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See Gears of War 2, Too Human, Viva Piata 2, Banjo-Kazooie 3 in new video
There's not much to see of each of the games in Microsoft Gamer's Day 08 video recently posted to the company's Gamerscore Blog, but the clips of Gears of War 2, Too Human, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Fable 2 will hopefully be enough to keep you sated until today's media onslaught.Keep your browser here today for tons more 360 news featuring not only these games, but (we'd imagine) a few others.
Graphics Comparison of War
We're aware of the recent GameTrailers comparison video debacle, which we assume was an honest error rather than a deliberate one, but here's another one to look at. Comparing footage from Gears of War to the recent gameplay footage of Gears of War 2, we can see slight improvements in the Unreal Engine 3 graphics. Character models look less "rubbery" and smooth. The game also features something that was rare in Gears, sunlight--and it looks nice.While Gears of War had to prove the power of the Xbox 360, Gears of War 2 has more to prove in terms of storytelling after releases like BioShock, Portal and Grand Theft Auto IV have taken the stage. The storyline in Gears of War was underwhelming to say the least but we have high hopes for Gears 2 and everything it will teach us about Microsoft's newest universe. But so help you Epic if we have to play as a Locust.
Things learned from the GoW2 gameplay video
Okay, we've had some time to collect ourselves after watching the new Gears of War 2 gameplay video (hyperventilation FTL) and decided to analyze the crap out of it. Posted after the break, we compiled a rather complete list of new GoW2 facts, tidbits and information we discovered after giving the latest video a good watching analysis. And wouldn't you know, we actually learned a lot! Click towards the break to view our list and feel free to comment telling us if we missed something. We have a feeling we're going to love chainsaw duels.
Gears of War 2 gameplay footage debut
The Gears of War 2 gameplay footage is now out in the wild. Ready for some Locust-cutting action? We'll let the video speak for itself, embedded above. Update: Two more videos -- an 'Assault' gameplay and an analysis video -- can be found after the break.
Video: This is Gears of War 2
Even earlier then promised, here she be in all her glory! Embedded above is the just released (literally minutes old) and very first in-game footage of Epic's Gears of War 2 thanks to the fine folks over at GameVideos. We don't want to spoil the video experience for you, so we advise just jumping in head first. But if you have to know, there's bunch of sexy gameplay, some story talk, chainsaw duels, hostages and neck snapping ... FREAKIN' DELICIOUS. Click play, take it in, discuss and commence your drooling mechanisms. We'll have time for analysis later.Remember, there is only ONE exclusive GoW2 video being released tonight and this is it. Both Gametrailers TV and the XBLM will be debuting this same trailer today at 2:00AM eastern.
Reminder: Gears of War 2 first look video releases tonight
The moment Gears of War fanboys have been waiting for is almost here. The time when gamers across the globe get a first look at in-game Gears of War 2 footage. Happy, happy, joy, joy!Tonight (depending which time zone you're in), at 10:30PM pacific (1:30AM eastern), GameVideos will be the first to premier the exclusive GoW2 gameplay video featuring an introduction by Cliffy B and promises a "first-look of chainsaw duels and large scale firefights with Locust Horde." Then, at 11:00PM pacific (2:00AM eastern), Gametrailers TV will be airing that SAME GoW2 video. There was some confusion to whether or not the GameVideos and Gametrailers videos were the same and we just confirmed with our sources that to be true. There will only be one GoW2 gameplay video. Finally, at 11:01PM pacific, the same GoW2 video will be available for download off the Xbox Live Marketplace in full HD glory.Strap in tight fanboys, because Gears of War 2 video eye-candy is but hours away ...
First Gears of War 2 gameplay video on Xbox Live tonight
Update: The video is up.Man, running through a post-apocalyptic city and sticking a chainsaw into anything that moves is just the perfect thing for a Friday night. That being said, we've decided to stay in this evening and watch the first Gears of War 2 gameplay footage instead. If you want to catch a glimpse of all the testosterone-driven, monster-shooting madness promised in Epic Games' sequel, all you need is an Xbox 360 and enough dexterity to find the trailer on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Well, we suppose you'll need an internet connection too. Also, electricity. Those of us lucky enough to possess computers (and internet and electricity) can also find the video on 1UP at 10:30PM PST -- that's a full 30 minutes before it gets to Xbox Live. When the embeddable Gamevideos clip becomes available at around the same time, we'll be sure to stick it up on Joystiq. We're staying in tonight, remember?
1up will have exclusive Gears 2 video on Friday
The headline says it all folks. 1up seems to have gotten their hands on some new Gears 2 footage, and come Friday we are going to be, by their own admission, blown away. We're thinking massive amounts of enemies on-screen and nice water, but whether or not we'll be privy to anything at all close to gameplay is unsure. Epic has proved before that their Unreal engine is up to the job, but gamers will want more than just a tech demo. For now it's just a waiting game till week's end. Oh, and the video won't go live till 10:30pm PST so those of you overseas or cross country may have wait until morning. Boo hoo.
Epic's Capps will keynote Leipzig, talk GoW2
It has come to our attentive attention that Epic Games president Michael Capps will have the honor of doing the keynote presentation on August 18th at this year's GC Developer's Conference in Leipzig, Germany. Not all that exciting of news if it wasn't for the fact that Capps' speech will include a discussion about Gears of War 2 and its development progress. Yum! That said, we may be full to the brim with GoW2 details, visual goodness and info that is expected to come from July's E3 conference. Wait, what are we saying? We can never have too much Gears, bring on the August Capps!
Have Gears or Epic questions? Ask Cliffy B!
As part of GameDaily's new 10 Question series, where they grab someone from the video game industry and (you guessed it) ask them ten questions, they're looking for your help. Epic Games' own Cliff "Cliffy B" Bleszinski will be the next 10 Question target and GameDaily wants your help in narrowing down the ten questions to ask. So, if you have a juicy good Gears of War question, general Epic Games inquiry or were wondering which teeth whitening product the Cliffster recommends, shoot an email to GameDaily or simply hop on over to Joystiq and post your question in the comments section. You have until April 30th to submit your question when GameDaily will choose their top ten questions to ask Cliffy.And just to prevent an influx of teeth whitening questions, we already found out (through stalker'ish means) that Cliffy uses Crest Whitestrips Premium. Now that you know how to brighten your smile, focus your Cliffy questions on video games.Read - Submit your questions through JoystiqRead - Submit your questions through GameDaily
Playable Gears of War 2 beta demo at Sasquatch! Music Festival [update]
Update: Suspiciously, Microsoft removed any mention of a GoW2 demo on the Xbox.com Sasquatch! article. Now we aren't sure if a GoW2 demo will appear at the music event ... Microsoft, care to fill us in?We just came across juicy delicious Gears of War 2 news that could ultimately lead to you experiencing GoW2 (with controller in hand) the last weekend in May. For seriously!According to Xbox.com's description of the Xbox 360 sponsored Sasquatch! Music Festival, Microsoft's Xbox team will be on site, hosting a few Game with Fame events, giving out prizes and setting up a nineteen Xbox 360 kiosks to allow attendees to play some of their favorite 360 titles. Games including the music appropriate Rock Band and a playable Gears of War 2 beta demo ... wait a second ... did we just read that correct? A GoW2 playable demo at the Sasquatch! Music Festival? WOWZA! HOOZA! KABLOOZA! (phew ... calm down). We have no idea what the GoW2 demo entails, how long it will last, what exactly it shows or how long the line will be to play, but we guess all that's really important is that Xbox.com promises playable beta level of GoW2. The Sasquatch! Music Festival goes down Memorial Day Weekend (May 24th-25th) in George, Washington at the Gorge Amphitheater. Run, sprint or hitch a ride, because there will be entertaining music playable GoW2 funnery in George, Washington at the end of May. W00t!
First Gears 2 in-game footage coming May 9th
Gears fans who salivate at the mere mention of seeing in-game Gears of War 2 footage we order your salivation glands to commence the salivation process. We've just heard that Gametrailers TV will be exclusively premiering the first Gears 2 gameplay footage at 1:00AM on May 9th. The video will feature everyone's favorite lead designer Cliffy B doing a special (and we're sure very badass) video introduction which is said to include Marcus Fenix who will probably, no doubt, be tearing apart hordes and hordes of Locust scum. Our calendar is clear and our countdown clock has been set for May 9th ... bring on the Gears gameplay!
Gears of War 2 panel discusses living cover, story and chicks man
Team Joystiq posted the full Gears of War 2 Comic Con panel discussion featuring Epic's Michael Capps and GoW2 writer Joshua Ortega where we get better insight into what will make Gears 2 bigger, bloodier and badder then the first. Though, know going in that Capps and company don't drop any bombshell announcements or feature reveals, but he does talk about some juicy Gears stuff. And any Gears talk is good talk, right?There's a bunch of things discussed (Joystiq has a beautiful recap of every last word that came from Capps' mouth), but we came across a few things that caught our eye. First off, Gears 2 will have "living cover" in the form of giant, wiggly Locust worms. Capps and his team brainstormed the idea of traditional cover and wanted to take it into a more living realm. We guess giant worms fit the bill. The other topic that stood out to us was talk about Dom and the game's emotional storyline. We've been told time and time again that Gears 2 will have a richer, deeper story this time around and now we know Dom and his long lost "hot chick" love Maria will be a big part of it. So, you can bet love will be in the air.Watch the video, make the jump and hear what team Epic has to say about graphics, downloadable content, the Cole stereotype and what's going on with the Gears of War movie. November can't get here soon enough!
Gears of War 2 panel: 'hot chicks,' stereotypes, living cover and more
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Gears_of_War_2_panel_hot_chicks_Cole_Train_living_cover'; While megatons were nary to be found at Epic Games' Gears of War 2 panel at this year's New York Comic Con, Epic president Michael Capps and writer Joshua Ortega nonetheless revealed a few tidbits that are sure to pique the interest of the Gears faithful.Immediately after production on the first Gears wrapped up, the team had to ask itself what it could to make the game "bigger" and "more badass." For example, they saw how people responded to the last-minute addition of the chainsaw. What could they do to improve the chainsaw? Chainsaw duels, perhaps?Cover, which is admittedly inspired by the oft-forgotten Kill.switch, will also be expanded upon in the sequel. Players have already taken cover behind inanimate objects: rocks, walls, etc. But, what if players could take cover behind moving, living things? What if players could kill a massive enemy and then use it as cover? This ultimately led to the development of massive worm creatures for the sequel.
No demo planned for Gears of War 2
Epic fans hoping for a little pre-release Locust-slaying action will be disappointed to hear that no demo is planned for Gears of War 2. The first taste of the roadie-running action title will have to come when the full version is released sometime in November.According to associate producer Tanya Jessen, producing a demo takes valuable time out of a game's development cycle, and with a two-year turnaround for Gears 2 a demo was simply not feasible. The first Gears of War also lacked a demo version, and with recent reports that demos aren't as great as publishers think they are, we have to trust that the folks at Epic know exactly what they're doing.
There are no plans for a Gears 2 demo
There goes another bit of the UT3 tease. ShackNews has confirmed that Epic has nothing in the pipeline regarding any Gears of War 2 demo. Like Halo 3 before it, the big holiday Xbox release has plenty of hype on its own to sell well. Plus, as Epic notes, creating a demo removes that much more from design, QA, production (and more) from the main game's development. They are, of course, correct, further noting that the game's two year production cycle would have made a demo even more difficult for Epic to pull off. *Sigh* All for the best we suppose.
UT3 will have "Gears 2 related surprise on the disc"
When we got word of the contents of the 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 we weren't exactly knocked off our feet. Without confirmed mod support, and with so many other shooters to choose from, could UT3 hang with only 5 extra maps? While that question still remains to be answered, the nature of it has shifted a little. In an interview with OXM UK, Mark Rein revealed that "you know, there might be a little Gears Of War 2 related surprise on the disc of Unreal Tournament 3. That's all I'm saying about that." With news like this it almost makes the UT3 sales guaranteed to jump, even if we don't yet know what the "surprise" will be. Really, it could be anything. A trailer, theme, or stupid picture pack seems likeliest, but if Epic REALLY wants to spike the sales of UT3 we might see something more along the lines of of a playable demo. Hell, why not just take the Crackdown route! Hey everyone listen up! Buy your Gears 2 beta and receive a free copy of UT3! We wouldn't put it past them.
Rein: GoW2 Game Informer details just a 'tidbit'
According to Epic's Mark Rein, the juicy Gears of War 2 details that came straight from the pages of May's Game Informer are only the tip of the GoW2 iceberg and only a "tidbit" of what the Gears sequel has to offer.Commenting on the Game Informer article, Rein told videogaming247 that Epic "told the Game Informer guys just a tidbit about the game. We showed them some stuff, obviously, but we're keeping a lot of information back that will make people go, 'It's even better than this.' As good as they say it is, and they really, really like it, there's still a lot of story to open up between now and when the game ships in November... I think people will really enjoy this game."So ... can we officially start the GoW2 hype machine yet? Mr. Rein says there's more juicy bits to come and our excitement level heading into E3 is at full alert. Ah heck with getting permission, the GoW2 hype machine is GO, GO, GO!
Game Informer drops Gears of War 2 details
The May 2008 issue of Game Informer, available in red and gray flavors, promises a "world exclusive first look at Gears of War 2" – lucky for us, a poster at NeoGAF took the time to share the juiciest Locust-filled bits with the rest of the class. Of course Marcus and Dom are back, but so are several new characters like Chairman Prescott ("an almost dictatorial military leader"), Tai Kaliso ("a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor-bound fighters"), and Maria Santiago (Dom's "lost love"); the Locust also have some new additions like the chanting "Kantus" who can focus those chants into concentrated sonic blasts (you're going to start acting quizzical now? They're underground monsters ...), and resurrect fallen Locust warriors. New functionality includes upgrades to Unreal Engine 3 as demoed during Microsoft's GDC keynote (obviously), a "SHUT UP" button to skip the yacking and get back to the shooting of the bug people, "drop in and drop out co-op" with different difficulty settings for different players, chainsaw duels, refined cover mechanics that should make it "harder to get hit while protected," a fourth even-more-casual Casual mode, and more. One area they aren't quite talking about yet is multiplayer. Game Informer writes, "We hear hints of ... multiplayer content that takes advantage of Unreal's new ability to deliver huge numbers of the Locust horde at one time, but confirmed details will have to wait until a later date." With most gamers, ourselves included, finding Gears' almost-excellent multiplayer implementation regrettably spartan, this is the one area we want to hear a haloff a lot more about.
New Gears 2 Info in latest Game Informer [Update]
As is often the case with video game news, a sharp-eyed forum-goer brings us this story. Over at NeoGAF, a poster with the latest issue of Game Informer has been relating some of the Gears 2 info contained within. There's a ton of information, most of which is new (and from the sound of it) awesome. There's only part of the story online at NeoGAF, and we'll only list some of the better sounding stuff here, so be sure to buy the magazine if you want the full scoop. "We have creatures that make the Brumak look like a baby panda bear." -Cliff Bleszinski "We hear hints of all sorts of new multiplayer features, from dramatically expanded co-op modes to multiplayer content that takes advantage of Unreal's new ability to deliver huge numbers of the Locust horde at one time, but confirmed details will have to wait until a later date." Different difficulty settings for each player in co-op. One person can play on Hardcore, one on Casual. COG Centaur Tank (Monster Truck + Tank) There's a dedicated level where you get to pilot one. Drop in/drop out co-op, with a fourth, easier, difficulty. Forced walking scenes replaced with a dynamic conversation camera system (which is skippable). Hundreds of Locust troops, all acting independently. "Gorgon burst pistol and poison grenades, both of which can become part of your arsenal if you play your cards right" If you're interested in a few more tidbits, they're after the break, otherwise buy the magazine for all the details.
