Epic looks to Gears fans for input on the sequel
GoW series two figures: Now with exploding heads!
Moving along, NECA's second series will be comprised of the Locust Headshot figure you see above, Dominic Santiago, Damon Baird and another Locust variant. No release date has been set, but one could gather that since series one will be releasing in April, the second series should release either in the Summer or Fall. The wait will be rough on us though, we want our headshot figure NOW!
[Thanks, Joshua Johnson]
Leisure Suit Larry's Gears inspired debut trailer
Last month, Sierra Entertainment announced that Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust would be releasing to the Xbox 360 sometime in the Fall and since then, everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for a first glimpse of the game. And, this weekend, Sierra met Larry fans' demands by releasing an official Box Office Bust debut trailer. One that pulls a tiny smidgen of inspiration from a popular "Mad World" Gears of War trailer we all know and adore. We guess, if the formula worked before, why change it?
Embedded above is the Lesuire Suit Larry trailer that's in question as we challenge you to try and spot the Gears references and nods. And really, it shouldn't be all that hard. Just be mindful of the shiny, bouncing, gold things at the end of the trailer. They will make you go blind.
Final Gears of War figure revealed
Earlier this week the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) revealed the fourth and final figure in the Series 1 set of upcoming Gears of War action figures.Joining previously announced models of Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole and the Locust Drone, the Locust Sniper looks like the perfect addition for gamers to add to their collection when the figures release in April 2008. Actually, the models are so detailed that we would even recommend playing out your favorite Gears of War scenarios should you run into any issues with playing games. Gallery of all Series 1 figures after the jump.
[Thanks, Joshua]
Gallery: Gears of War Action Figures
Cliffy B puts his development focus on consoles
Chatting it up with the MTV Multiplayer crew during DICE, the ever entertaining and somewhat outspoken Cliff Bleszinski talks about life, video game design and where he thinks the industry is headed. From their brief interview we learn that the Cliffster has been taking it easy lately, stepping back from his intense development schedule and is gathering inspiration from different media and experiences all from a different perspective. It's easy to see that MTV Multiplayer is talking to a a newly refreshed yet same old same old Cliffy B.But after all the life talk, we quickly learn that Cliffy B fully supports and is entirely focused on console gaming saying that "PC [gaming] is just in disarray" and that "the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we're doing". Cliffy goes on to fully embrace the direction console gaming is taking and that "right now making AAA games on consoles is where we're at". Which AAA game exactly? He wouldn't say, but we have a hunch that the title rhymes with "tears of bore boo" and includes lots of blood. You aren't fooling anyone Cliffy, bring on the Gears 2 already.
The Club one-ups GoW's Seriously achievement
The humorous and ever so witty dev team over at Bizarre Creations got a little creative with their achievements for upcoming title The Club. So creative, they somehow managed to one-up Gears of War's "Seriously" achievement.Looking over The Club's achievements one will quickly notice an achievement by the name of "No, Seriously" which can only be earned if a player gets 10,001 kills in ranked multiplayer. This, of course, is a direct reference to GoW's famous (and nearly impossible to obtain) "Seriously" achievement where gamers must rack up some 10,000 ranked kills. As you see, The Club's "No, Seriously" requires an extra kill. Nicely played Bizarre, nicely played.
Though, we're sorry to say that Gears' "Seriously" will forever be held high atop our list of most respected achievements and can never be replaced or duplicated, even if it only requires 10,000 kills to unlock. Heck, "No, Seriously" will only net you 40 Gamerscore, ten less Gamerscore than the the original "Seriously". It must not be as l33t of an achievement as it's made out to be ... just saying Bizarre, just saying.
[Thanks, Scott (HHHawk)]
Gears lancer made with NERF and toy chainsaw
[Via Joystiq]
Epic: No more Gears of War DLC. Us: Duh?
Talking with IGN, Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios confirmed the news and made it official: there will be no more Gears of War downloadable content. (Insert fake surprised face here.) A representative told IGN that "we don't have anything planned for [Gears of War] right now in terms of DLC", but also mentioned that the door is always open for new DLC to be made. Just none is planned now. And we'll be the first in line to kick that door of possibility shut.As much as we love our Gears, we feel that after six additional maps, a new gametype and additional 250 gamerscore, it's time for Epic to move on. Move onto something a little more important, say a sequel? We'll happily take no more Gears DLC for Epic to release Gears of War 2 as soon as possible. Hell, we'll even give up the Annex content if it would have moved Gears 2's development along. Just give us our sequel this year.
Gears of War action figures now fully revealed
The folks over at BigBadToyStore posted complete product shots of the new GoW figures including Mr. Fenix, Cole and a Locust, all of which are seven inches tall and retail for around $17 US. We also thought we should mention that BigBadToyStore has a listing for an unannounced Gears "Series 1 Sniper Variant" figure (no picture of course) and our edjamacated guess would be that it's another Locust variant. But, in the meantime, you can salivate over the complete GoW action figure product shot that we've lovingly placed in the gallery below. Yum!
Gallery: Gears of War Action Figures
Gears of War figures chainsaw to retail in Spring [update]
We now officially have a new set of toys to compliment (or rival) our Halo 3 McFarlane figures with manufacturing guru NECA confirming that Gears of War figures will be releasing to retail later this Spring.
NECA announced that three "highly detailed" Gears figures will be available at retailers later this Spring, including our man Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole, and a Locust Drone. NECA did not confirm any dimensions or pricing information in their press release, but did say that the Gears figures will have "extensive articulation, and game-accurate accessories". Chainsaw much? They also found it fitting to tease us with a dramatic Marcus Fenix figure pic you see above and did not include any full product shots. Yes, the pic is artsy and gritty, but darned if we don't want to see 'em already. What little teases.
Gallery: Gears of War Action Figures
[Via Joystiq]
Tyler B hints at Gears sequel releasing this year [update]
Update: We just got in touch with Tyler Bleszinski and he clarified his remarks. He says that he has absolutely no information regarding GoW2's release date and was basing this year's release off of rumors from Quartermann of EGM. So, Tyler B doesn't have any juicy GoW2 details and we don't have any release date confirmation. And we were getting excited too. Humf.Okay, we'll be upfront and say this news is a bit of a stretch, but slow news days warrant speculation stories. That's just how it works. So, when we spotted a credible source mentioning Gears of War 2 releasing this year, we had to pounce.
Our friend and fellow gaming enthusiast over at Gearheads of War, Tyler Bleszinski (who is the older bro of Cliffy B) posted about his latest Gears gaming experience and how it compared to Call of Duty 4. In summary, Tyler (like many of us) doesn't care for Gears' hit and miss and ever so random shotgun and Boom Shotting. Now this is where the juicy speculation kicks in. He goes on to say that "I had a blast even with the Gears hiccup. I'm thinking I'm just going to need to wait for the sequel later this year. In the meantime, I've got COD 4 to keep me company." Wha? Did you catch that? Tyler specifically references to playing a Gears sequel later this year. Holy double w00t, w00t confirmation!
Truthfully though, Tyler has always been open about the fact that he doesn't get into details surrounding Cliffy B's work, doesn't get any insider information and experiences the games and news as reported on the net. So, his comment about playing a Gears sequel in 2008 could simply be his own speculation with no concrete facts backing it up. Kind of like how we speculate about Gears of War 2 here at X3F. But, for the sake of juicy rumor fun, it's somewhat possible Cliffy B's brother knows something we don't and accidentally revealed Gears 2's 2008 release. We say, spill your guts Tyler Bleszinski. Tell us all the Gears of War 2 knowledge you do or don't have.
GDC floorplan speculation with Epic, MS and Gears
Let's break down TeamXbox's speculative theory. This year at GDC Microsoft has outdone themselves and has paid for the largest floorspace of any company attending. And guess who has the second largest floorspace? No, not Sony or Nintendo, it's our friends over at Epic Games. And guess where their floorspace is situated. Correct, both Microsoft and Epic Games' GDC gigantic floorspaces are right next to eachother. Gasp! Taking everything one step further, both Microsoft and Epic have absolutely no partnership or connection other than their Gears of War roots. So, this all must mean that the massive amount of floorspace and close proximity means that we'll see a Gears of War 2 announcement at GDC! W00t! Or Epic just needs lots of room to showcase their Unreal Engine 3 and Microsoft wants to make a splash, because they're Microsoft and have money coming out of their ears. Meh, we prefer the Gears 2 speculation. It's more exciting and gives us something hope for.
Gears gets novelized with The Pendulum Wars
Gears of War is taking the next big step in becoming a legitimate franchise this year with the release of a novel. Amazon.ca just posted a pre-order listing for Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars The Battle of Aspho Fields, a 353 page novel written by Steven L. Kent that aims to tell the tale before Gears (the game) takes place. In other words, it's a novel prequel. So far the pre-order page lists the book for a release later this year on August 26th which we speculate to either coincide with a Gears of War 2 game sequel (we have our dreams too) or blockbuster movie (really grand dreams). And even if the book releases without any other media accompaniment we'll still enjoy reading and expanding upon our Gears of War lore. Bring on the reading![Via Joystiq]
Gears of War action figures now up for pre-order
[Thanks, Muffin Lad]
Gears of War 2 pre-orders were on Amazon
We didn't want to post this, because we really didn't feel it to be newsworthy seeing that A) Gears of War 2 is nearly a guaranteed and B) retailers don't know anything more than we do when it comes to release dates. So, when news that Amazon.com was offering Gears of War 2 pre-orders with an expected release date of November 15th, 2008 our response was something along the lines of "so what?". Like we said, Cliffy already pretty much confirmed GoW2's existence in numerous interviews and Amazon.com simply wants to make a quick buck with pre-orders for a game that they have no release date for. But others thought it was newsworthy (tipsters included), so the GoW2 pre-order "news" has been making the internet rounds and now Amazon.com has pulled the listing. So, there you have it.You know, now that we've actually taken the time to put our fingers to the keyboard this is totally sounding like news. Funny, we guess we were wrong about this story all along. Oops.
[Thanks, to (literally) all three thousand tipsters]
