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Xbox-exclusive Mortal Kombat fighter discussed, Boon says
With Kratos headlining the Mortal Kombat roster on PS3, it seemed only a matter of time before NetherRealm Studios would announce an Xbox-exclusive character for the ninth installment in the grizzled fighting game series -- except the game's out today. It never happened. "Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive [character]," MK boss man Ed Boon told Eurogamer. "I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say." Boon did end up saying a little more, as he hinted that Halo's Master Chief and Gears of War's Marcus Fenix came up as (obvious) choices during discussion. Of course, Chief has been known to "balk at" the invitation to join an exclusive fighting tournament. And we heard that it's in Marcus' contract that any arena he enters has to be cover-based.
Marcus Fenix has a nice bust
San Diego Comic Con is going to see up-close what Gears of War's Marcus Fenix would look like if he were ripped in half by a locust and preserved as a trophy. The "Marcus Fenix Epic Scale Bust," created by TriForce Sales (which also created the Locust bust a couple years back), will be available for purchase starting next Wednesday, July 21, online and at the show. The bust is approximately 32 inches (81 cm) tall and features LEDs throughout the armor and a COG Lancer gun. The "Marcus Fenix Epic Scale Bust" will have a limited run of 500 units, selling for $350 apiece. The "Marcus Fenix Epic Scale Gold Lancer Edition Bust" will retail for $400, with only 100 made. A perfect piece for any corporate lobby or Locust hive. %Gallery-97614%
Epic's Mark Rein 'very excited' about the iPad's possibilities
Sure, it might resemble a large iPod Touch to some of us, but to the folks who get paid the big bucks to make games -- such as Epic Games VP Mark Rein -- the iPad looks like opportunity. Speaking to Gamasutra at this week's big unveiling event, Rein said "I really like the device and I think it's going to be great for gaming." And considering his company's Unreal Engine 3 is popping textures in and out of view on the iPhone already, it's no surprise that he said it's a "pretty safe assumption" to bet that the engine will make its way to the iPad. Like the iPhone game developers we spoke with yesterday (and our own wishes for what we'd like to see on the device), Rein hopes that devs will "take advantage of the differentiated form factor of the device." And hey, with all that extra screen space, we have to imagine that at least a quarter of Marcus Fenix's enormous husk is now able to fit into view! It's called innovation, folks, ya dig?
Cliff Bleszinski explains why there are so many bald space marines
If you think Unreal Engine 3 games feature too much gray and brown, laden with "pillars and girders," all being stomped around on by bald space marines, Cliff "Young Clifford" Bleszinski wants you to blame the tech. Speaking with Develop recently, the man that birthed Marcus Fenix said, "The technology of this generation just happens to be very good at rendering metals and stones and dramatic lighting." He argues that "translucent effects" are much harder to pull of with the technology given and as such, "the tech is good at showing off armor and it's not that good at doing hair ... that's why we have bald space marines."Though we'd argue that there are lots of bald men in our lives who happen to not be space marines -- CheapyD and Dr. Manhattan prime among them -- we can appreciate how Marcus Fenix may be more equipped to take down the Locust than an omnipotent blue man. Wait a minute! Interestingly, Bleszinski also notes during the interview that he's got "like five projects going on right now" -- we're counting Shadow Complex and another (still unannounced) Gears of War, which leaves three unannounced projects? Something is afoot at Epic Games. And it almost certainly involves bald space marines.
New Gears of War figures featured at Toy Fair
NECA had quite the Gears lineup at NYCC's Toy Fair this past weekend, and MTV Multiplayer was there to check it out. Aside from a cute Marcus Munny, attendees could also check out the new Boomer figure, as well as the Ticker, among others. Personally, this blogger is glad to finally see a Colonel Hoffman figure. It sucks not having the toy of the guy you murder countless people online with, you know?
GayGamer's E3 scrapbook series
The boys over at GayGamer.net put together a video scrapbook of serious questions they asked members of the gaming press during E3. The series features folks from several of your favorite gaming blogs, sites and magazines. There's no embed code and we referenced a couple of these during the week, but here they all are in one neat, perfectly trimmed, little package with a link to each episode: Part 1: Who won the E3 press conference war? Part 2: What character or franchise do you hope you never have to see again? Part 3: E3, GDC or Pax? Part 4: Would you rather sleep with Marcus Fenix or have your Gamerscore reset to zero? Part 5: Best game of the show? Part 6: Worst game of the show? Part 7: What is your E3 pet peeve? Part 8: Do you manscape? GG tells us they'll be doing another video scrapbook at PAX in a couple weeks and asking the same type of hard-hitting introspective questions of random attendees. We definitely had fun with this and hope to see them do it again.
Voice of Marcus Fenix talks Gears of War 2
The announcement of Gears of War 2 last week during GDC was a little bit like when your drunk uncle acknowledges the growth on your aunt's face. Yes, everyone knew it was there. But now we can all finally exhale and just talk about it. That's exactly what voice actor John DiMaggio (you know, Marcus Fenix's voice box) did this week with IGN.It's not exactly megaton-rich, but DiMaggio did let it slip that the Brumak will return, as will Franklin the head of the stranded. Also, expect some new weapons (we're hoping for a musket with hedge clippers attached to it).
Epic demands: quit making Gears dolls
Back in January we reported on Emilio Lopez's custom Gears of War Munny doll that he made for his cousin as a Christmas present. And we still think that big headed Marcus doll rocks. Anyway, it looks like Epic Games' legal counsel took notice and sent Emilio a cease and desist order demanding that he quit making the dolls and remove all logos that infringe on their Gears of War trademark. The cease and desist order goes on to read,"Your unauthorized use of the Gears of War trademarks falsely suggests sponsorship or affiliation between Epic and you and constitutes an attempt by you to trade off the goodwill of the Gears of War trademark."Wait, we thought he was making a Christmas gift for his little cousin? Emilio never sold the doll, never made a penny off of it, and only created one as a gift. He was proud of his work and wanted to share it with the Gears community and nothing more. Come on Epic, we know you are much cooler than that as this seems just a little too corporate for even a company like EA. Was this whole cease and desist thing really necessary?[Via Something Awful, Thanks, Didlee]
Up for auction: Marcus Fenix
Recently spotted on eBay was a handful of Marcus Fenix statuettes. Most of you will recognize Mr. Fenix as a the hulking badass with a chainsaw on his gun from Gears of War. The statuette is roughly 15cm tall, hand painted, and has a limited edition production number on the base. Curiously, all three auctions are based in the UK (the currency for each is in GBP). Was Microsoft running some special promotion in the UK (or is some guy using three user names to sell them)? All three statues have at least 2 days left on the auction block, and the highest bid currently stands at £65 ($126.33). If you've got the urge -- and the cash -- to have one for your very own, you still have plenty of time to place a bid. Given how much they're going for right now, we could see these hitting $200 by the time the auctions end. How much would you fork over to get one?See an embiggened image after the break.
Marcus Fenix is Bender, Bender is Marcus Fenix
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Marcus_Fenix_is_Bender_Bender_is_Marcus_Fenix'; Gears of War's protagonist Marcus Fenix is voiced by John Di Maggio, the same actor who voiced Bender in the television series Futurama. Aside from the hilarity of the two characters sounding completely different, it's great when an actor can pull off the "I would have never guessed that unless I read the credits" situation. Some readers may be old enough to remember the shock when you found out that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars) was the voice of The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series. Some other random trivia is Courtenay Taylor, who played lesbian Jedi Juhani in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, was also the voice of those naughty twins from the beginning of God of War, numerous female characters in Everquest II and the voice of Wonder Woman in Justice League Heroes.Searching through IMDB.com for your favorite games will unleash a treasure trove of voice actors you recognize from many different games and shows. If you are an anime fan, put in your favorite show and most of those actors are recognizable for their voice talents in many video games as well.
Microsoft exec touts Fenix as hero of Gears of War "trilogy"
Corporate VP of Global Marketing Jeff Bell has spit out some new evidence that suggests Microsoft is banking on Marcus Fenix to be the next Master Chief. Speaking on the much-circulated Gears of War ad, Bell told GameDaily, "The goal of this ad is to establish Marcus Fenix as the hero of the Gears of War trilogy."Given Gears' open ending, the sequel is a near-guarantee. After that, turning the franchise into a trilogy is simple. Just chop the sequel in half and save the leftovers for Xbox's third incarnation.So is there room enough in the 'Box for both the Master and Mr. Fenix? Think we'll ever see the franchises cross paths? Heck, they did a Battletoads & Double Dragon -- anything could happen.
