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Sign up to play Gears of War early
It looks like registration for the Gears of War cemetery event is now open. What's more, it looks like another event is planned for Six Flags New England. So, sign up now for your chance to play Gears of War with celebrities who have no idea what it is (Paris Hilton heard it was "hot"). If you're lucky, you might even be invited to the private concert with aging metal band, Megadeth.[Via Major Nelson]
GOW launch event at a Hollywood graveyard
The marketing blitz for Gears of War is finally building up steam, as another GOW event is planned for this month (you gonna be at GameStop this Saturday?). The event, scheduled for October 26th at 12:01 AM, will be held in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in beautiful Los Angeles. The event -- part of "Match Made in Hell" month (sheesh) -- promises to mix up the likes of CliffyB and the GOW team, developers, game industry big shots, and even (gasp) celebrities. If you'd like to win a chance to attend, check out the "Match Made in Hell" website (as of this posting, registration has not opened for this event). It seems like Epic and Microsoft are really pushing the horror angle of Gears of War. Maybe we're just seasoned by marathon sessions of Silent Hill games, but GOW doesn't look all that scary to us. Hopefully, we'll hear a little more about it before the game ships.
Surprise! Gears banned in Germany
Another day, another violent game banned in Germany. It seems that Gears of War -- like Dead Rising before it -- has effectively been banned in Germany. This requires some explanation, as the game isn't technically banned. Basically, the ratings board -- charmingly named Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle -- refuses to dole out a rating at all. As a result, German stores will be unable to sell the game. It sounds worse than it is, though, because real German gamers know they can always import from Austria.Microsoft could retool the game and make it suitable for impressionable young Germans, but that would cause Live compatibility issues with other versions. Hence, banned. So, any bets on which game will be banned next? Our vote: Viva Piñata. Seriously, you can beat innocent piñatas to death in that game. It's sick.[Thanks, Bobby]
Gears demo rumor is shot down (again)
Epic guru, Mark Rein, has once again shot down the ever persistent Gears of War demo rumor. It flared up again yesterday when web denizens spotted the Gears of War demo graphic above. "Just saw the dog tag image with the "Microsoft points". It just isn't true. There is no demo coming out before the game ships and I have no idea if we'll do one after the game ships or not. Right now there are no plans to do one as I said earlier in this thread. I have asked Microsoft to take that image down."It's kind of weird when developers have to ask Microsoft to take something down. Makes us wonder how serious the split between Microsoft PR and developers really is.[Thanks, aragorn]
See GOW Live this Saturday!
What are you doing this Saturday? Would you like to see sneak peek of Gears of War? Then you'd best call up your local GameStop. This weekend, GameStop will be hosting a special Gears of War preview event. Held for one hour after store closing, participants -- 17 years or older -- will be treated to exclusive Gears of War video content and get some free swag to boot. It may not be as cool as, say, actually getting to play the game, but it's pretty sweet nonetheless. As an added bonus, GameStop will also be selling 3-month and 1-year Live cards for $5 off retail price. If you'd like to attend, call your local GameStop for details. Snap some pictures while you're there, and we'll post 'em right here on 360 Fanboy.[Thanks, delerious]
A Gears of War demo after all? [update 1]
A savvy forum member over at Xboxic spotted something pretty interesting on the British Xbox.com. On the page explaining Marketplace and MS Points there's a graphic showing the fabulous things you can buy. Among them is a Gears of War demo. Could the previously denied demo be coming after all? Maybe, but then again, Epic hasn't said that there won't ever be a demo, just not before the game's release. This find seems to confirm the demo's existence, but that doesn't mean it's coming out any time soon. A worrisome note, why is the GOW demo grouped with all that premium content? I mean, demos are free, right? Right?[Via Xboxic]Update: This rumor has been officially canned. Click here for full scoop.
Behold! The GOW collector's tin
Xboxygen sends us this purty picture of the Gears of War collector's tin. The collector's edition, for those who don't know, contains a hardbound art book and a DVD full of extra features. It's interesting to note that this case is different from the cases we've grown to love for games like Halo 2 and DOOM 3. It looks like a normal plastic case could actually fit inside that tin (and maybe it does?). Yeah, yeah, we know, it's not exactly mind rattling news, but we can't resist even the tiniest Gears of War development. So, do you like the case? Will you fork over 70 bucks to get it?
Famitsu head says 360 is dead in Japan
Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Famitsu publisher, Enterbrain, isn't making any bets on 360 winning in Japan. His reasoning: thus far the 360 has sold a paltry 150,000 consoles in Japan. He does concede that Blue Dragon -- Microsoft's would be white knight -- might add another 100,000 by the end of 2006, but that's about it. He goes on to guess that by the end of 2007, the number will only inflate to 560,000 units. Definitely not good. Granted, Hammamura-san is no analyst -- and analysts are always right -- but he does publish Japan's biggest gaming magazine after all. Is his prognosis right? Is Japan a hopeless cause for Microsoft? In the end, does it really even matter? What do you think?
GOW Photoshop contest
Richard -- still love that name -- over at Aeropause is hosting a Gears of War contest. The winner, naturally, will get a copy of Gears of War and plenty of swag to boot. Second place gets a GOW faceplate and swag, and third place just gets plain old swag. All you have to do is send in a GOW image that has been cleverly Photoshopped in some way. All winners will get their entry featured on Aeropause as well. Head over to Aeropause for all the details. We're not hosting the contest, but we'd love to see what you come up with anyway. Link your entry in the comments and maybe we'll feature it here. Now if we could just convince some companies to send 360 Fanboy some swag, maybe we could give stuff away. Any takers? Capcom, Epic, Microsoft? Anybody? [Thanks, Dan]
Teaser site reveals new GOW tidbits
The revamped Gears of War site has officially launched, brothers and sisters. The site is one of those interactive doohickeys akin to the Alone in the Dark and Condemned websites. You "play" as Marcus still trapped in his cell. When the lights black out, you're left with 4 matches to light up your surroundings. Highlight a message scrawled onto the wall and you can watch flashbacks that reveal the game's story and more about Emergence Day and the Locust horde. Anyone looking forward to Gears of War should check it out.[Via Gamerscore Blog]
Marvel Universe Online trailer update
Marvel Universe Online caught the attention of many true believers at X06, and now the MMO's trailer is available on the web. Microsoft and Cryptic Studios haven't included any gameplay sequences, but the extended CGI clip teases us with the usual suspects from the House of Ideas. Everyone seems to be grabbing a piece of the Marvel pie these days, with Activision handling the Spider-Man, X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games, and EA attempting to rebound from the dreadful Nemesis fighter. Read more about how Marvel and City of Heroes developer Cryptic decided to play nice in the IP sandbox.
Gears of War gets Penny Arcadified
Gabe over at Penny Arcade whipped up this very nice sketch of Marcus from Gears of War yesterday. I guess we missed it somehow. Was something going on yesterday? Perhaps some of you might like to make it your new wallpaper (though I have opted for Halo Wars). I'd use it as my wallpaper, but white backgrounds hurt my sensitive little eyes. See a larger version after the break.
Halo Wars trailer gives us goosebumps
Okay, so you missed the X06 briefing and the Halo Wars trailer. Your 360 crapped out on you and you couldn't download it from Marketplace. To top it all off, your slavish devotion to X360F prevents you from looking it up on one of the internets. It's okay, friend, we understand your pain. You need merely click "continue" to see the video embedded after the break. And by the way, that headline is not a joke. It gave us goosebumps (well, maybe not Ken, but he is made of sterner stuff than I). So, who wants this game? Raise your hand.
MS announces Halo Wars, a new RTS [update 1]
A real-time strategy game based in the Halo universe has been announced. The project, entitled Halo Wars, will be designed by Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) "exclusively for Xbox 360" (read: no PC). This announcement comes weeks after Bungie issued a cease-and-desist to the Halogen project, a C&C: Generals mod based in the Halo universe. It was at this time that 1UP's Luke Smith predicted an official Halo RTS in collaboration with Ensemble Studios. Somebody buy this man a drink, because he nailed it. After bringing Scott Henson, Director of the Game Development Group at Microsoft, up to speed on the Halogen incident, he assured us Halo Wars "has absolutely nothing to do with that" (whether he meant the mod's shut down or the game's inception is vague). The original Halo: Combat Evolved, in earlier stages of development, was a real-time strategy game in the vein of Myth, another Bungie RTS. You can read all about it in the pages of Bungie's lore. While we're very intrigued by the thought of a Halo strategy title, we're a bit concerned about how it will play on an Xbox 360 controller. Must ... use ... mouse ... [Update 1: The Halo Wars official website has also just gone live, with a pretty (yet entirely pre-rendered) trailer. The FAQ explains that Halo Wars takes place before the events of Halo 1 and its controls have been built "from the ground up" to work with the Xbox 360 controller. We have also embedded the trailer below, via Game Videos.]
Bungie podcast, hear the waaambulance live [update 1]
Bungie has posted their very first official podcast. While it's kind of short on Halo 3 tidbits, the show should be interesting to any Halo fans out there. For example, the podcast reveals that the composer of the Halo series, Marty O'Donnell, used to make his living writing jingles. You might know his work for either Mr. Clean or Flintstones vitamins (which the podcast's theme song is based on, incidentally). The podcast also let's us hear some of the placeholder dialogue from Halo 3 and some never before heard sound effects, though it's not as interesting as you might think. In the end, though, the best part of the show is the live reading of Bungie's now infamous Waaaaambulance. For those who don't know, the wambulance is Bungie reading letters from some of the dirty cheaters that have been banned from Live and are now begging to get their accounts back. Good stuff. We look forward to future episodes. Follow the read link to download the show.Update: Corrected spelling mistake. Cuz I'm a moron.
Forza images (is that 3D grass?)
Forget about all this TGS business. Let's talk about this shot from Forza 2. Damn, that is one pretty car. Seriously, just look at it. Damn. Over the past few weeks, however, we've come to realize that pretty cars don't matter, apparently. No, what real racing enthusiasts crave is 3D grass. Why? We have no earthly idea, but it seems to be the holy grail of racing games. So, is that 3D grass? We're voting no. Check out more shots over at Xboxygen and decide for yourselves.
New 360 Platinum Hits for $29.99
Microsoft has officially announced the first batch of Platinum Hits for the Xbox 360. The games are: Perfect Dark Zero Project Gotham Racing 3 Kameo: Elements of Power Need for Speed Most Wanted Conspicuously missing from the list is Call of Duty 2, the 360's first million seller. The first four Platinum Hits will be available for the bargain price of $29.99 starting October 15th -- the second set should be announced in the spring of 2007. It's a far cry from what we considered a bargain last gen, but it's definitely better than nothing. So, for those of you that haven't picked these up yet, will a $29.99 price tag make you reconsider? See the full press release after the break.
Halo 3 has revised controls, panic abounds
It's a rough time for Halo fanboys. Every week Frankie gives us an update with almost zero information. It is our job as fanboys then to take this information and blow it way out of proportion. So what is it this week? Bungie is changing the controls! Egad, it can't be true. What's more, Bungie is toying with the idea of adding plenty of new setups ranging from hardcore to grandma friendly. The end result of all this is that we'll have a setup that makes more sense on our 360 controllers -- especially now that the black and white buttons don't exist. Basically, all we know now is that the bumpers will receive more logical actions than turning on the flashlight and teamspeak. The only other tidbit of news this week: the AI is coming along nicely. As an example, the AI of a warthog gunner has been changed significantly. In the words of Frankie: "In previous Halo games, the gunners were smart and would pick off targets in a logical fashion, but this time around, and it could be my imagination, the gunners are more precise and easier to influence. You can target individual bad guys by steering the Hog and even 'convince' your gunner to pick a more relevant target and have him stop trying to blast a lone grunt hiding behind a rock when a bigger menace approaches." Hey, as long as we can still stick a sniper with infinite ammo in the passenger seat, we're cool. Other than that, it's all quiet on the Halo front -- unless you'd like to read what Peter Jackson has to say.
Stupendous Shadowrun Shots
TeamXbox has some spiffy new shots of Shadowrun. We chose to display this one because Mr. Elf Vampire Dude has a sword, and swords are cool. Microsoft really, really wants all of you to think Shadowrun will be the next big thing, what with its Live Anywhere, PC-to-360 multiplayer goodness. Anybody hyped up to play against PC players, or does the lack of a keyboard and mouse leave you cold and untrusting?
2010: A Halo 3 Pre-Order Odyssey
A certain big box store is taking pre-orders for Halo 3 with a listed release date of December 30, 2010. The whole idea of pre-ordering video games, which hardly ever sell out, is pretty stupid to begin with, but this stretches a tired ploy to the limit -- no matter how low the rate of return on your junior savings account. Not that anybody puts stock in retailer release dates, but let's hope Bungie works a little faster than than the slow minds at Best Buy. [Thanks WickedOwl]
