without paying those nasty hosting fees!Is anybody bothering to go to their local GameStop? After all, you will get free stuff, and we're sure you'll see better quality video than the YouTube stuff we posted earlier. So, who's going?Update: The event is over now, and we have some fairly extensive coverage (and a video!). Check it out here.
Sign up to play Gears of War early
It looks like registration for the Gears of War cemetery event is now open. What's more, it looks like another event is planned for Six Flags New England. So, sign up now for your chance to play Gears of War with celebrities who have no idea what it is (Paris Hilton heard it was "hot"). If you're lucky, you might even be invited to the private concert with aging metal band, Megadeth.[Via Major Nelson]
GOW launch event at a Hollywood graveyard
The marketing blitz for Gears of War is finally building up steam, as another GOW event is planned for this month (you gonna be at GameStop this Saturday?). The event, scheduled for October 26th at 12:01 AM, will be held in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in beautiful Los Angeles. The event -- part of "Match Made in Hell" month (sheesh) -- promises to mix up the likes of CliffyB and the GOW team, developers, game industry big shots, and even (gasp) celebrities. If you'd like to win a chance to attend, check out the "Match Made in Hell" website (as of this posting, registration has not opened for this event). It seems like Epic and Microsoft are really pushing the horror angle of Gears of War. Maybe we're just seasoned by marathon sessions of Silent Hill games, but GOW doesn't look all that scary to us. Hopefully, we'll hear a little more about it before the game ships.
Surprise! Gears banned in Germany
Another day, another violent game banned in Germany. It seems that Gears of War -- like Dead Rising before it -- has effectively been banned in Germany. This requires some explanation, as the game isn't technically banned. Basically, the ratings board -- charmingly named Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle -- refuses to dole out a rating at all. As a result, German stores will be unable to sell the game. It sounds worse than it is, though, because real German gamers know they can always import from Austria.Microsoft could retool the game and make it suitable for impressionable young Germans, but that would cause Live compatibility issues with other versions. Hence, banned. So, any bets on which game will be banned next? Our vote: Viva Piñata. Seriously, you can beat innocent piñatas to death in that game. It's sick.[Thanks, Bobby]
Gears demo rumor is shot down (again)
Epic guru, Mark Rein, has once again shot down the ever persistent Gears of War demo rumor. It flared up again yesterday when web denizens spotted the Gears of War demo graphic above. "Just saw the dog tag image with the "Microsoft points". It just isn't true. There is no demo coming out before the game ships and I have no idea if we'll do one after the game ships or not. Right now there are no plans to do one as I said earlier in this thread. I have asked Microsoft to take that image down."It's kind of weird when developers have to ask Microsoft to take something down. Makes us wonder how serious the split between Microsoft PR and developers really is.[Thanks, aragorn]
See GOW Live this Saturday!
What are you doing this Saturday? Would you like to see sneak peek of Gears of War? Then you'd best call up your local GameStop. This weekend, GameStop will be hosting a special Gears of War preview event. Held for one hour after store closing, participants -- 17 years or older -- will be treated to exclusive Gears of War video content and get some free swag to boot. It may not be as cool as, say, actually getting to play the game, but it's pretty sweet nonetheless. As an added bonus, GameStop will also be selling 3-month and 1-year Live cards for $5 off retail price. If you'd like to attend, call your local GameStop for details. Snap some pictures while you're there, and we'll post 'em right here on 360 Fanboy.[Thanks, delerious]
A Gears of War demo after all? [update 1]
A savvy forum member over at Xboxic spotted something pretty interesting on the British Xbox.com. On the page explaining Marketplace and MS Points there's a graphic showing the fabulous things you can buy. Among them is a Gears of War demo. Could the previously denied demo be coming after all? Maybe, but then again, Epic hasn't said that there won't ever be a demo, just not before the game's release. This find seems to confirm the demo's existence, but that doesn't mean it's coming out any time soon. A worrisome note, why is the GOW demo grouped with all that premium content? I mean, demos are free, right? Right?[Via Xboxic]Update: This rumor has been officially canned. Click here for full scoop.
Behold! The GOW collector's tin
Xboxygen sends us this purty picture of the Gears of War collector's tin. The collector's edition, for those who don't know, contains a hardbound art book and a DVD full of extra features. It's interesting to note that this case is different from the cases we've grown to love for games like Halo 2 and DOOM 3. It looks like a normal plastic case could actually fit inside that tin (and maybe it does?). Yeah, yeah, we know, it's not exactly mind rattling news, but we can't resist even the tiniest Gears of War development. So, do you like the case? Will you fork over 70 bucks to get it?
Teaser site reveals new GOW tidbits
The revamped Gears of War site has officially launched, brothers and sisters. The site is one of those interactive doohickeys akin to the Alone in the Dark and Condemned websites. You "play" as Marcus still trapped in his cell. When the lights black out, you're left with 4 matches to light up your surroundings. Highlight a message scrawled onto the wall and you can watch flashbacks that reveal the game's story and more about Emergence Day and the Locust horde. Anyone looking forward to Gears of War should check it out.[Via Gamerscore Blog]
