A brand new ad for Gears of War 2, which hits shelves in two weeks, has just been released. Entitled "Last Day," it features Marcus Fenix and his fellow COG soldiers spending their last moments above ground before an underground assault on the Locust's home turf. The song featured in the trailer is "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa and tells viewers "You already know how this will end," as Dom and Marcus descend below the surface. Let there be no doubt, the commercial is definitely well produced.
We can't help but be reminded of the famous (infamous?) "Mad World" ad that promoted the first Gears of War, which makes sense considering it was created by the same team. Like the "Mad World" ad, "Last Day" is a radical departure from most action game advertising. Of course, that's precisely what makes it stand out. Find the ad after the break.
Don't ask how -- because we don't know -- but Joystiq managed to snag the video that will kick off the GameStop Gears of War 2 tournament this Friday. In the video, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski tells GOW fanboys what they can expect from the new game. We also get some nice footage featuring new Locust enemies. Enough talk though, time to watch. Find the video after the break.
We're still getting our Gears of War 2 reception at E3. We've gotten a chance to play the game's multiplayer. So far, it's good stuff, and we imagine Gears fans will be pleased. We need to soak up a little bit more before we write up our impressions. In the meantime, check out a gallery of the event itself. Sorry, we're totally barred from capturing any shots of the screens, so you'll have to settle for pictures of the swanky club, Ciudad, where the event is being held in LA. Enjoy.
We'll add more pictures to the gallery when we get a chance.
You see that? You know what that is? That's a Dustin Burg experiencing pure elation. We're at Microsoft's Gears of War 2 reception. We are playing Gears of War 2. Specifically, we're checking out multiplayer, including the new survival co-op mode called Horde. We'll have impressions up sometime tonight, along with a gallery of the proceedings. You've been warned.
So the media blitz begins. GameTrailers just put up quite a few new Gears of War 2 videos, kicking off the massive amount of video that's going to hit the tubes during E3. The above video is about 5 minutes of multiplayer gameplay complete with curb stomping and meat shields. The rest of the videos (posted after the break) consist of a single old-map new-map comparison (Gridlock) and map fly-throughs for River, Security, Gridlock, and Day One. Oh, and be wary, this'll use up some serious bandwith.
Alright kiddies time for some sleuthing courtesy of the Gears of War Official Forums. The Gears site has a new splash page up (above) and in Marcus' hand are some Dog (Cog?) Tags. Immediately upon discovery, there was the speculation that this meant death and loss would play some larger part in the game's story. But then someone decided to take a closer look at the number sequence visible on the tag: 033-116-117-126-071.
Seemingly random right? Nope. Match those numbers with one of these ASCII tables, and you'll get yourself the following letter string: "ESC N O V 9". We'd love to beleive that this was simply thrown in there to mess with the community, but it seems to be too much of a coincidence to be something wholly meaningless. Is this an early "word" on the release date? We sure hope so.
Joystiq managed to grab a second of Cliff Bleszinski's time at Microsoft's Spring Showcase yesterday (seems like everyonedid). Naturally, the discussion centered around Epic's bigger, badder, more badass sequel to Gears of War, which they have wisely dubbed Gears of War 2. Lots of things are discussed in the interview, ranging from merchandising to how Gears of War pacing will work with hundreds of enemies on screen. The biggest tidbit in the interview, however, centers around the game's online functionality. When asked whether or not Gears of War 2 will feature a party system, Cliffy responded, "I think that if we were not to have a feature like that, it would probably be a pretty big fuckup."
Yeah, that should be enough to pique your interest. Head over to Joystiq for the full interview.
We thought we heard the extent of how far Gears of War was willing to stray from its Xbox 360 roots, but now we're hearing about an even further departure. In an interview with Game Head's Geoff Keighley, Mark Rein talked up Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War and accidentally let the news slip that both games were headed to the Mac platform. Rein confirmed Gears' Mac-bound status when answering Keighley stating that "yes, Gears is going to come to the Mac and so is UT". The news was not followed by a release date or how far in development the Mac versions are.
Anyone willing to bet that Gears Mac will have even more content than Gears PC all of which won't be available to 360 owners? Anyone? Nobody? Shucks ...
The Advanced Media Network sat down with Epic's Mark Rein and Cliffy B to chat about their big E3 announcements and learned some sad news about the new Gears of War PC content. When questioned about whether or not the new campaign missions or multiplayer maps announced for the PC version would be headed to the Xbox 360, Rein said it was "unlikely [that] we will bring that content to 360". Cliffy B further emphasized their doubt by stating that "if we didn't have any sort of exclusive on the PC, why would people buy the PC version?". The Epic crew explained that bringing the PC content over to the 360 would be an extremely time consuming task and that they're currently focused on other projects like Unreal Tournament 3.
Being the Gears fan that I am it's hard to hear that new, exciting multiplayer AND campaign content will be available, but not for 360 owners. And no, there's no way I'm personally buying a beefy computer to run Gears of War PC just to experience the new content. No matter how you slice the news it sucks for 360 owners and Gears enthusiasts ... it's simple as that. Now, I'm going to go cry myself to sleep.
Gears fanboys will be excited to know that the sweet, sweet sounds of our beloved Gears of War will soon be lovingly lasered onto a piece of media plastic. The official Gears of War Soundtrack was announced yesterday and will hit major retailers and be available online July 31st. The CD will feature 28 musical tracks that will chronologically take listeners through Gears' campaign and feature the Northwest Symphonia orchestra. Think of the soundtrack as a musical version of the whole "destroyed beauty" motif. Complete list of all 28 tracks are viewable after the break including our favorites "I Will Kryll You" and "Running With Boomers".
Our Gears of War Modeling Book Contest has come to an end and we had some talented folks send in some great Locust creations. Not only did we have some great entries, but we also received entries that weren't really entries. Looking in our inbox we received emails from out of the country (this is a US only contest), entries that didn't include any attached artwork, and entries that were out of the country AND didn't include artwork. Those emails made us laugh and exercise our "delete email" finger. But, in the end, we came away satisfied with the creations our fellow fanboys submitted. So, we bet you are wondering which three entries were chosen to win a copy of Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste: Character Modeling 2, what the Locust creations look like, and if Epic Games will be using the winning designs in the Gears of War sequel. Well, the answers to all those questions and more are posted after the break. Click along and come join our Locust art gallery fun.
Did you know we're giving away three hardcover copies of Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste: Character Modeling 2 that feature amazing Gears of War artwork and are valued at over $50 a piece? You did huh? Well, quite being so lazy and send in your locust artwork already! Remember, all you have to do to win a copy is create a new, never before seen Locust creature and send it to us in .jpg format. But you better hurry, because the contest ends July 2nd when we'll be picking our favorite entries who'll win a copy of the modeling book. Complete list of contest rules, details and how to enter are available on the contest page. Run along now and get creative!
It was rumored, but ultimately the E3 Gears of War sequel announcement was just that ... a rumor. Beyond Unreal contacted Mark Rein about the possibility that a Gears of War sequel would be announced at this year's E3 and his response was somewhere along the lines of no. "We are not announcing a sequel to Gears of War at E3 this year" Rein responded and reinforced their commitment to Gears of War's DLC by stating that "we're still working on the first one".
As fans of the Gears franchise we're more than fine with no new news at E3. Microsoft's E3 spiel will more than likely be about Halo 3 and other third party titles, so Gears news really isn't necessary. So Epic, you just take your time and put together one of the most rockin' Gears of War 2 announcement trailers ever and take comfort in knowing that you have the support of at least one blogger around these parts.
The Gears of Warauto update rolled out earlier this morning implementing an updated roadie run (third time's the charm), general maintenance and our favorite ... new achievements. The eight new Gears achievements are wrapped up in the newish content all achievable either by playing the Annex gametype or by playing in the new Hidden Fronts maps (which cost 800 Microsoft points, but will be free in September). Our favorites? Based strictly on their names we love the 300 reference in "THIS! IS! ANNEX!", the nubness of "Nub Pwn3r", and "All That Juice" ... because it made us chuckle. But we're sure we'll achieve "You Down With E.P.I.C?" first, because it looks to be the easiest. Complete description of all eight new achievements is viewable after the break. Annex ... here we come.
Major Nelson gives word that Gears of War's upcoming title update will be available at 2:00 AM GMT PDT, June 14th. Technically, that's still today in North American timezones. Either way, the update will have 8 new Achievements with a combined worth of 250 Gamerscore, relating to the Hidden Fronts map pack and the new Annex gametype. It also will refine the Roadie Run (again), and fix some exploits in the multiplayer. If you're dropped Gears for some other titles, will this draw you back in?
We thought we heard the extent of how far Gears of War was willing to 
The Advanced Media Network sat down with Epic's Mark Rein and Cliffy B to chat about their big E3 announcements and learned some sad news about the new 
Gears fanboys will be excited to know that the sweet, sweet sounds of our beloved Gears of War will soon be lovingly lasered onto a piece of media plastic. The official Gears of War Soundtrack was announced yesterday and will hit major retailers and be available online July 31st. The CD will feature 28 musical tracks that will chronologically take listeners through Gears' campaign and feature the Northwest Symphonia orchestra. Think of the soundtrack as a musical version of the whole "destroyed beauty" motif. Complete list of all 28 tracks are viewable after the break including our favorites "I Will Kryll You" and "Running With Boomers".
The Gears of War 
