Gears of War
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E3: The Gears of War mural [update 1]
The guy above is currently sketching a large mural for Xbox 360's Gears of War, currently on display at the E3 2006 show floor. So far, this has been the culmination of 10 hours total of hard labor, and he is contracted to finish by Thursday. We'll keep checking up on his progress so you can see his beautiful work come to life.Click below for more pictures.
Xbox 360 price drop and other X-rumors
An Xbox 360 premium bundle for $299 to compete with the PS3 launch? Gears of War at the end of October? Exchanging game achievements for Microsoft Points? César A. Berardini at TeamXbox has translated these and many other interesting Xbox rumors from Spanish game sites Los Troyanos and MeriStation.On the Xbox Live front, there is speculation that the Gold membership will either drop in price or become free with advertisements, in addition to an expanded Friends list that allows for up to 200 gaming buddies. If backward compatibility gossip is accurate, we will see the list of supported Xbox titles grow by 50 in June. There is also talk of a new 360 dashboard interface for children, which would be consistent with recent reports of Microsoft looking to enhance their family image.Which rumors do you believe?
Gears of War possibly in November
Microsoft should maintain their console shooter dominance throughout 2006, but with Halo 3 now rumored for a 2007 release, many Xbox 360 gamers were hoping that Gears of War would help fill the void. The good news is that Epic's highly anticipated sci-fi shooter will be making an E3 appearance this spring. However, EB Games and GameStop are listing a November release date for the finished product.TeamXbox speculates that this initial release date could be a move on Microsoft's part to counter the PS3's expected launch title, Unreal Tournament 2007. Then again, Midway hasn't confirmed that the next Unreal will make the PS3 launch window, so what gives? Hopefully, we'll have a firm launch date next month at E3.
Halo 3 possibly back in PS3 launch frame, says analyst
With all the PS3 delay news flying around lately, it seems that a certain big sequel for the Xbox 360 may have creeped back onto the 2006 release window.According to Next Generation, a "lead analyst" from Tokyo is claiming that "big-hitting titles" for the first-moving 360 could be targeted at the PS3 launch "just to sabotage it." He stated that the release of Halo 3 ("timed to PS3") would be "quite damaging for Sony" as well.Well, a preemptive launch of Halo 3 would certainly serve as a distraction to Sony's next-gen launch plans, but people who really want a PS3 probably won't be deterred by Microsoft's premiere FPS appearing around the same time their favorite console does. Gears of War most likely won't stop PS3 fanboys, either. An unexpectedly early release (of either title) would certainly prove to be a perfect holiday present for 360 owners, however. Competition is grand.See also: Halo 3 could be released in '06 according to MS Game Studios GM Halo 3: speculation roundup PS3 worldwide in November Breaking News: PS3 delayed until November!
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.
