Gears of War 3

[Dominico]

Epic is giving away a free multiplayer skin (Griffin, voiced by Ice T) through the Gears facebook page. Easy enough to get:

1. Like Gears of War on fb.
2. You will notice a small option on the left of the page that says Get Griffin.
3. Click Get Griffin.
4. Code is yours, can be used immediately to redeem.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/15/ge...he-world-baby/


Gears of War 3 campaign preview: 'End of the world, baby'

It's been two years since Jacinto fell at the end of Gears of War 2. What little is left of the COG army in Gears of War 3 clings to a massive tanker, the Sovereign, which sails the coast, dispatching search parties to look for supplies. For the humans on Sera, it is their darkest hour.

The Lambent Locusts, infected by the imulsion -- the natural-flowing energy substance that once powered mankind's machines on this planet -- are the latest threat, a much more savage (and explodey) enemy. Both human and the vanilla Locust are on the run.

But with such a cliffhanger ending in Gears of War 2, why not just pick it up from there? "We wanted time to pass," executive producer Rod Fergusson told me. "We wanted things to settle in and the novels fill that gap between the second and third game. We wanted time for the weight of the war to settle in on people, for the civilization to collapse and for Dom's beard to grow in. If we [picked up from where Gears 2 left off] then we wouldn't have that weight of it being about survival and then we'd have a game where you're just cleaning up after that big battle. We wanted to make it a more personal story."
I consider myself a seasoned Gears player, having dumped so many hours into the previous two games, so I chose to go through Act 1 on hardcore difficulty ... and I'm glad I did. The lambent-infected locust are no joke in Gears of War 3 -- their ability to explode and shoot you in the face at the same time made for quite the challenging dynamic in combat. I couldn't just meander up to a drone and shred them with a shotty. I had to be far more methodical in my attempt to dispatch them than I had ever been in a Gears game.

Early on, as I underestimated my new foe and adjusted my tactics, I got downed a few times. The system is largely the same as in Gears 2: once downed, you can crawl to cover or toward AI teammates who can then revive you. The AI is prone to just mindlessly running out into combat as it attempts to revive you, thus being downed in the process. It was a problem in the last game and it's still an issue here, and a domino effect I hope Epic can address before the game ships on September 20. Of course, this doesn't apply to a four-player co-op setting.


Outside of the base functionality of being able to play through the campaign with three amigos, Epic's sought to stretch the campaign with an Arcade mode modeled after Halo. Players can unlock modifiers which range from the useful, such as no ammo boxes for boosted XP, to the more zany, like the modifier which causes every killed Locust to run around like a chicken with its head cut off, firing on its comrades during the final moments of life. Scoring is largely the same as in Halo (see: competitive!) and dependent upon performance, but a group meter adds a slightly different spin. This meter builds as the Locust body count rises, modifying the points players receive in combat, and decreases once a player has been downed. It's a really exciting addition.

The polish wasn't particularly unexpected from a game that was originally supposed to debut in April. "We didn't just want to focus on jamming more features in, because it'd be less polished overall," Fergusson said. "So we focused on the beta to give us that stability we needed in the multiplayer for September 20 and put all of the other effort really into focusing on the campaign -- it's the biggest campaign we've ever done and that extra time helped make it happen."

It's not just size but the emotional scale that Epic is toying around with in Gears 3, allowing the player to actually play through some of the more emotional sequences rather than simply watch a cutscene. When Cole returns to his hometown, his home stadium and, finally, his old locker, the mourning for a life lost is obvious by the look on his face. But that scene is strengthened when, moments later, a delusional Cole Train (in full uniform) delivers a bomb to stop some invading Locust, tackling Locusts and juking what he perceives to be defenders in some delusional fantasy game of Thrashball.

Playing through that and seeing reality abruptly come crashing through the almost tranquil sequence really resonated with me. Another sequence, earlier in the game, has Marcus reliving a traumatic moment from his past as he defends his father's mansion from an invading horde of Locust. To be honest, I was just happy to be playing Gears on the Escalation map again, sosome of the emotional impact was lost on me.

Now that the game encompasses so many characters, the story won't simply be confined to Marcus and Dom. In the first act alone, I played as Marcus with Dom, newcomer Jace and Anya by my side, and another sequence as Cole Train, who had Baird, Carmine and another newcomer, Sam, accompanying him. The only odd thing is that these new characters aren't so much introduced as they are just there one moment. Jace is added in five seconds when Marcus basically yells his name and tells him to follow. The same happens with Sam, who apparently doesn't like Baird, but it's never explained why. Then again, these are things that could conceivably be explored later on, but having them there from the get-go with no explanation of where they came from was odd.

Finally, after hours of playing Gears of War 3, I had to ask Rod Fergusson a personal question: what is the deal with all of the tank tops now? Did Sera somehow get hotter? He laughed and replied, "We've moved forward a bit to summer wear, from the winter wear we had in Gears 2." However, on a more serious note, Fergusson said it's more a way to identify each game. "When you look on a box cover and you see the same guy with the same armor, you may wonder which version of the game this is. You have to find ways to kind of move the character and franchise forward and this seemed like a nice way to do that." Sometimes you just gotta let them rippling biceps breathe, you know?

[BadKarma]

Shame these reviewers never read the books or comics.

Sam, and Jace are huge characters in both.

That said, CANNOT FUCKING WAIT.

[6souls]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6081/...8586308c5a.jpg
Epic games is throwing their weight behind the 3D gaming fad, adding yet more legitimacy to this burgeoning technology. According to an article on Eurogamer, executive producer Rod Fergusson has said that Xbox 360-exclusive title Gears of War 3 will boast stereoscopic 3D capability.

“It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn’t want to be deficient in. When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time,” Fergusson told Eurogamer. “It’s still fledgling technology. It’s still a niche feature. But it was something we could support, so we felt, why not?”

Interestingly (and unfortunately), the Xbox 360 isn’t capable of rendering 3D visuals in true HD:

“It’s a little bit jaggier in certain areas,” Fergusson is quoted as saying. “Instead of 720p you’re at five something.”

Part of the reason, too, is that the game wasn’t made to be in 3D from the ground up, like, say, James Cameron’s Avatar. It was a case of the much more cinematically common practice of adding 3D effects to the finished product—but hopefully to a better result than some of the filmic abortions that have utilized this technique (The Last Airbender, Clash of the Titans, etc.). Fergusson explains:

“It was something that came in really late in our process. It wasn’t something where we said, OK, we’re going to design the game from the ground up for 3D. It was more of a post-process 3D, where we’re like, OK, certain things need to be adjusted, but for the most part it generally works…It’s great. I love the qualities it provides, the window into a world. That’s what the 3D gives you. Having that depth of character, and being able to see that separation from the reticule and the creatures in the background – it’s a different experience but it’s a really good one.”

http://blog.machinima.com/insidegami...r-3%E2%80%A6d/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...c-3d-announced

[Insanecyclone]

[Militant]

Amazon currently has a $20 credit for pre-ordering GoW3 through them. Just thought I'd let anyone interested know.

[BadKarma]

ITS GONE GOLD MOTHERFUCKERS


http://epicgames.com/community/2011/...has-gone-gold/
http://epicgames.com/community/wp-co...3-1024x679.jpg
http://epicgames.com/community/wp-co...6-679x1024.jpg

[Kyo]

Awwwww yeah.

[BadKarma]

Its your baby Kyo

[shidobu]

that pictures is gonna be shooped with cocks by the end of the day if /v/ gets a hold of it

[Kyo]

Its your baby Kyo

Oh yes.

[Vilyon]

GoW always have awesome TV commercials, Mad world is still the best.

[BadKarma]

It came out over a year ago my dude.

[Vilyon]

Haven't seen this on tv. Says it was released in May 2011.... "Mad world" is still the best 1.

[Odin'sLaw]

that must be the American only trailer I'm sure the British one was fenix running into a building then having a shadowy figure behind him, but lets face it REM kick ass GoW kick ass = kick ass couple

[AidenCarby]

Am I the only one who was sad to see Dom ready to go out like that? Poor dude lol

[BadKarma]

Am I the only one who was sad to see Dom ready to go out like that? Poor dude lol

Dom's gone as a man. The only thing he lives for now is Marcus.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.destructoid.com/season-pa...d-210114.phtml


Season Pass for Gears of War 3 DLC announced

I was surprised by fans' willingness to stick it out in long lines at PAX to see games that are practically upon us. One such title was Gears of War 3, which is going to follow the growing trend of letting players pay for all of the downloadable content ahead of time. Why do this? Because you get a discounted price.

The Gears of War 3 Season Pass will be purchasable for 2400 Microsoft Points when the game hits on September 20. This payment gets you four DLC installments -- the first of which is coming in November -- for 33% off what it would cost to buy every pack individually upon release. Also, you get the exclusive Liquid Metal Weapon Set.

Yes, people, you get a gun that is actually Robert Patrick in disguise. Probably.

[BadKarma]

Id pay the 20 bucks just for the Robert Patrick guns. But yes, I am good with this growing season pass trend. Saves money and you get smexy extras.

[Kyo]

Yeah I'll pick up a season pass as well.