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GDC08: Gears of War 2 teaser video
If you can will yourself to push the "play" button on the above video, you'll see a recording of the brief and maddeningly ambiguous Gears of War 2 teaser trailer shown at Microsoft's GDC keynote. If the close study of Marcus Fenix's armored legs and a brutal chainsaw showdown with a locust don't get you excited, perhaps CliffyB's visit (with a chainsaw bayonet) can quicken your pulse. If, on the other soon-to-be-severed hand, you're wondering what on earth a CliffyB is, there's not much we can do for you. Gears of War 2 releases on Xbox 360 in November 2008.Video courtesy of our pals at Mahalo Daily.
GDC08: Microsoft and Epic announce Gears of War 2 for Nov. '08
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Gears_of_War_2_officially_announced_coming_Nov_08'; In what could only be considered as good news for the franchise's cult following, Microsoft and Epic Games have announced their intention to give Gears of War another go. Despite only scraping by with a couple of million units sold, Microsoft is determined to help the motley bunch of macho marines break into the niche shooter market with an Xbox 360 sequel, Gears of War 2. The game was officially announced by Epic's CliffyB during Microsoft's GDC keynote entitled, "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Commnunity ... and then give them Chainsaws." The game will be coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 in November, 2008. We'll bring you more information as soon as we can get it.
The Gears of War Nerf Lancer modification scares a locust horde of parents
If you haven't seen it by now, behold, the Gears of War, Nerf Lancer modification. Forsaken_angel24's genius is rooted in the combination of a regular Nerf Longshot and toy chainsaw. Neither of which would cause the average Wal-mart parent cause for concern. Combined, they take on the form of this foreboding assault rifle with working chainsaw bayonet, LED lighting and sound effects... which shoots squishy balls at little girls. Full instructions for modders are posted over at the Nerfhaven forums. We've added a video after the break -- not so much a how-to as a loving tribute to man's god-given right to war. [Via Hack n Mod, thanks Nick L.]
The Club nods at Gears of War's 'Seriously' achievement
For the thorough achievement hunter, there are an elite series of Gamerscore garnering goals that the softcore gamer is not likely to possess, such as Dead Rising's Zombie Genocider achievement, or, well, most of the achievements from Chromehounds. One stands out above the rest, though, requiring a great deal of time and skill to earn -- the "Seriously" achievement from Gears of War. Getting 10,000 kills in ranked multiplayer earns you 50 Gamerpoints, and hopefully, a concerned intervention from a few of your closest loved ones. Bizarre Creations' latest project The Club gives a hearty nod towards the life-consuming achievement with one of their own -- the cleverly titled "No, Seriously" requires you to kill 10,001 opponents in ranked online matches. Oh, we see what you did there. We'll have to wait until Feb. 19 to see if the game is good enough to merit that kind of time investment, and if Bizarre ripped anything else off of Gears -- such as a steroid-infused protagonist that speaks with the eloquence of Tourette's suffering sailor.
Gears of War 2 graces GamePro cover
With GDC less than two weeks away, the latest issue of GamePro magazine appears to have coverage of the as-yet-unannounced Gears of War 2. The cover of the March issue was recently unveiled, and while the featured story is Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the cover contains two references to coverage of the much-hinted but never confirmed Gears sequel.Despite the twice-over placement on the front cover, the announcement of the issue makes no mention of any Gears of War coverage, leaving us a bit skeptical of what the Gears 2 content exactly is. An unconfirmed report from the NeoGAF forums indicates that the content is purely speculative, guessing at a release date and possible features like improved matchmaking.Add this to the fact that legitimate Gear of War 2 info would be far more cover-worthy than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and the likelihood is that the Gears placement on the front cover is nothing more than an attempt to sell more issues. We'll leave Gears 2 speculation to accidental slip-ups and Amazon pre-order pages, thankyouverymuch.Update: Epic Games VP Mark Rein has confirmed our suspicions, telling Firing Squad that any preview article hinted at by Gamepro's cover would be "pure nonsense." Ouch![Via Eurogamer]
Gears of War dolls of masculinity available spring '08
It's time to play out your own Emergence Day with the first wave of Gears of War action figures featuring Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole and the Locust Drone -- your old He-Man figures are going to have to substitute for the rest of the cast. The figures will be available "late spring of 2008" and the second wave of dolls will crawl out "late 2008." The figures will be available at Hot Topic, FYE, comic book shops and other specialty stores. There's no word yet currently on price or what the second batch of characters will be, but it seems kind of unfair for Marcus to be without his Dom for an extended period of time (guess Man-At-Arms will have to do for the meantime).%Gallery-14117%
Watch this space, Epic Games plans to double in size
Having tired of rubbing actual elbows with fellow teammates, Epic Games' always verbose VP Mark Rein has confessed that he and his squad of developers have "pretty much run out of space" in the company's North Carolina base of operations, and that plans are well underway for an expansion to "at least" double the facility's current size. According to a report by North Carolina's News Observer, the devs coughed up a cool $1.57 million for the new office space, which will be positioned on a five-acre lot adjacent to Epic's current 31,000-square foot HQ.Headcount at Epic currently stands at 94, with current growth of around one new employee a month expected to continue for the next couple of years. So with all of this added space, will the developers get to spread out, and maybe quit knocking over each others' Mt. Dew as they reach for their mouse? Unlikely, as the report notes that the new facility will instead be largely used to house the numerous play testers that visit Epic, rather than have to rent out space down the street. We understand the need completely, though until the devs get additional space of their own we'd suggest judicious application of lids.
Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars, the prequel book treatment
Replace the "stop 'n pop" style of gameplay that Gears of War helped popularize with "sit 'n read" and you've got yourself a fairly good approximation of the forthcoming prequel (best neologism ever?) Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars. Written by well-known video game writer Steven L. Kent, The Pendulum Wars oughta fill in all those blank spots in the story that have been keeping you up at night. Blank spots like, "What the hell happened to Aspho Fields?"No, seriously, what? The book is listed as "Gears of War Pendulum Wars The Battle of Aspho Fields" at Amazon.ca. The 352-page first-person reader is being published by Del Rey and is listed with an August 26, 2008 release date. Now they just need to coordinate the movie release and the inevitable sequel to line up around the same time, and we've got ourselves an entertainment media hat trick![Via NeoGAF]
CliffyB loves his chainsaw gun, and his toys
ToyFare Magazine recently did a feature on the 50 greatest fictional weapons of all time, listing the Gears of War Lancer chainsaw gun among the ranks of the Green Lantern's ring, Thor's hammer, and Megatron (you know, when he's in gun form). And when sexy bachelor designer CliffyB learned that one of his weapons made the list, he did what any of us would have proudly done: totally geeked out and sent in pictures of his toy collection.A brief interview with Mr. Bleszinski reveals his favorite items in the collection, the all-importance of combining chainsaws and guns, as well as the undeniable truth that nothing is worthwhile until they've made action figures of it. So true, CliffyB. So true.
Epic president wanted to cut Gears' multiplayer, Mad World ad
Even presidents are human, and as such, they are prone to errors. But Epic president Mike Capps recently revealed that he almost made two mistakes of (sorry) epic proportions when it came to Gears of War. First and most troubling is that he had considered pulling multiplayer from the game because it wasn't moving quickly enough. (Boy, that would have made that eight-hour single player campaign a much more bitter pill, wouldn't it?) Also, he said he wanted to scrap the famous ad set to the brilliant Gary Jules' equally brilliant "Mad World" because, he says, "I thought it was stupid; I was like 'What are you thinking? Nobody knows Donnie Darko any more.'" Wow. Just, wow. Watch the above video to see how great things could have been.The good news in all this is that either Capps' conscience or employees convinced him in the end to do the right thing. Also, Epic now has an iron-clad recipe for success: Find out what Mike Capps says you should do, and then do the exact opposite.
Gears of War wins Golden Joystick GotY ... 2007?
When we saw Gears of Wars hoisted up at the 25th annual Golden Joystick Awards, we scratched our heads and checked the calendar. Yep, it is 2007. So why is Gears still winning 'Game of the Year' awards?As it turns out, the people's choice ceremony was honoring games form last year, and a few, like God of War II, which sorta seem like games from last year. The rather untimely celebration featured nominees like Guitar Hero II and Call of Duty 3 just as their respective sequels prepare to enter the market. Halo 3 Beta was considered among the 'Innovations' of the year, but the actual game, well, that will have to wait until ... next year. Full list of award winners follows.
Rare duo: Viva Pinata left in Gears' wake
Viva Piñata has found moderate success since its release late last year, with about 500,000 units sold, but it's far from the "next great family franchise" it was positioned as. Over at Gamasutra, James Thomas and Justin Cook of Rare discuss why they thought that Viva made less of a splash than many hoped. Interestingly, the two say that the game was supposed to be more of a symbol for third parties, showing that Microsoft was serious about games for kids. The sales were still low though, something that, in part, they chalk up to the marketing force put behind Gears of War, which shared Viva's launch window. "So much of the money went towards Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway," Thomas said. "It was a bit of like, 'What about the other franchise?' I think we got left in the wake somewhat. Hopefully with the PC version this Christmas, it might get something of a second wind."We'd be more likely to attribute Viva's sales to the fact that the game is too complicated for most kids, but sports cartoon graphics that turn many adult players off. That said, we're sure that Gary Jules on TV every 30 seconds didn't help matters.
Writer drops details about Gears of War movie
GamePro has an exclusive interview up with Stuart Beattie, writer of the forthcoming Gears of War movie. He's been tapped for the job since he did a bang-up job writing the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It's too bad they didn't use him for the sequels, because they were ... craptastic.He drops some interesting details about the upcoming film, including the fact that 300 ain't too bad of a reference movie, "That film was shot completely on green screen, which is amazing when you actually see the film. It's probably how we're going to do Gears of War."Beattie will be pouring himself into the job apparently, "I hope it's extremely collaborative. From my point of view it's definitely going to be, because I'm going to be riding their asses about it." Personally we don't care whose ass he rides, as long as a good movie comes out of it.
Gears of War movie may go the green screen route
Speaking to GamePro, Gears of War screenwriter Stuart Beattie discussed the upcoming film adaptation of the blockbuster game. Apart from talking about the slowly changing Hollywood view of game-to-film adaptations -- as the writer of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film (a movie based on a ride), he knows something about adaptations -- Beattie elaborates on how Gears of War may be treated in production. Beattie says that Gears of War will likely utilize the same techniques used in 300, which was shot entirely using a green screen. Said Beattie, "There's no way to build that world any other way, really," noting that a green screen and soundstage is the only way the movie could be made on a reasonable budget. So, when you sit down to enjoy the upcoming film, remember that the Brumak about to eat Marcus isn't real.
Gears of War emerges on PC Nov. 6
The PC version of Gears of War -- that would be the personal computer version mind you, not the parentally correct one which replaces all the chainsaws with comically large walkie-talkies -- has been scheduled for release on November 6th. Shacknews reports that the testosterone explosion epic will be bolstered by loads of new content, including 5 single-player chapters, three multiplayer maps, a game editor and a showdown with the Brumak. (In case you're not familiar with Gears of War's monster lexicon, the Brumak is a very large monster that you'll want to shoot as much possible.)While you're waiting for the wildly popular franchise to arrive on your overclocked and garishly lit machine, read our hands-on impressions and carefully ponder which charismatic thespian would best fit into Marcus' curb-stompers.
CliffyB's top priority for movie Marcus: Charisma
And no, not Charisma Carpenter, though, yes, that would be an inspired bit of casting. No, the man behind Gears of War said that the film version of Marcus Fenix should be able to light up a room with his charm ... even if it doesn't look like he could lift a Lancer above his head. "I get a lot of forum posts where Gears fans tell us we need to cast this wrestler as Marcus. I don't give a f**k if the guy's buff or six foot five," CliffyB. told GameDaily BIZ. "What matters most is that this guy is charismatic and he can act and is somebody compelling that you want to watch on screen. The Rock is the rare exception of a wrestler who is that charismatic that he can carry a movie. If they cast four mongoloid wrestlers in Gears and they're just as exciting to watch as paint dry on the screen, nobody's going to go see it."The Rock, huh? ... Do you hear that? That's the sound of bloggers across the planet Googling screen captures of The Game Plan.
Joystiq plays Gears of War PC
Joystiq recently got a chance to try out Gears of War for the PC at DigitalLife. The verdict: it's Gears of War alright. Beyond some necessary changes made to the control scheme for mouse users, the game is essentially the same one we all fell in love with last November. Joystiq does note that the visuals are markedly improved and pulling off headshots is (expectedly) much easier with a mouse. The build at Digital Life has its share of problems and bugs, but such problems should be ironed out in time for the game's release later this year. Hit the "read" link for Joystiq's full hands-on impressions.
Joystiq hands-on: Gears of War (PC)
Gears of War for PC is, surprisingly, a lot like Gears of War on Xbox 360. In fact, when playing with an Xbox 360 controller, it feels exactly the same.Of course, we stopped that nonsense and moved to a computer that had a traditional keyboard and mouse set-up. Would we be able to run and gun, take cover and blind-fire like we were able to on the Xbox 360? The answer is yes -- but it will take some time to get used to. Gone is the ability to "press A for everything." Rather, the game uses controls similar to Unreal Tournament 2004. Double tapping a directional button will trigger the appropriate animation, such as running, dodging and taking cover. For example, double tap W to jump forward. If a wall is in front of you, Marcus will cling to the wall and automatically take cover, as in the Xbox 360 version. Once in cover mode, spacebar will perform a context-sensitive action, as indicated by the icon on screen. It doesn't have the same fluidity of a controller, but for WASD fans, this is a perfect solution, as nothing is lost in the translation. Heck, even the "look at cool stuff" button returns as well (this time, mapped to Q).Using a mouse to aim is liberating, and will allow you to quickly look around the environment, something we're not accustomed to with Gears of War's usually claustrophobic camera. With the mouse, you'll be able to blind-fire at will with a click of the left click button. However, if you want to go in to precision aim mode, you'll have to hold the right-click button. It's a slight change in mentality to use the right-click so often, but the added accuracy of a mouse makes it infinitely easier to pull off the gory, satisfying head shots that Gears of Wars fans love. Will the mouse aim make the game easier? It appears as though it will.
Cliffy B: BioShock is my game of the year
You know why people like Cliffy B? No, it's not just the stylish locks and game design skills (though that's part of it, make no mistake). It's his honesty. It's the forthrightness, for example, to call BioShock his Game of the Year in September of a year when he is releasing a game of his own. That's the kind of guy we look up to. The man behind Gears of War gives a frank, funny take on the game (which was made with Epic's technology) over at his blog. Although he's dumping heaps of praise on the game, Cliffy's also honest enough to admit there are some things he doesn't like, including forcing his enemies to be covered in bees. We're still curious about the GOTY distinction though. Either he's as honest as we think, "Except for My Game" was implied in the award title or, maybe, it's just a subtle hint that Unreal Tournament 3 really, really isn't guaranteed to come out in November.
Marcus Fenix looks good in LEGOs
Those overly creative LEGO building fellas over Brickshelf did it again, this time using their finely honed talents to create a Gears Marcus Fenix figure. Just look at the detail on the armor, the accurate representation of the Lancer and how perfectly crafted the model is. This little masterpiece is awe inspiring, simply fanboy'alicious and makes us jealous of the talent those guys over at Brickshelf possess. Note to whoever owns this LEGO Marcus, we'd so pay to have one of these to place on our desk high atop Fanboy Towers. So ... eBay anyone?[Via Joystiq]
