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'Gears of War 4' will require a monster machine to play in 4K
You might have been delighted to hear that Gears of War 4 will take full advantage of your PC, but you might not be quite so thrilled when you realize what it takes to run the game in its full 4K glory. On top of a 4K gameplay demo (below), Microsoft has outlined the Windows version's system requirements... and they're not exactly modest. While you can get by on mid-range 2014 hardware as a baseline, the "ideal" experience (effectively, 4K) demands both a high-end AMD FX or Intel Core i7 processor as well as one of the highest-end graphics cards in recent memory, such as a GeForce GTX 1080 or a Radeon R9 Fury X. You'd better have splurged on your system in recent months, in other words.
'Gears of War 4' will have plenty of PC-specific features
The history of Microsoft-backed Xbox One games coming to the PC isn't exactly stellar. When Remedy's Quantum Break reached Windows, it was saddled with limitations that were partly dictated by the Universal Windows Platform's own limits, such as frame rate issues and an overall lack of features. You shouldn't run into those problems when Gears of War 4 rolls around, though. As part of a Eurogamer interview, The Coalition has revealed that the cover-based shooter will have ample PC-specific features. You'll get much deeper video settings that include dynamic resolutions, so your ultra-wide display won't go to waste. It'll also take advantage of many-core PC processors, higher-resolution textures and UWP's recently unlocked frame rates, offering a distinct visual advantage to playing on a brawny computer.
Behold the 'Gears of War 4' custom Xbox One S
The Xbox One S isn't even out yet but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from taking the smaller console to the custom shop for the first time. If the base model's white exterior doesn't match your decor, maybe a Gears of War 4 blood red one will. It's ugly as sin (now we know what the "S" actually denotes), packs 2TB of internal storage and has laser-etched "claw marks" left by Gears of War 4's new enemies, the Swarm. Of course, HDR video is here as well, and GoW4 is the first game to take advantage of it.
Play Anywhere puts the same games on Xbox and PC
Microsoft's been talking about bridging the gap between it's PC and console gamers for awhile now -- and at E3 today, it announced just how it's going to do it. Xbox Play Anywhere: a new cross buy program that automatically gives you the PC version a game when you buy it on Xbox... or the Xbox version when you buy it on PC. The first game to take advantage of the program? Gears of War 4, of course -- and yes, Xbox One and PC players will be able to play together online.
'Gears of War 4' multiplayer brings the series back to its roots
Excluding Halo, Gears of War is Microsoft's biggest multiplayer shooter: For many players, multiplayer is far more important than the main story-based campaign. That's what made Gears of War: Judgement a disappointment for many long-time players. The multiplayer experience was changed enough that avid GoW fans were left a bit cold. As such, developer The Coalition looked at Gears of War 4's multiplayer as an opportunity to make the best GoW experience it could while sticking to the formula that previously had made it so popular.
The first 'Gears of War 4' trailer is sad (and sounds like it)
We saw Gears of War 4 gameplay footage back at E3 2015, but (in time to hype the game before this year's game show), here's a short trailer that's a bit of a downer. Setting the scene for the son of the main protagonist from all the previous games, 25 years have passed since the last fight, and yet there's still things to gun down with giant machine guns. (And they deserve it for knocking down that tree.) As is the GoW series' wont, we get a cover song to underscore the destructions: Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence, which will probably sound familiar to most of you.
'Gears of War 4' hits Xbox One on October 11th
There's still a lot we don't know about Gears of War 4, but at least we finally have a release date: October 11th for the Xbox One. The game is set 25 years after the end of the last entry, and it stars Marcus Fenix's son, JD, along with a new crew of beefy soldiers. It's going to be the fresh start for the series in many ways -- the franchise is now under Microsoft's control instead of Epic Games, and it's being developed by its Vancouver-based subsidiary, The Coalition.
'Gears of War 4' multiplayer beta starts April 18th
If you've been wondering whether or not Gears of War 4 can live up to the reputation set by (most) of its ancestors, you won't have to wait long to get a good sense of where it's going. Microsoft and The Coalition have revealed that the Gears 4 multiplayer beta for Xbox One starts on April 18th, when existing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition players will get their first shot. An open beta for any Xbox Live Gold member will start a week later, on April 25th, and the whole shebang will wind down on May 1st. Two weeks (at best) isn't a long time to try the game, and there's no single player in the beta, but this test run should let you know whether Gears 4's late-year launch will fill you with hope or dread.
'Gears of War 4' stars 'Dragon Ball Z,' 'Spartacus' actors
Gears of War 4 is set 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3, and its story stars JD Fenix, the son of long-time series protagonist Marcus Fenix, Game Informer reports. He's joined by Kait Diaz, a survivalist who grew up outside of JD's walled-off world, and Delmont "Del" Walker, one of JD's best friends from boarding school and the army. After a mysterious military incident, Del and JD find themselves in the wild -- in Kait's territory, in fact -- and that's where the game kicks off. But, it's not going to go very far without a handful of talented voice actors.
'Gears of War 4' starts a new saga in late 2016
What, you didn't think The Coalition would stop its Gears of War revival with a remastered version of the original game, did you? Sure enough, the developer has announced Gears of War 4 (or as it was shown on screen, Gears 4) for the Xbox One. There isn't much to say about it yet, but it's definitely not a straight-up continuation of Marcus Fenix's story -- he's nowhere to be found in the preview clip shown at E3, and the enemies aren't the usual Locust you've come to know and hate. You'll know the full story when this fourth Gears game ships in late 2016. Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
