Legendary Pictures co-financing "Gears of War" movie" [The Cut Scene]

Gears of War 2? That's so 2008. We ask recently promoted Microsoft Games Studio head Phil Spencer about Gears of War 3. We heard during the show that story for the Gears of War trilogy has been completed, so what about the game design?

“Playing Gears of War is a kick-ass experience,” said Del Rey editor Keith Clayton, “And the Gears of War books should remain true to the spirit of the game. I’m happy to announce that the marriage of Karen Traviss and chainsaw bayonets is a match made in heaven—or hell, if you happen to be a Locust drone.”

The first novel, Gears of War: The Battle Of Aspho Fields will go on sale October 28th, exploring the relationship between Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. Let's just hope there's no kissing involved. Hit the jump for more info.

EPIC GAMES AND DEL REY ANNOUNCE NOVELS IN THE GEARS OF WAR VIDEO GAME UNIVERSE

NEW YORK, NY – July 21, 2008 – Epic Games, Inc. and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey will publish three novels set in the gritty world of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Gears of War video game series. The first novel, GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss, will go on sale October 28, 2008. The Gears of War 2 video game, the highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defining third-person shooter that won over 30 game of the year awards, will be released worldwide exclusively for the Xbox 360™ on November 7, 2008.

In GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, the last human stronghold on Sera braces itself for another onslaught from the Locust Horde, as ghosts come back to haunt Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. For Marcus — decorated war hero, convicted traitor — the return of an old comrade threatens to dredge up an agonizing secret he's sworn to keep. As the beleaguered soldiers of the Coalition of Ordered Governments take a last stand to save humankind from extermination, the harrowing decisions made at Aspho Fields have to be relived and made again. Marcus and Dom can take anything the Locust Horde throws at them — but will their friendship survive the truth about Dom’s brother Carlos?

“After finishing the first Gears of War game, players were left wanting to know more about Delta Squad and the events leading up to Emergence Day,” said Epic Games’ president Michael Capps. “This trilogy of novels opens up whole new worlds of storytelling opportunities, and will add even more context to the upcoming comic book series, game sequel and motion picture. We loved Karen Traviss’ work on the Republic Commando series, and we can’t wait to get her Gears book to our fans.”

“Playing Gears of War is a kick-ass experience,” said Del Rey editor Keith Clayton, “And the Gears of War books should remain true to the spirit of the game. I’m happy to announce that the marriage of Karen Traviss and chainsaw bayonets is a match made in heaven—or hell, if you happen to be a Locust drone.”

It's possible that a lot of people who play Resident Evil 5 may not have played Resident Evil 4. But they might have played Gears of Wars or Call of Duty. Those are both games that I and our team really, really like. So don't be surprised if at the Tokyo Game Show, the controls are different. For now, we have the control set up for RE4. I'm not confirming or denying anything, but we like to surprise people.

Another interesting tidbit: When Takeuchi saw Gears of War, he thought the guys that made it must really like Resident Evil 4. And when he met the Gears of War team, they told him, yes, they were big RE4 fans. And like that, we come full circle! Or something.

Four player co-op in Gears of War 2 would be too messy, the plot would fall apart, Mark Rein told me tonight as we sipped mojitos at the Ciudad restaurant.

But he and Cliff Blezinski both know how much gamers thirst larger co-op experiences. So the development team set out to create something that would be just as fun as four player campaign co-op, but not as problematic.

In Horde up to five players take on increasing large waves of locust, clearing rounds and scoring points until everyone dies. The idea is fairly straight forward and surprisingly fun.

I was lucky enough to sit down with Rein and Blezinski and play through a couple of matches of Horde as they looked on. It only took a minute or two for Rein to start back seat playing, pointing out where enemies were and chastizing my skill, or lack of it, with a sniper rifle.

"Head shot, head shot, you need to shoot him in the head."

"You know what we say in our studio, take your time, and do it right."

"Oh, you got him, OK you don't suck."

At one point Rein, apparently frustrated with how slow I was reacting to his shouts, tried to grab the controller from me to revive one of my dying companions. I twisted free and brought my guy back to life.

"It's fun isn't it," he asked as I continued to play.

Lots.

Yet another release date dropped during Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference as Cliff "Dude Huge" Bleszinski took the stage to show off the next chapter in the Gears of War story. After extensively showing off the game in action, Dude Huge took the stage to announce the release date for the title...Gears of War 2, launching worldwide November 7th. So we have Fable II in October, Gears 2 in November, and the Resident Evil 5 in March. It's release date-o-rama!

We definitely want it [Gears of War 2] to be longer. We won't specify a number of hours right now, but it will be longer — I can guarantee that. And it'll have a little bit more drama too... I think that, with campaigns like in Gears, Halo or Call of Duty, my personal preference is around the 10+ hours mark, with a co-op and a multiplier you can play in the longer term.But I find a lot of games are filled with padding to make them seem longer. They do stuff like, at the half way mark, demand that you play through all the levels again backwards, and you think "kiss my ass." We'll never do that. We'd always rather push forward and provide new experiences.

Added value! That's because The Cliffster cares. He really, really does.

Interview Cliff Bleszinski [CVG]

I'm a huge fan of Kojima... The kind of scenes they do in MGS4 are phenomenal. I think it has the best sound and real-time [cut scenes] I've seen in the industry and since they're the best at what they do, players love it... It's the hallmark of the series - the camera angles and dramatic scenes and it's really taking film-making to this new digital level...

And it's a damn shame that passive entertainment is on the way out. Bleszinski also better clarifies what it seems he was trying to say about the Gears 2 team using MGS as the model of what they're not doing: "In the kind of games we do, the cut scenes are around three to four minutes on average. It just says what needs to be said and moves on to letting you actually play the game." There's certainly room for both types of games. Dude hugs for everyone!

CliffyB loves MGS4: Best cut scenes in the industry [CVG]

CliffyB: Fewer buttons on next Xbox pad, please [CVG]

We imagine that we'll know, without a shadow of a doubt, exactly when Gears of War 2 will "escape" by next Monday, when Microsoft holds its E3 press conference. Still, it might not be a bad idea to schedule this as a sick day with your boss early as a courtesy.

Gears of War 2 [GearsOfWar.com - thanks, Max!]

No we don't have any plans to make something for the Wii. That's like asking a sculptor when he's going to start painting. That's just not our medium. That's not our area of expertise — our area of expertise is the more high-end consoles and things that push technology higher. That's what we do — there's a lot more water in that well for us, when that runs dry then maybe we'd have to think of doing something else but I don't think that well is going to run dry anytime soon.

What, no Gears of War party games? Epic, you guys are just turning your backs on heaps of money. Elsewhere in that same interview, Rein says using the stereoscopic 3D Ubisoft is exploring with James Cameron's Avatar is "dumb" — even though Unreal has been able to run stereoscopic 3D "for a long time." The reason being is that it costs so much to buy a stereoscopic monitor. Guess that would make it "expensive" and not "dumb", then...

Using 3D technology is "dumb", says Rein [Games Industry] [Pic]

I said it. It's going to be more emotionally effecting than Bioshock. A lot happens.

Good games don't have to do everything right, they just need to do at least one thing right (and really right). Everything else is gravy — emotional crying scenes, included!

Gears 2: More Emotionally Affecting than Bioshock [Team Xbox via videogaming247]

She and I talked about a post that would highlight new comics based on new games: stuff like Dead Space, Gears of War and Brothers in Arms. I figured she'd cover five or six of them. But Tracey's the kind of video game writer who makes a post considering the greatest cats in video game history and lists more than 50 felines.

Now she delivers a breakdown of 31 video game-based comics present and past, with pretty pictures, info and some jokes.

Funny thing is that I'm a big comic book reader and a serious gamer — but I never read any of these. You?

Our Giant Guide To Video Game Comics [My day-job blog]

We wanted a blockbuster pace [in Gears of War 1], and in doing so, we lost the story a bit. So that's one of the lessons we learned. This time round there's more repetition. Games aren't movies and aren't consumed in a single sitting. So secondary characters will remind you about stuff, which is re-established in plot cues. Metal Gear Solid is our example of the game we're not doing. Passive entertainment is on its way out — you need to hook up with this web 2.0 stuff.

The ironic thing? Kojima Productions was influenced by Gears of War's controls for MGS4.
Gears of War 2 Multiplayer Hands-On [IGN via ripten]

(개발자 영상) 기어즈오브워 2, 이렇게 바뀐다 [This Is Game]

Gears of War 2 designer and, apparently, part-time aviator Clifford Michael Bleszinski dishes loads of details to 1UP on the multiplayer portions of Epic's next Xbox 360 game. It's full of satisfaction, from info on Gears 2's new maps to new gameplay types like Guardian and Meat Flag. Mr. Bleszinski spends ample time discussing the various ways one can now disfigure and deform one's foes. Fans and nitpickers of the original Gears of War multiplayer modes will definitely want to check out Dan Hsu's interview with the faux-hawked one.

* May not actually cover everything.

Fresh off a sendup of Metal Gear come two more amusing trailers flacking Battlefield: Bad Company. One (above) cracks on Gears of War's haunting "Mad World" campaign. The second (below, after the jump) goes after Rainbow Six.

Despite all that has gone on with this game in the past, I kinda do want to see what this one is all about. It gets really enervating playing tactical shooters that faithful adhere to painstaking rules of engagement, when all you want to do is huck a grenade and wade into the firefight. Whether indulging that release is enough to sustain an entire game, I dunno, but I at least wanna see it.

"This is supposed to be a stealth mission!"
"Why?"

You have no idea how many times I have had that same conversation with a game.

Battlefield: Bad Company Trailers Parody Gears of War, Rainbow Six [Joystiq, and thanks to Mike for the YouTube links yesterday.]

People loved it but they didn't like the host advantage [in Gears 1 multiplayer]. They got tired of the shotgun inconsistencies. We're fixing all of that. They didn't like the randomness of the chainsaw, so we put the chainsaw duel in — may the best man win! A lot of players wanted respawning, but we added in some modes for downloadable content on Gears 1 that added respawning, but even then it was a 15-second cue. So we have game modes now, like Guardian, where players cycle in and out a lot more often. And Wingman, which is kind of like our version of Last Man Standing Free-for-All, where you have five teams of two each. So it's you and a buddy versus the world, which feels really good. We've added a lot more depth to the multiplayer.

Thanks for that Mr. The Cliffster! Always keen for making stuff better.

Gears 2 Interview [GamePro via NeoGAF via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

I often feel that when a developer says ‘This is a trilogy’ right off the bat I think, ‘Shouldn’t they do the first game and see how it goes before you begin to think about a sequel? ...The market is incredibly tough. You never know how a game is going to fair, so we take it game by game...　If Gears of War 2 is a success then naturally we’ll look at a third. The same applies if number three sells well, then we’ll have to consider a fourth.

The Cliffster sure seems like a sensible dude.

Gears of War 2 Interview [Game Reactor via videogaming247] [Pic]

I think if you've played Gears of War 1, it's clear there's stuff you'd want to improve on in Gears of War 2. The story wasn't necessarily as robust as it could have been, and that's stuff we're really going to blow that out in Gears of War 2. We've got Josh Ortega who's a great comic book writer, and he's totally focused on the story. We want to do a much better job of that... If you look at the character line-up from Gears 1, they were very stereotypical characters. There wasn't much variety between the different types. That's something that not only in the development of existing characters we're changing up, but also adding some new characters that add their own individual flair to it... From a game-making perspective you want to get as much uniqueness and variety with the characters as possible, for them to have individual flair and for people to identify with them. You don't want to build stereotypical characters, not just racial stereotypes but stereotypes of any kind.

Seems rather retroactive at this point, but whatever.

Tsunoda Interview [Eurogamer] [Pic]

Wiseman suits up for 'Gears of War' [Variety]

UTIII Box [GAME via CVG]

Deal of the Day [Amazon.com via CheapAssGamer]

[Speight] who voiced Gears of War's "Cole Train", recently made an appearance at the TriForce panel at Wizard World to shoot the breeze about the company's line of GoW-related replicas. When asked about the sequel's release date, the TriForce crew remained tight lipped, though Rasta suggested asking him again on November 16.

Sounds specific enough to me. The tip came in via David Hinkle of DS and Wii Fanboy. They're pursuing. We will too as soon as more is known.

Rumor: Voice of 'Cole Train' suggests November 16 release for Gears of War 2 [Joystiq]

"Gears of War" updated two-disc edition and price drop arrive in June

On June 4th, "Gears of War" will be offered at the new estimated retail price of $39.99 (Xbox 360) and $29.99 (Games for Windows) throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to a new price tag, an updated two-disc retail version of "Gears of War" (Xbox 360) will arrive in the U.S. and Canada beginning June 24. The two-disc version includes previously released multiplayer map packs, the Annex game mode, and the ability to earn up to eight additional multiplayer Achievements worth 250 Gamerscore. Gamers will also get a taste of the highly anticipated sequel, "Gears of War 2," through trailers and other extras.

Two-Disc Version Contents:

DISC ONE - GAME DISC

DISC TWO - EXTRAS

Gears of War
• Map Packs 1 & 2
• Theme - 'Emergence Day'
• Gamer Pics - 'Gears of War,' 'Emergence Day'

Gears of War 2
• Trailers - 'Duel,' 'Assault'
• Theme - 'Bare Your Teeth'
• Gamer Pics - 'Crimson Omen'

"Gears of War," winner of over 30 Game of the Year awards, redefined the third-person action genre upon its November 2006 release and has gone on to sell 4.7 million copies worldwide. The struggle for survival continues this November with "Gears of War 2."

"Gears of War" is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

Another scan after the jump.

Gears of War 2 [Jeux France Thanks Toem!]

Gears of War Content
* Gamer Picture Pack
* Emergence Day Gamer Picture
* Emergence Day Theme
* "FUTURE WEAPONS" Theme
* Emergence Day Message from Cliffy B
* Gears of War Map Pack 1 Trailer
* Gears of War - Multiplayer Map Pack 1
* 'Hidden Fronts' Multiplayer Map Pack 2

Gears of War 2 Content
* Gamer Picture Pack
* Teeth Theme
* Teaser Trailer
* Trailer
* Assault Game Play Trailer

Gears of War with Maps [GameStop - thanks, coonkine!]

Gears of War With Maps [GameStop via NeoGAF]

If I had a nickel for every time I was called a fag on the internet, I could retire. It's just the way the fans are sometimes; you do a good job and they'll hold you up in a chair and carry you through the streets. You screw up once and they'll be the first to tart and feather you, and that's the risk I take when I stick my neck out there.

That's The Cliffster, takin' risks, stickin' his neck out there, livin' on the edge. Dude.

The Cliffster Interview [CVG] [Pic]