Destined to be a coffee table classic…

While most game-to-movie translations suck harder than a Hoover on overdrive, there is one medium that seems to be very friendly to game translations: books.

Be it graphic novels, short stories, or full-on novels, books tend to better success fleshing out the worlds created in games than any other medium, which is why news that Gears of War will be the next series to get novelized resonated with two of the main nerd nerves in my body: reading and gaming.

This announcement comes courtesy of Epic Games and Del Rey, with author Karen Traviss taking up the task of fleshing out the back story for Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.

The first of three planned novels, Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields, will be available October 28, 2008, just in time to get readers geared up for GoW2, which drops on the 7th of November. The novel will tell the story of the battle of Aspho fields, which was briefly mentioned in the first game.

From the press release:

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?

Dom’s brother Carlos? Aspho Fields? More gritty, scarred roided warriors wielding chainsaw guns? Seems like it. Looks like gamers are going to get plenty of Gears of War this fall.

Now I put a question to you, dear readers: Which game franchise deserves a book next? And what game-based book series is the best? Halo? Star Wars: Republic Commando? StarCraft? Voice your opinion! That’s an order.

Tags: Epic, Gears-of-War, Gears-of-War-2

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