MMOs aren’t like other games. They’re closer to a lifestyle choice, for a lot of people defining how their spare time is spent, how their lives are lived. So if you criticise the game, you criticise the player. God knows there are plenty of non-MMO games that people treat as though they’re bound to their very souls - witness the pile-on for Eurogamer’s MGS4 review, or even the outrage about various RPS writers being down on Stalker: Clear Sky - but it’s even worse with MMOs. Telling a WAR player that his game is similar to WoW is like telling a goth that he’s emo. No-one wants to be told they’re not unique and interesting, to be dismissed as a stereotype they’re not.

WAR is not WoW. But it is a lot like it in a number of crucial ways, and for one essential reason: money. I suspect Mythic and EA aren’t too concerned about the comparison themselves - they might disagree with the sweeping generalisation, but if they didn’t want to be compared they would have gone for an entirely different interface and art approach. Saying WAR is like WoW is not the same as saying it’s a bad or a lazy game, but unfortunately there are guys who do intentionally make the comparison unfavourably, and that’s perhaps understandably made a lot of WAR fans very touchy.

Personally, I'm fascinated by the fan communities generated by MMOs, popular ones and not — not being much of an MMO player, I find 'people watching' to be more entertaining than the game in a lot of cases. I don't have the patience to wade through the original comment thread, but I'm pretty sure I could rattle off the general reaction with little prompting. Meer's thoughts, however, are deserving of a read.

A Dirty Word [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

The first [Gears] was good and if we can find a way to do ten times better, than I'd be impressed. That sounds hard, but sure, why not? I say the original Gears was like the ten, but sure, let's go to eleven. Like Spinal Tap, right? Let's go to eleven.

Cocky? We like to think they're just not taking the lead-in to this game as SERIOUSLY as some other developers do (though few developers get the luxury of working on a guaranteed million-seller).

Lead GoW2 artist and writer talk Lancer polys, deaths and comics [X3F]

The betas will give players a chance to check out maps in Europe and the Pacific and will include the game's new squad system as well as perks and kill streaks.

“We are excited to share a sneak peak of Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer with the community,” says Mark Lamia, Treyarch Studio Head. “The team has worked hard to build upon the great history and foundation of Call of Duty multiplayer and we can’t wait to go online to ramp up for our November launch.”

If you interested in checking out the Xbox 360 beta you can register at www.callofduty.com. I spoke with Activison and they said they have no more details on the PC beta or how one signs up for it and no word on if or when there will be a beta for the Playstation 3 version.

Specifically, when asked if a beta was coming to the PS3 and how one goes about signing up for the PC I was told:

"We'll have more details on the betas in the near future."

CALL OF DUTY®: WORLD AT WAR TO RELEASE XBOX 360 AND WINDOWS PC MULTIPLAYER BETAS IN OCTOBER

Newest Edition of the Award-Winning Franchise To Deploy to Retail November 11

Santa Monica, CA – September 4, 2008 – Boot camp will soon take on a new meaning, as Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and developer Treyarch, have confirmed plans for Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer betas in October for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and separately for download on Windows PC. These betas will serve as an early chance for players to practice the tactics needed for survival in the intense chaos of Call of Duty: World at War’s Pacific and European theaters. Players will experience the game’s new squad system, as well as fan favorite perks and kill streaks.

All preparation for the full battle will commence on November 11, 2008 when Call of Duty: World at War is released to retailers nationwide.

“We are excited to share a sneak peak of Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer with the community,” says Mark Lamia, Treyarch Studio Head. “The team has worked hard to build upon the great history and foundation of Call of Duty multiplayer and we can’t wait to go online to ramp up for our November launch.”

For players who are looking to feel the all-out combat and get tokens for the Call of Duty: World at War Xbox 360 multiplayer beta, they can register at www.callofduty.com or pre-order the game at any GameStop retail location or online in North America at: http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71812.

Call of Duty: World at War is in development for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Games for Windows®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Nintendo® Wii™ and Nintendo DS. The title has been rated M for Mature for blood and violence by the ESRB. The Nintendo DS version has been rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

For more information and exclusive updates about Call of Duty: World at War, visit www.callofduty.com.

The VP pick... When I found out about McCain's VP pick, I was like, "Okay, look, there's no way the Republicans are happy about this at all." And there you go, they're raving like this is some great choice. So if anyone who's watching this is a Republican, please comment and explain to me... You know, it doesn't seem like the Hillary thing is gonna work for most women. I can't imagine most women, or voters in general, although certainly women in this case, are going to say, "We didn't get Hillary, we'll vote for this lady.

I think she's, you know, kind of cute. She's the perfect definition of a MILF. Not to, you know, disparage her or anything. I'm not trying to sort of make it about that, but it's like that's what I see when I look at her. I didn't love Hillary but I looked at her and I saw experience and intelligence... you look at this woman and you see a MILF. That's what you see.

Her experience doesn't really seem to indicate that she would be all that great as a vice-president and certainly not a president. What are they thinking? The more important question is why am I seeing so many Republicans saying this is great?

Video clip below, Jaffe starts talking about Palin at about 3 minutes 40 seconds in.

God of War Designer David Jaffe Reduces Sarah Palin Candidacy to Lowest Common Denominator [GamePolitics]

The diary is the product of all the designers and coders who are working on the title & is intended to illustrate the kind of decisions and creative choices that go in to making a game.

Or rather, it will be - at the moment there are only two entries. The first — "What shall we do?" — looks at how the sequel came into being, and how the team decided on the North African campaign as the focus of the game (spoiler: it involved palm trees).

Next is "Blood, Sand... & Map Editor" which looks at how the map designers took real-world locations and turned them into playable environments. Honestly, its more interesting than it sounds.

Theatre Of War 2 Developer Diary [Battlefront.com]

We kind of actively aimed for the de-saturated look, but its since become de riguer for this generation of games. I think that's why something like Mirror's Edge has become kind of like an oasis in the desert of E3 — 'Look! There's a red crate! I love you!' ...We actually have a little more color in Gears 2 — reds, oranges. Hopefully you've noticed. What I can tell you is that if there was a Gear 3 it'll be a total disco town: purples, pinks and greens everywhere!

"If" there was a Gears 3, oh please.

Gears 2 "85/90%" complete [CVG]

Gears of War 2 Achievements and More [IGN] [Image]

Next up is a set of Gears of War 2 dolls action figures we first saw some advance shots of in June.There is a new Marcus Fenix figurine, an even 'orribler looking Locust Theron Guard and two more of Marcus' chums from Delta Squad.

As usual, the models are absurdly detailed, not that the people who will buy them will ever take them out of the packaging to find this out. Honestly, NECA could really save on manufacturing costs by only modeling the front bits. The savings on plastic alone could treble their 3rd quarter operating costs.

Gears of War Series 2 Action Figures Revealed [Team Xbox]

Michael Phelps — Couch Potato! [The Early Show - Thanks Levi Harman!]

I've posted the full listing after the jump, so if you're curious, go ahead and take a peek. Just be warned, the content has been rated M by the BBFC.

n/a GEARS OF WAR 2 BONUS DISK
00:34:29:00 BENEATH THE SURFACE (NO SOUND UNTIL 3M30S)(FREEZES AT 6M50)
00:01:05:00 RENDEZVOUS
00:01:28:00 BARE YOUR TEETH
00:07:30:00 E3 2008: GEARS 2 DEMO
00:03:38:00 GTTV SPOT
00:11:56:00 CHARACTERS - MARCUS FENIX
00:07:40:00 CHARACTERS - DOMINIC SANTIAGO
00:07:40:00 CREATURES - BOOMER
00:07:10:00 CREATURES - KANTUS
00:15:55:00 LOCATIONS - HOSPITAL
00:13:01:00 LOCATIONS - THE HOLLOW
00:07:08:00 VEHICLES - CENTAUR
00:06:10:00 VEHICLES - REAVER
00:13:00:00 WEAPONS - LANCER
00:10:50:00 WEAPONS - HEAVY WEAPONS
n/a MAIN THEME
n/a CINEMATIC OPENING
n/a ASSULT INTRO
n/a MARIA
n/a COG SQUAD PACK (5 IMAGES)
n/a LOCUST SQUAD PACK (5 IMAGES)

Gears of War 2 Bonus Disk [BBFC via Eurogamer]

Those champing at the bit for more glimpses of Gears of War 2 will not be disappointed — there will even be a couple of Gears signing sessions, should you have any merchandise you need to boost on eBay.

Other demos we would class as 'eagerly awaited' are Halo Wars and Project Origin, but MS will be showing off their new Games Creation and 'Mashups' tool PopFly as well as more info on the New Xbox Experience.

It is those 'TBA' demos on the Saturday & Sunday afternoons, that have us intrigued, though. What could it be? Is it a new game? Could it be the long awaited Next-Gen updates of Minesweeper and Freecell? Have they finally gone mental and are bringing out a portable Xbox?

Exciting!

Full schedule after the jump..

Friday

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

4:00 PM Gears of War 2

5:00 PM Popfly

6:00 PM Project Origin

Saturday

10:00 AM Halo Wars

10:30 AM New Xbox Experience

11:30 AM Popfly

12:00 PM Gears of War 2

1:00 PM Gears of War 2 Signing Session

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

3:30 PM New Xbox Experience

4:30 PM TBA

Sunday

10:00 AM Halo Wars

10:30 AM New Xbox Experience

11:30 AM Popfly

12:00 PM Gears of War 2

1:00 PM Gears of War 2 Signing Session

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

3:30 PM New Xbox Experience

4:30 PM TBA

PAX Here We Come! Demo Info [Gamerscore Blog]

"I thought we was gonna run out of gas there at the end but I got a nice push from my teammate Jerry Jeff Jeeter McPheeter racin' in the Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie ... Number ... 14 ..." [starts breathing into paper sack].

Food City 250 Results [USA Today]

Speaking to Joystiq at X'08 Canada (not the Leipzig GC, as previously noted), Bleszinski confirmed that Epic is already working on the DLC, which will be "multiplayer map focused".

Cliffy also had some news for potential Gears achievement hunters — the game will let you "chip away" at achievements in every mode and will incorporate a little pop-up display to indicate that you have just done something that could lead you to completing an achievement.

X08: Cliff Bleszinski talks Gears of War 2 [Joystiq via Xbox360 Fanboy]

It actually began rather nicely, considering I was passing by the front of the mob as they began letting people in, making me one of the few...the proud...the seated. Of course I was seated in such a way that the teleprompter was in the face of just about everyone I took a picture of, but boy was that seat comfortable.

The conference kicked off with a recorded video of the woman who does the voice of the Black Cat in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows welcoming us to the press conference, which confused me a bit as I could think of several other people more suited for the duty who were actually there. Then came a series of trailers...Spider-Man: WoS, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Call of Duty: World at War, the theatrical trailer for James Bond: Quantum of Solace.

Then Joerg Trovvain, Activision's VP of European publishing took the stage, telling us all how pleased Activision Blizzard was to have the Blizzard part of them in attendance. He speaks on the importance of online gaming - a $6 billion industry last year poised to become an $8 million industry this year, and of course most of that goes to Blizzard.

We see a trailer for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of Dragon, which gives me happy little shivers as I dream of better Spyro games past, and then things go all formulaic on us. Central European VP Xochilt Balzola-Widmann shows us the trailer and talks up Call of Duty: World at War, mentioning COD4 as many times as possible to try and get us to think of both on the same level. Her accept is adorable...she says they have a "gorgeous boof". I want a gorgeous boof too.

She shows a behind-the-scenes clip from Star Wars: Clone Wars, which features George Lucas, who really shouldn't be allowed to comment on the Star Wars properties ever again at this point. I just can't take the guy seriously.

Then comes the formulaic "Here's X to show you Y" bits of the presser. The Co-designer of James Bond: Quantum of Solace comes on to talk about the game, announcing that they've signed on the original cast as well as some of the cast members from Casino Royale to provide voices and likenesses, and then shows us a gameplay clip that had me scribbling "Gears of Solace" in my notebook. Cover system, running and gunning, button-pressing moments, etc.

Next in the parade is Daniel Suarez from Treyarch, telling us about Gary Oldman joining the cast of Call of Duty: World at War, talking up the title and showing us some gameplay footage that completely fails to impress us nearly as much as COD4 originally did, but at least there's plenty of blood.

We get a few announcements about Guitar Hero: World Tour, namely the Wii Mii Freestyle mode and PS3 Rock Band compatibility, and then we get to Brian Bright, the project director at Neversoft for the title, who comes on stage to show off the music creator mode in exhaustive detail, and I do mean exhaustive. The creator looks very interesting and I can't wait to get my hands on it, but fifteen minutes of explaining it to a crowd who weren't there specifically to learn about it seemed a bit overboard. If only they had a German pop idol who could spice things up a bit...

All in all not a bad showing. A few nice announcements, some interesting gameplay footage, and a finale that had anyone not from Germany smiling and nodding in time to the music to avoid revealing that they had no earthly clue who Thomas Godoj was. Now we know!

Kratos to Swing the Clubs of Chaos in Hot Shots Golf [PlayStation.Blog]

WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR II - RHINO DIARY 1 [THQ, thanks Mike!]

Keirsey described a foe that was not running at the Marines but rather set up in bunkers, “burrowed into the coral,” aiming their guns across the beach to pierce a row of their enemy in a single fusillade. He suggested that the Japanese would barricade behind a steel door, hunkered in, prepared “to make every inch very costly to the Marines.”

Against these tactics, he said, the Marines’ counter was the flamethrower, six to a battalion, each essentially a 70-pound bomb strapped to a man’s back... The battle I played felt ferocious. Setting trees, grass and eventually men on fire in the thick of a Pacific-theater battle of Marines and Japanese soldiers is as impressive a feat of video game engineering as it is a reminder of the heat and punch of real war. Is it one-sided or accurate in its portrayal of both sides? That I don’t know.

While the in-game flamethrower does not run out of fuel, it can explode, causing player to be blown to bits. Note: Japanese WWII veterans were not consulted for Call of Duty: World At War. Rather, Keirsey studied the war and has interviewed U.S. vets.

How The Japanese Enemies In ‘Call of Duty: World At War’ Fight [Multiplayer]

Microsoft doesn’t show Gears 2 at Leipzig because they don’t sell the game in Germany.

Gears of War 2 won't be sold in Germany due to the country's restrictions on game violence. Bummer.

Rein confirms Gears 2 as Leipzig no-show [VG247]

Gears gun replica selling "like hot cakes" [Eurogamer]

Alaa tells us that at Rashid mall in Khobar, he spied Chains of Olympus, the GOW version for the PSP. Wondering if that meant they also had GOW2 he inquired. Lo and behold, they did. And here's the part where I want to imagine Alaa wearing a fedora and the clerk in an eyepatch, with a monkey perched on his shoulder, leading him into an anteroom while looking nervously over his shoulder. The guy handed Alaa a shrink-wrapped copy of Winning Eleven. When he opened it, inside was the God of War 2 disc, and the GoW cover neatly slid behind the Winning Eleven artwork.

"I got for around $25 and it’s an original copy," Alaa said. "Makes me feel dirty for some reason though."

Another pic below.

"Because what we did was take a great game, Gears of War 1 for Xbox 360, made it run at higher resolutions and added three new hours of really good gameplay and it got lower reviews. I think that’s bullshit, and I don’t understand it. I can’t figure out what it is."

Voodoo Extreme, in the post and the comments, puts forth a fine explanation: 1) The game had bugs at the outset that needed patches. 2) Multiplayer matchmaking via Windows Live was terrible, should be better now that they've done away with the gold/silver distinction.

But bottom line, as one commenter points out ,it's probably the fact that it's not a simultaneous release with the 360 title, not even close. Because when reviewers go checking out a port, if the new-and-better isn't slap-you-in-the-face obvious, they're probably going to spot what doesn't work and harp on it.

It does make me wonder what kind of reviews we'll see for Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC.

Lower Review Scores for Gears PC is “Bullshit,” Says Capps [Videogaming247, via Voodoo Extreme]

If you pre-order the Lancer, you even get the standard edition of Gears of War 2, free of charge. And that's not a bad deal at all.

Gears of War 2 Amazon.com Exclusive Lancer [Amazon]

Gears 2 given violence filter [MCVUK]

I know, I know, 100% cinematic trailers are normally something to be complained about from the tallest branches of the whiney tree. But the first Dawn of War packed an intro movie that's up there with the best of all time, so it's only fair to showcase this clip, from the sequel, which may or may not be the game's intro but is fun to watch regardless.

SAN DIEGO, CA—Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games, was the featured speaker on the Comic-Con International “Xbox 360 Gears of War Showcase” panel, over the weekend. Sitting alongside was comic book writer Josh Ortega, who worked with him on the Gears of War 2 story, and New York Times best-selling author Karen Traviss (Star Wars: Republic Commando), whose first of three planned Del Rey novels, Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields, hits store shelves October 28.

Travis received an e-mail from her Del Rey Editor, Keith Clayton, asking if she could do a fast turnaround on a military game tie-in. After asking around and being told that Gears of War was “Traviss town” material, she acquiesced.

“If I don’t like something, but I’ve taken the money, I maintain a tactful British silence if asked for my opinion on it,” said Traviss. “I certainly won’t lie and gush over it, but I won’t talk it down either. So if I say I love something, I love it. And I bloody well love Gears.”

Travis, who began her writing career as a journalist, said Gears is the best-looking game that she’s ever seen.

“The art matters a lot to me,” said Traviss. “I’m a visual person and I cue mainly off the images. I’m not joking when I say much of the art is pure Carvaggio – it’s all such perfect lighting. Everything about it, from the concept art to the execution to the animation, is utterly spot on.”

As a writer, Travis never approaches a job as a pre-existing fan. She said if she’s already a consumer of a property, it kills the thing as a pleasurable experience for her because the working process involves dissecting it and having to look at the strings.

“If you come to a universe cold, not as a fan or even as someone who knows anything about it at all, you tend to see a very different world,” said Travis. “I knew bugger all about Star Wars when I was asked to write it, and the first thing that struck me was that the Jedi were pretty despicable on the ethics front, and had I been interviewing them I’d have had some hardball questions to ask. So that was the emotional spark I grabbed hold of and used. From that one moment of ‘God, what a bunch of master-race hypocrites...’ came a whole series. I treated it as a real scenario, not a kids’ science fantasy with wizards, and examined it just as I would have done had I still been a reporter. I don’t know how else to tell a story, actually. It’s much more about posing questions than giving answers.”

In addition to working on tie-in novels, Traviss has established herself within the literary community with her six-part Wess’har series. Although she doesn’t play videogames, she loves the way they tell stories.

“That’s why I’d love to write for games,” said Traviss. “That will horrify my more high-minded readers who are still in shock that a ‘literary’ novelist like me has sullied herself with tie-ins at all, but I really do see games (and comics, of course) as the ultimate form of storytelling, because they engage you on more levels. Novels are fine, they’re my living, and I don’t think I do too badly at them, but they are, by their very nature, limited. Pushing those limits – creating a vivid sense of a visual or physical experience just from words on a page – is a genuine test of skill, but add sound, images, variable outcomes, and even tactile/ kinetic effects these days, and it’s the difference between the two-dimensional inhabitants of Flatland and the 3D world we live in. It’s a bigger test, a more complex puzzle. And I love exploring things like that.”

Working with Epic Games and Cligg Bleszinski on this project has opened Traviss’ eyes to the world of videogames. She said one of the things she loves about tie-ins is the collaboration with people who do a very different job than she does — artists, composers, software designers, audio producers, etc.

“The buzz of working with people who can strike sparks off you really raises your game,” said Traviss. “I’m not an imaginative, wildly creative person – I’m analytical, a question-asker, and my fiction comes from deconstruction and observation – so the really creative types are a good foil for me. I need to surface from the isolation of writing my own books and get a ‘fix’ of working with other people for a while, or else I’d go nuts. Or I’d be nuttier than I am now, anyway.”

Traviss said working with Epic has been a great experience, especially given the quick turnaround time she was given for this first project. And the relationship was pretty open, although there were some rules.

“The one constraint from Epic that I thought would stuff me was that I couldn’t use Marcus as a point-of-view character,” said Traviss. “I write very tight third person POV, no authorial intrusion, and that’s how I navigate the story, so I felt that my right arm had been cut off. I griped about it, believe me. But I’m glad now that it had to be that way. It forced me to show Marcus wholly through the reactions and thoughts of those around him. It created a whole new avenue for me. So much about the Gears world is buried, emergent, unknown, glimpsed in shadows. He’s almost a microcosm of that.”

Traviss discovered through her work on the Gears of War novel that game technique actually mirrors how she writes fiction. She sets up the characters thoroughly, with a psych profile, and then lets them loose in a scenario to see what they do, very much like a computer model.

“It’s why my books often catch me out and don’t end where I first expected them to when I started writing them,” said Traviss. “I suspect this is why I have such an affinity for game tie-ins. I can see much more potential in games than ‘reader’ writers can, perhaps. It’s a radically different way of writing. I’m not holding the steering wheel. I just identify it or build it, and then the characters take the keys and I’m left watching as they roar up and down the road.”

Traviss relied on Gears’ cinematics and the story bible as her reference points, and just filled in the rest. She said there was a huge amount of scope to fill gaps.

“Actually, everything I needed to know about the characters – and characters are the story, as far as I’m concerned - was in a couple of the cinematics in some magnificent brush-strokes of characterization,” said Traviss. “That’s how brilliant the game is. For example, the cinematic in the Raven after Dom rescues Marcus sets up the whole character dynamic of those two in a couple of dialogue lines and gestures. I knew those blokes right away, just from that.”

Traviss really got into the world of Gears, going into some minute details that not even gamers might have thought about.

“I really love the whole idea of chainsaw bayonets,” said Traviss. “Being a boring pragmatic type, though, my first thought was how much cleaning and maintenance you’d have to do on a real Lancer for every grub you carved up. (And the power supply - how long does a charge last? But I digress.) I was talking it through with a buddy who’s serving in Afghanistan, and we decided it would be a long, messy job. Think about it; ever cleaned something simple like a meat mincer? And that’s usually just lean meat, not bones, fat, and connective tissue too. All I could think of was stripping down a Lancer and trying to get all the crap and gristle out of the chain. Lovely. And what’s the best way to apply the chainsaw? How much weight, what angle, how far before you have trouble pulling the blades clear? What happens to all that debris flung out from the wound? That’s the kind of stuff a novelist has to think about. You really need to be curious about it, because it tells you what your characters will be doing for a big chunk of their day...anyway, more of that in the book itself. I promise. Messy as hell!”

"Look, we know that video game movies have been pretty bad," Cliff admitted to the crowd, attempting to assuage their fears that the Gears flick will suck. "But just think how bad comic book movies were for such a long time. We hope [the Gears of War movie] will change that."

He noted that the Hollywood shot-callers are the same age as the average gamer — 35 years old — and have grown up playing and loving video games. "Hollywood gets it... and they dig games," Cliff said.

What may depress aficionados of Gears meaty, steroid overdosed look is that the feature film may not live up to the dream casting of certain fans. In lieu of filling out Delta Squad's armor with accurately voluminous meatheads, he's hoping they'll find some actors who can, you know, act.

"I know people have ideas where they want to see some wrestler, some huge buff guy," Bleszinski "The thing we care most about is charisma, someone you'd want to watch for two hours."

What a novel idea!

The first was that Steve Jablonsky, composer on films like Transformers and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, was working on the score for Gears of War 2. Jablonsky was said to have been at Skywalker Studios working on the final mix of the soundtrack.

Even more interesting was the announcement that Gears of War 2 would feature "linked Achievements." In short, goals reached in the original Gears of War will carry over to the sequel, giving the player bonuses. Cliff listed three examples of how linked Achievements will work.

Keep in mind, some may be light spoilers.

- Complete Act One in Gears Of War, unlock a playable Anthony Carmine in Gears of War 2
- Find 10 COG tags in Gears Of War, unlock Minh Young Kim in Gears of War 2
- Kill Raam in Gears Of War, unlock a playable Raam in Gears of War 2

Bleszinski didn't expand much beyond those three linked Achievements, nor did he mention if those unlockables would be limited to either single-player or multiplayer portions of Gears 2. We're currently sitting in on the Xbox 360 creators panel hanging on Bleszinski's every word.

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

David Self’s credits include 13 Days and Road To Perdition. He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct, and was a writer on Universal’s Wolfman currently in production.

That press release is obviously incorrect. It should read: "He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct and fuck up."

Brett Ratner Confirmed? [/Film] [Pic]

"I prefer to talk about the fact that, yeah, we're competitors, but the competition really has made people so much sharper, and if I can use this analogy, if you're fighting in a war that's, say, Boeing versus Airbus, it's almost like battleship against battleship and you're fighting from 15 miles away; if you're fighting in the car war, it might be that you're fighting in tanks and you're one kilometre away; in the videogame industry, if there's a war, if there's competition, it's almost like hand-to-hand fighting, but it makes you sharper. You want to have a sharper sword, you want to have a sword that feels just about right, and everyone is very sharp, and what they're doing is they're looking for high ground, low ground where they can get an advantage."

So the console industry is like melee combat with swords...or is it like shoes?

The winner is the consumer, and I think that's great. That's why we are not going to slag off Microsoft or Nintendo at all, because again it's rather like the trainer market: one year it's Reebok, next year it's Nike, and then suddenly it's Adidas; it's cyclical, but in the end everyone wins in five to ten years.

See? He's like one of those guys who is really good with analogies. Just reading his words has sapped me of my will to explain one thing using another thing as an example!

Of course what he is trying to say is that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are equally matched in terms of what they have to offer the public and are just jockeying for position, but he makes it all seem so poetic, doesn't he?

Incidentally, for those of you who don't keep up with Brit slang, "to slag off" is equal to "to dis". Also, trainers are sneakers, and David Reeves might be the only English-speaking games industry exec who needs a translator when addressing English-speaking markets.

Interview: Sony's David Reeves [Eurogamer]

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.”