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Gears Bonus Content Released Two brand new maps, a video and a game update are now available for Gears of War - just press X at the main menu screen! Why not read our thoughts on the update and bonus content too. More >
Interview & Weapon Guide Don't forget to check out our Gears weapon guide, as well as our interview with Mark & Cliff of Epic. More >
BioShock PC Demo The PC Demo has arrived! Download now and explore the underwater city of Rapture...
Hidden Fronts Check out Epic�s Hidden Fronts Map Pack. Screenshots and info galore!
Gears of War PC Gears is coming to the PC, and it�s no mere port! New multiplayer maps, single player chapters, an editor, and a lot more. Check it all out!
Monday, 20 August, 2007 � Gears of War News
Epic Buys People Can Fly 20:34 PST | redef | Print NewsEpic announced today that they�ve acquired a majority stake in Polish developer People Can Fly. In addition to this, the announcement notes that People Can Fly is collaborating with Epic in developing the PC version of Gears. Here�s part of the PR:
Epic Games today announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Warsaw, Poland-based game developer People Can Fly. People Can Fly (�PCF�) is best known for creating the hit PC game, Painkiller, but most recently has been collaborating with Epic on the PC version of Gears of War�. In addition the two companies are collaborating on a new intellectual property which Epic will be previewing privately to publishers at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany this week.
The relationship began last year when People Can Fly was evaluating Unreal� Engine 3 to use for a new multi-platform game project. �PCF showed us their early prototypes within only a few weeks and we were totally blown away,� said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. �The quality of their work was extremely high, and knew we had to find a way to work more closely with them in the future.� Epic hired PCF to work on the PC version of Gears of War, and collaborated with them on design of a new IP. �Working with this team of guys who love making over-the-top shooters was a blast, and we didn�t want it to end,� said Dr. Michael Capps, President of Epic Games. �And their work was outstanding. The multiplayer levels they created for Gears PC look as good or better than the original. How could we not jump at the opportunity to work together on a long-term basis?�.
Wednesday, 15 August, 2007 � Gears of War News
Planet Unreal Relaunches 23:00 PST | redef | Print NewsPremier Unreal fan site Planet Unreal has relaunched! This is, of course, a site I�ve updated for many years, and it�s also part of the GameSpy family. We have the usual extensive coverage of the entire Unreal family, including Unreal Tournament 3. With the relaunch also comes a new interview with Jeff Morris. Do be sure to check it out!
Monday, 13 August, 2007 � Gears of War News
Gears Tops G-Phoria 23:08 PST | redef | Print NewsAn update over at the official Gears website notes that Gears did rather well at the G-Phoria 2007 Awards. Gears was nominated for 7 of 17 different categories, and won all 7 thanks to votes from fans. Check out the press release for more details.
1Up Interviews CliffyB & Rod Fergusson 22:57 PST | redef | Print News1Up has a surprisingly interesting interview that was conducted between Epic�s CliffyB and Rod Fergusson and the Games for Windows magazine folks. The interview is interesting because it goes into a huge amount of depth concerning developmental philosophy. Discussed are many design mechanisms (cut-scenes, narration, and scripting for example). Of course, there�s also some Gears PC discussion for anyone who is particularly interested in that. Here�s an excerpt:
GFW: There are the outspoken sorta critics, the cut-scene haters in the industry, like Ken Levine, Marc Laidlaw. I think it was Ken...he called cut-scenes the equivalent of date-raping your audience with fan fiction. Do they have it wrong? If so, how?
Cliff Bleszinski: I don't think there's any right or wrong; I just think these are the various tools that designers have with which to have exposition and narrative in their games. I mean, I find it strange that everyone's just trying to create some sort of religious debate about all of this, where something is good or something is bad. You look at God of War, which is another game that had a kind of a cool universe and a cool storyline [that] had some cool cut-scenes, and nobody really minded or complained. This idea of the purity of interactive experience, I think, is getting drastically blown out of proportion. It's just a matter of preference of designer and methodology that each team uses.
Thursday, 9 August, 2007 � Gears of War News
Epic Counters Silicon Knights 23:50 PST | redef | Print NewsYou may remember that it was previously reported that Silicon Knights had sued Epic over a disagreement over Unreal Engine 3 licensing. Gamasutra is reporting that Epic has filed a motion to dismiss Silicon Knights� claims. Of course, Silicon Knights has responded to Epic�s own claims. Here�s a bit from the Gamasutra article:
Epic's motion to dismiss memorandum, sent to Gamasutra by Epic's Mark Rein, says of Silicon Knights that it "used Epic's intellectual property to develop what SK expects will be a commercially lucrative video game that it is about to publicly release," but, "having exploited Epic's intellectual property to its advantage, SK now seeks to renege on its payment obligations under the License Agreement."
"In short," reads the documents, "SK's lawsuit is a pretense. SK does not have any valid claims against Epic. SK filed suit in a bid to renegotiate the License Agreement, in the hope that Epic will prefer that to the burden of responding to discovery and associated adverse publicity."
Tuesday, 7 August, 2007 � Gears of War News
C&VG; Interviews Mark Rein: Part 2 23:07 PST | redef | Print NewsThe second part of Computer & Video Games� Mark Rein interview is now available to their readership. There isn�t a whole lot of Gears talk in this part, but there�s still enough to keep you pleased. Here�s a sample:
Going back to Gears of War on PC... How have you found Windows Vista as a gaming platform?
Rein: You can play games on Vista? (laughs). I play UT all the time on my Vista laptop, and it flies. It's still early days for the new operating system. It's going go take the driver writers... that's the biggest problem, they've changed the driver model a bit and it's going to take time to get those optimised. Personally I like Vista, I'm enjoying it.
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
C&VG; Interviews Mark Rein 21:20 PST | redef | Print NewsComputer & Video Games is the latest site to have interviewed Mark Rein. The first part of their interview concerns a variety of topics, and although the Gears PC info isn�t new, there are plenty of related comments that are. Here�s an excerpt:
What's Epic's view on Games for Windows - Live in general?
Rein: We kind of have mixed views on it. Obviously we'd like it to be free (laughs). But at the same time it's a good service. When you're playing Gears of War, it feels like the only way to play it. For a game likes Gears of War, which is a co-op game and a couple of players at a time, it seemed like the obvious choice.
Sunday, 29 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
Gears PC: 20% More 23:43 PST | redef | Print NewsEurogamer has a little tidbit of info from Mark Rein who asserts that Gears PC will have approximately 20% more content when compared to the original. More specifically, he says "the five chapters are about the same total as one Act" and that "it's about 20 percent extra." That definitely sounds like a sizeable chunk!
Saturday, 28 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
Mark Rein Interviewed 15:59 PST | redef | Print News1Up has a lengthy 6 page interview with Mark Rein that is taken from the August 2007 issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine. The majority of their conversation concerns Gears for the PC, and there are a lot of interesting new tidbits to read up on. Included is a comment comparing the graphics of Gears and Crysis:
GFW: We'll see, because everyone's tardy with their stuff. Of course, Crysis is coming out. We'll see if that makes it out... Not necessarily declaring one or the other better-looking right off the bat, but...
MR: If that's the quote you want, is Crysis better-looking than Gears of War? I don't think so. It's different. It looks great in its own way, but does it top the graphics bar for Gears of War? No.
Thursday, 26 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
Gears Toys Announced 22:30 PST | redef | Print NewsJoystiq points out that NECA has announced that they�ve entered into an agreement with Epic in order to produce Gears-themed toys. Self confident male fans need not be afraid, as I�m sure these toys will be highly masculine and qualify under the �action figures� category. Here�s the prudent part of their press release:
Hillside, New Jersey., July 24, 2007 � NECA has announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with North Carolina based Epic Games, Inc whereby NECA will be producing a full line of collectible action figures, busts, statues, dioramas and prop replicas from the Gears of War video game and any potential sequels. NECA plans to have a full line of products available in 2008, which will include many of the most popular characters from the game.
Cliffy & Rod Interviewed 22:18 PST | redef | Print NewsAn interview with CliffyB and Rod Fergusson has been posted by our friends over at IGN. The interview covers topics related to the PC version of Gears, which include questions concerning the editor, new content, controls, and more. Here�s a sample:
IGN: What does each level of GFW-Live, Silver and Gold, give you in terms of play options with coop and multiplayer?
Rod Fergusson: Fortunately both Silver and Gold level members are able to enjoy "Gears of War" co-op and multiplayer, within and across the two levels. The big differences between the two levels are the extra services that GFW-Live provide exclusively to its Gold Members. For example, the ability to use custom matchmaking and post scores on Leaderboards.
Tuesday, 24 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
CliffyB Video Interview 23:33 PST | redef | Print NewsGameSpot has a �behind the scenes� video interview with our beloved CliffyB. The interview covers gaming topics such as how he got into the industry, obtaining success, what he would change about the industry, and a lot more. Additionally, there are a lot of personal questions--just in case you wanted to know what Cliffy�s favorite swear word is.
Monday, 23 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
Developers Comment On SK Lawsuit 15:11 PST | redef | Print NewsShackNews has contacted a variety of Unreal Engine 3 developers concerning the recent lawsuit by Silicon Knights against Epic. The comments are varied, with some mirroring Silicon Knights� displeasure and others suggesting that Epic was essentially performing within reasonable expectations given the complexity of the situation. Here�s an excerpt for anyone who is interested:
"I can understand why some features were delivered late to the UE3 licensees. Some of them were very complex while others would cause a ton of headaches to licencees if they were unstable or unfinished. This was also the reason why GoW had some UE3 features implemented and tested first before they were introduced to the official codebase. There is no better way to know if your stuff works. The Epic programmers were always upfront about the situation and never hid themselves or stopped answering questions to licensees."
Gears Soundboard 15:01 PST | redef | Print NewsTeam Xbox is linking a rather nice Gears of War soundboard. It contains a whopping 216 different clips of Gears sound. Included are a plethora of quotes from Marcus, Cole, Braid, and other characters. Of course, the most important track is #216, which is �The Cole Train� rap. Check it out!
Saturday, 21 July, 2007 � Gears of War News
Gears Song: 'Playing Gears of War' 13:13 PST | redef | Print NewsA couple of rather enthusiastic fans named TeXaZ and Mike 0 have made their own (very awesome) Gears-themed song. They describe the song as being �a little bit of rock, rap, and comedy,� and I�m inclined to agree with their description�especially the comedy part. You can leave some comments in this forum post and listen below!
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