Epic Games has put out the 5th title update for its third person shooter Gears of War 2 resolving a slew of glitches and a security hole that arose in the fourth patch. Plus, just in time for the Halloween Holiday, Epic is also treating gamers to another double XP weekend event Friday, October 30, through Monday, November 2.

Hit the jump for the full list of release notes via the official Gears forum.

Improvements

Title Update 5 makes these new improvements:

• Adds the ability to view friendly-planted grenades in Tac/Com.
• Removes the cringe caused when a smoke grenade forces a player to drop a meatshield.
• Adds bonus points to the winning leader’s score in the Guardian game mode if the leader successfully survives the winning round.
• Changes the postmatch Invite button to only invite former teammates, so a player can create parties more easily instead of trying to create a Private Match that includes both teams from the former match.
• Returns the roadie-run camera movements to the way they were in Gears of War 1 by decreasing the dampening values.

Exploit Fixes

Title Update 5 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

• A player could modify the game’s behavior due to a security vulnerability introduced in an earlier title update.
• A player could use a turbo controller to artificially maximize their rate of fire.
• A player could mantle a planted shield in competitive multiplayer to hide inside geometry or to travel outside of the map. The ability to mantle shields was removed in competitive multiplayer but remains in Horde and Campaign.

Title Update 5 also fixes a number of other, lesser-known exploits.

General Fixes

Title Update 5 fixes these other issues as well:

• An issue that contributed to the “sticky walk” problem, where a player’s avatar could stutter after the player picks up a weapon.
• An issue that could prevent players from hearing the “boom” telegraph from Boomers.
• An issue that could cause looping audio to continue playing after the player who triggered that sound is killed.
• An issue that could cause multiple names to be highlighted yellow on the scoreboard instead of the name of the player viewing the scoreboard.
• An issue that prevented the game from granting the earned experience points from the fiftieth wave of Horde.
• An issue that caused players at level 100 to see the “congratulations” message after every match.

Source: gearsofwar.xbox.com

If you are anything like me and my girlfriend, you have likely seen the Snuggie commercial on TV half a million times (not to be confused with the WTF Blanket). Well, Epic Games rep Dana Crowley recently told Kotaku on her Twitter feed that the Gears of War themed Snuggie featured above “really does exist…”

Unfortunately, Dana  goes on to explain that the Snuggie complete with screen printed armor is only a prototype, and that it won’t be released to the Gears lovin’ cold on the couch sittin’ general public.

Have something you think we should show on Geeked-Out? Email it to us.

A few weeks ago, Gears of War for the PC died. Well, good news- Destructoid reports that the game is back up and running by way of a patch. Now you can set your system clock to the right time again, GoW PC fans! Is everyone excited?

Users on the Gears of War official forums are reporting that the digital certificates for the game have expired, as of 28th January 2009. This means that the game will not launch at a system date post-28th Jan. Obviously, this is awful news for those people who enjoy playing the game on the PC, since unless they keep their system date before the 28th, they cannot play the game.

This is what all the fuss about DRM (Digital Rights Management) is about; people who bought this game are essentially not allowed to play it. Ironically, the people who pirated the game, who the DRM is supposedly trying to stop, won’t be affected by this. The more that stuff like this happens due to DRM, the more the games are going to be pirated- only the customers are being punished. Anyway- bad show on Epic’s part; this needs to be fixed.

If you’ve ever played Gears multiplayer with me, you probably heard me scream “he’s freaking glitching!” on more than one occasion. Well the Gears of War sequel was in attendance at Glitch Fest 2000. Check out the full list of glitches features in the video above.

I can’t decide if the maker(s) of this video loved the game or hated it. I personally loved it and wasn’t bothered by (nor do I remember) any of these glitches features. I will admit that after the first minute, I tabbed into another application and listened to the audio from the clip. Enjoy.

Source: Kotaku

Tired of boring breakfast cereal? Thinking of remodeling your kitchen? Well, if you answered yes to both of these questions, Cole Train has the breakfast pick-me-up you’ve been looking for baby! Hit the jump for a COG sized scoop of sugary goodness.

Anabolic steriods as a free prize in the box? It’s a shame we didn’t all have something this awesome for breakfast growing up.

In this week’s episode, we join host Jonathan Zungre, Dan Landis, and Beau Rosser as they discuss Ripten’s top three news stories of the previous week. During the break, be amused at a man’s tale about the capture of a polar bear.

This week’s playlist includes Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Neverland Card Battles, Ninjatown, and Saint’s Row 2.

So sit back and enjoy Episode 6 and all its technical difficulties glory. If something sounds funny, don’t worry -– it was edited that way on purpose.

Everything happens for a reason.

It’s an “Epic” article worthy of its subject. On the following page, we’ve placed a few choice examples of New Yorker’s hoity-toity descriptions of the life of Cliff Bleszinski, a designer known by nearly every Xbox owner.

On Cliffy B’s Lamborghini:

Bleszinski suggested that we go to a local diner. He professes an aversion to mornings, and to Monday mornings especially, but he seemed dauntingly alert. “This car’s like a wakeup call,” he said. “By the time I get to work, my heart’s pumping and I’m ready to crank.” Before we were even out of the parking lot, we were traveling at forty-five miles an hour. At a stoplight, Bleszinski exchanged waves with the driver of an adjacent red Ferrari—another Epic employee. When we hit a hundred miles per hour on a highway entrance ramp, Bleszinski announced, “Never got one ticket!” On the highway, he slowed to seventy-five. “One of my jobs in life,” Bleszinski said, cutting over to an exit, “is to make this look a little cooler.” By “this,” he meant his job.

Nice to know those sixty-dollar game markups are going directly to Epic’s hotrod fund.

On the surreal Super Mario Bros. experience:

Issued in 1985, Super Mario Brothers was a game of summer-vacation-consuming scope and unprecedented inventiveness. It was among the first video games to suggest that it might contain a world. It was also hallucinogenically strange. Why did mushrooms make Mario grow larger? Why did flowers give Mario the ability to spit fire? Why did bashing Mario’s head against bricks sometimes produce coins? And why was Mario’s enemy, Bowser, a saurian, spiky-shelled turtle?

Keep in mind, the average New Yorker reader is 108 years old and still thinks Nintendo makes playing cards.

From the mini-review of Gears of War contained in the profile:

The story line and the narrative dilemmas of Gears are not very sophisticated. What is sophisticated about Gears is its mood. The world in which the action takes place is a kind of destroyed utopia; its architecture, weapons, and characters are chunky and oversized but, somehow, never cartoonish. Most video-game worlds, however well conceived, are essenceless. Gears felt dirty and inhabited, and everything from the mechanics of its gameplay to its elliptical backstory was forcefully conceived, giving it an experiential depth rare in the genre.

Hey, New Yorker! 2006 called, they want their review back.

On the design of Epic’s offices:

If one were to commission a very bright and unusually tasteful adolescent to design his ideal workplace, Epic’s headquarters would probably be the result. Its many blacks, grays, and corrugated-metal surfaces might best be labelled Bachelor Futurist, even though, by now, most of Epic’s male employees wear wedding rings. The office furnishings come in three styles: Neo-Living Room (easy-rocking, lever-activated recliners), Casual Satanist (black leather couches), and Romper Room Gothic (beanbag chairs). The aroma of lingering adolescence carries over into the mementos, knickknacks, and emblems that Epic’s employees use to decorate their offices. Tim Sweeney, with the earnestness of a teen-age boy, has a prominent Ferrari flag hanging in his office—though Sweeney, unlike most teen-age boys, actually owns a Ferrari. Chris Perna, the art director of Gears 2, displays on one of the shelves in his office a foot-high silver-cast Darth Vader Pez dispenser. Bleszinski’s office resembles a toy-store yard sale. These are boyish affectations, certainly, but boyishness is the realm in which these men seek inspiration, not a code by which they live.

This is an extremely polite way of calling the entire Epic staff “man-children”.

And finally, a look at Gears 2 through a developer discussion on balancing weapons:

Discussion at Epic is collegial and to the point; modern game design is too complex and collaborative for any individual to feel proprietary about his own ideas. At one meeting I attended, a disagreement about weaponry was swiftly resolved. “There’s no direct counter to the flamethrower,” Ray Davis, the game’s lead programmer, pointed out, with exasperation. A colleague, who had obviously heard this before, sighed. “I don’t know. I think it’s a superweapon,” he said. Then someone else observed that the boomshot, another devastatingly fatal weapon, had no direct counter, either, and Davis recognized with a grin that his argument had been destroyed. Bleszinski took the opportunity to raise a singular annoyance of the boomshot, familiar to anyone with experience of the multiplayer version of Gears: the impossibility of knowing whether someone you are charging toward happens to be carrying it. “The boomshot needs something to warn you your opponent’s got it,” Bleszinski said. He suggested adding small glowing lights around its four barrels, which everyone agreed was a fine solution. Davis, who works most directly with the programmers and was therefore most familiar with what remained janky, brought up the “inconsistent, unfun lethality” of a certain kind of grenade. This segued into Gears 2’s inclusion of ink grenades, which create a highly damaging toxic cloud—the proper gameplay use of which no one, so far, had been able to decide.

Wow! Reading this sure feels like a step above Game Informer, doesn’t it? We hope this isn’t the last of New Yorker’s in-depth dissertations on gaming culture and business. Can we expect the same fancy treatment for Fallout 3, Resistance 2, or Shaun White Snowboarding?

It’s doubtful, but if you want to read only the finest in gaming journalism on a regular basis, bookmark Ripten and check us daily (if not hourly). Unlike the New Yorker, we’re always on the gaming beat.

Source: New Yorker

So yeah, I was bored and the lack of news coming over the wire convinced me to pop open Adobe Photoshop and mess around for a while. One thing lead to another, and a few hours later I ended up with my own little Gears of War Movie poster. Dan Landis added his two cents on the casting over Skype.

Yes, we know that Kilmer is currently a bit on the heavy side, and Batista may not be the best actor on the face of the planet, but we figured what the fuck — they sure as hell look the part. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Lester “Terry Tate” Speight were obvious choices. To be perfectly clear, the Gears of War movie has NOT been officially cast yet, these are merely our “shooting the shit” selections.

Hit the jump for a high res version and make sure to let me know what you think of it in the comment section below. Thanks guys.

(CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

The word on the Locust infested streets of Sera is that Legendary Pictures is looking to purchase Epic Games. No clue as to whether or not the companies would change their name, but they might as well go for “Uber,” I can’t really think of any thing else that tops Epic or Legendary (Artifact perhaps?)

The two studios have been working closely with each other on the film adaptation of Gears of War, and apparently have bonded over a love of Chainsaw Bayonets, leading to speculation that the purchase is at the very least being discussed seriously.

Legendary Pictures’ chairman Thomas Tull has shown interest in video games before, as he was co-founder of publisher Brass Entertainment, but subsequently left, as the company was focused on Hollywood licensed productions, and we all know how those tend to go.

So perhaps Tull has gotten a taste for gaming and is looking for a real company to get involved with. He could certainly do much worse than Epic, which owns the Gears of War franchise and the Unreal Engine.

Legendary offered no comment but Epic had some nice things to say about Legendary, which at least indicates they play well together, so getting hitched isn’t totally out of the question.

“We have publicly announced that Epic and Legendary are partnering on the “Gears of War” movie. We’re very excited about that project and have the highest regard for Thomas Tull and his organization,” said a spokesperson for Epic.

The pairing would provide Epic with whole helluva lotta money, and Legendary would get an epic game studio (sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Stay tuned for more info as it comes.

Source: Variety

I’m sorry to say that while I consider myself a fairly loyal Gears of War fan, it’s my opinion that the gang at Epic overcomplicated their most recent attempt to market Gears 2.

I have tried to focus long enough to figure out what the hell the mystery COG tags point to, but despite the multitude of posts around the web claiming to have all the answers, I simply can’t bring myself to give a fuck any longer.

Seriously, unless cracking the code grants me a few hours alone in the Playboy Mansion grotto with two handfuls (you read that right) of Playboy Bunnies, it’s just too much work.

What do you think? Are you interested in complex marketing attempts, or would you prefer that companies “keep it simple stupid.”

In a previous interview with DasGamer.com, Cliff Bleszinski mentioned in passing that he thought the Dom and Maria act along with pace of gameplay was what might attract a female audience for the Gears games. He said his “gut feeling” was that women love Gears, judging this of course by the number of friend requests on his MySpace.

Cliffy B has pushed the campaign further and launched into the world of nude male modeling in an effort to win over the ladies. He also made sure to tag the photo with “sexy” and “awesome” for clarification.

The above “photo” was spotted on Cliff’s twitter a couple hours ago. What’s even better is that it appears after several tweets about how poor Cliffy’s pick-up lines aren’t being received well by the ladies:

Going to the club later tonight. The ladies are gonna be on me like ports on the Wii. 06:17 PM October 10, 2008 from web

Note to self: “Emergence Hole” pick-up line does NOT work. 09:30 PM October 10, 2008 from web

Neither does the “Hammer of Dawn” line. 10:07 PM October 10, 2008 from web

Since all of his updates were from the web, I have to question if the pick up lines were really to blame. Who goes to a club and then proceeds to sit on a computer? Cliff, do you have some sort of MMO addiction that we should be worried about?

I’m not sure if this has made my life better or worse. On the one hand, every time I play a Gears of War game I won’t be able to get this image out of my mind. On the other hand… do I want to?

With the release of Gears 2 quickly approaching, I decided that it might be a good time for me to take a quick roadie run down Sera Lane — one that involves a three-hour “I refuse to accept no as an answer” road trip. Those who know me won’t be surprised, but looking back, even I wonder what the hell I was thinking.

When the first Gears was announced, I was probably one of the few people that hadn’t been aware of the game’s hype. Epic’s new IP was brought to my attention by a friend I had spent countless hours playing Call of Duty 2 with on Xbox LIVE.

He kept telling me about this “Mad World” commercial that I just had to see. I repeatedly brushed it off with responses like, “Yeah OK, let’s go play some more COD2.” Then one day while channel surfing, I stumbled on the commercial he had been harping about.

There haven’t been many gaming-related “oh shit” moments for me that took place prior to actually playing a game, but this commercial was certainly one of them. The Gears of War “Mad World” trailer combined a soothing melody with harsh visuals to create what I found to be a near-perfect balance of inner peace and outer chaos.

No less than ten minutes later, I was on YouTube replaying it over and over, and the next few weeks of XBL buddy chat consisted of me singing the Mad World theme song into the ears of my extremely patient online friends. The TV spot piqued my interest in the game, and it wasn’t long before I found myself reserving it at my local GameStop. Reservation? Check! Everything under control? Not so much.

I woke one morning (it was probably more like noon) to the sound of my cell phone alerting me of a new voicemail message. After playing the excited message from my friend, who had just got his copy, I realized that some GameStop locations were selling their pre-orders before others. A quick call to the one I had reserved my copy at opened my eyes to two things: 1) my GameStop had yet to get the games, and 2) GameStop reservations are not transferable to other locations.

My reservation was made at a location just outside of Boston, and while the location actually in Boston got the game, they wouldn’t honor the reservation I made at the other location. I was told, “Sorry, there’s no way you can play the game today.” Wrong answer.

I got on the horn and started calling every GameStop that I could find until I found one that was willing to help me out. That was the good news. The bad news was that it was about three hours away in Connecticut. So I gathered up some food and drink, hopped into my car, drove from Massachusetts to Connecticut, purchased the game, shared my story with a few Gears fans in-store, exchanged gamertags, got back in my car, and drove back with the following scene from Road Trip looping through my head.

Tell me not to play? I think not! After all of that, you would think I got home and played the hell out of the game, right? Wrong. I powered up my 360 and didn’t even make it through the intro tutorial before a sense of disappointment set in. It might have been the fact that I was exhausted, but I wasn’t really feeling the controls (which is funny looking back on it now), and so I powered my system down and didn’t play the game again for days.

Eventually, I got a call to take the game online and experience Gears multiplayer with some buddies. I never looked back. From that point forward, I became “Cole Train”, belting out “woot woot baby” after every kill. The controls, which where admittedly different, grew on me and became second nature. Anything that got in my way was greeted by a roadie run/diving roll combo, topped off with a shotgun blast to the face!

To put things into perspective, my friends and I spent an ungodly amount of time playing COD2 online, but even that paled in comparison to the amount of time we invested into Gears multiplayer. Innovative weapons like the Torque Bow, Hammer of Dawn, and Chainsaw Bayonet kept us coming back for more.

New maps were eventually released, and updates were made to fix some issues gamers ran into as gameplay evolved (i.e. sticky bomb abuse, roadie run exploits, etc.), but like any game, over time people moved on to newer titles.

Bethesda began their marketing campaign for FallOut 3, and I found myself comparing their initial commercial to the Gears “Mad World” TV spot, even going as far as asking readers which cinematic presentation they preferred. Around that same time, rumors began to circulate about a sequel to Gears (imagine that) and interests started to perk again. Nothing could be confirmed, and speculation set in that an announcement would be made at the upcoming Game Developers Conference.

It wasn’t long before I found myself in the front row of the Microsoft GDC Keynote, and as expected, the Gears sequel talk cut through the crowd like a chainsaw tearing open a Locust’s chest. I overheard a crew member for another site confirm that the game would be announced as he directed his camera man to “make sure he got the shot of Cliffy coming on stage at the end.” So, like any good blogger, I called the tip in to the home team and “Gears 2 Confirmed” hit the front page of our site.

Since then, a lot has happened. The dueling chainsaw feature we predicted from GDC was confirmed, and a slew of new features were revealed. Five-man team support, meat shields, revamped executions, new weapons, achievements, and an in-game achievement tracker have got the Gears community buzzing at an all time high.

With the original Gears of War “Mad World” trailer deemed an instant classic by many, including myself, Epic was tasked with introducing the world to Gears 2 with the same level of quality and cinematic flair. While different in its approach, the “Rendezvous with Death” trailer is both well-executed and multi-purposed as it prominently highlights one of the game’s new features: the meat shield.

In addition to the TV spot, Epic went all out with online and offline marketing as well. Unleashing splash page mystery images, developer diaries, and most recently sending various media outlets their own brand of giant decoder rings in the form of metal COG tags. With everything from Gears of War shoes, to books, to user-designed case mods, it’s obvious that Marcus and the boys are in high demand.

The game that was once referred to as “bigger, better, and more badass” by the lead designer himself may no longer be officially represented as such, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t be all of those things. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am extremely excited about the Gears of War 2 release and will make sure that I’m fully prepared to terminate Locust come November 7th. See you online beeshes!!!

Title: Gears of War 2 Publisher: Microsoft Rating: Mature Content: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language Platforms: Xbox 360 The gears of war continue to turn as Marcus Fenix and his squad of Cogs go back into action in the sequel to Microsoft and developer Epic Games’ blockbuster action title.

Oh, that idiot Soulja Boy is up to his shenanigans again.  After eloquently describing the brilliance of the Xbox Live Arcade game Braid, Soulja Boy is once again broadcasting his videogame superiority via his YouTube channel.  Highlights include “Fuck PlayStation 3… nobody play no goddamn PlayStation” and “You can get an ass-whoopin’ fo’ free on Xbox Live”. I especially like when he says you can tell his game is imported because of the “Japanese signals”.

Check out the full video for proof that evolution is flawed.

“Ya’ll know I do music, but let’s just forget about the music for right now.” Already did, Soulja Boy… already did.

So what do you think?  Is Soulja Boy just your average trash-talking douche that happens to be famous and uploads douchey videos of himself to YouTube, or is he an epic douche that wields a +1 camcorder of doucheness and mystical hat rotation?  I think you know my vote.

Today in WTF! news, Gears of War 2 is announced as having gone gold (which means the game has been finalized), and just a few hours after that, the game surfaces in the hand of a mysterious figure on the popular Neogaf gaming forum.

Coincidence? Bullshit? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that every time something like this happens the collective butt-cheeks of software executives clench in unison.

Eventually, games will come with remote detonators that sense a premature case ejection. Removing a game from its container before the specified release date will cause it to explode violently, and affected individual will have a hard time convincing anyone that they didn’t deserve every piece of gaming shrapnel they end up having to dislodge from their face.

Hey, I love reporting news and rumors as much as the next guy, but if continuously pushed, it’s not far fetched to think that developers will find better ways to protect themselves and the media they create at the expense of time and resources that could have been spent developing better content. Everything comes with a price.

First there was the Lancer Assault Rifle replica. Now, for your consideration, the brain trust at Globe skate footwear bring you the Gears of War Special Edition Co-op shoe. Chainsaw bayonet not included.

The website declares that:

“Globe has teamed up with EPIC and their Gears of War video game, one of the best selling combat video games of all-time, to bring you a Special Edition Co-op shoe based on Globe’s Fusion Model. This one comes with a big pop of the Gears of War icon inside and out.”

What exactly is a “shoe of war” made of? It features spandex, breathable mesh, and kinetic EVA cushioning for flinging oneself behind strategic cover whilst taking fire.

The shoe is planned to be priced $70 – $80 and comes in sizes men’s sizes 5 through 14. Must have for the fashionable shod gamer – or 15-year-olds who have too bilked too much money from their parents.

No work yet on whether or not Gears commando Marcus Fenix has endorsed the shoe, but early word from his publicist is that “the triple stitching aids in the crushing of Locust trachea quite nicely.”

Have something you think we should show on Geeked-Out? Email it to us.

Source: globe.tv

Fall is fast approaching, and your bank balance will soon be dropping faster than the leaves on the tree outside your window. Naturally, you may not be able to decide for yourself which of the plethora of games to splurge your life’s savings on, and that’s where I come in.

Think of me as your personal assistant — ready to passively (and aggressively) project my thoughts and opinions onto you. Thank me later.

Dead Space (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 10/14 – It’s the future. We’ve made significant progressions in the space program. You’re Isaac Clarke, a space engineer, who’s answered a distress call from a ship that is, as far as he knows, only suffering from minor mechanical issue. Since we need antagonists to kill, the ship has been overrun by Necromorphs, a hostile polymorphic alien species dependant on necrotic flesh.

As lame as that sounds, all it does is confirm my suspicions that it is execution rather than conception that makes something intriguing.

EA Redwood has taken what I perceive and now know as the “Resident Evil 4 effect”: over-the-shoulder camera, controls that don’t make you want to burn a puppy, and something freak you out when you turn the corner. Comparisons to other great games continue; much like BioShock’s Rapture, a large portion, if not all, of Dead Space will be taking place in a self-contained location. What BioShock did right was make locations distinct enough to create a feeling of progression and keep things fresh with distinct differentiations in aesthetics.

Gameplay mechanics appear solid enough, and rightfully so, since they’re borrowing from the best. And let me be clear, that’s not a knock against it, I like that it borrows from games that I already know I love. Provided that they nail the gameplay, atmosphere has to be top notch, especially since they’re in the survival-horror genre, a genre that lives and dies by its ability to give you the screaming heebie-jeebies.

LittleBigPlanet (Playstation 3) 10/21 – “Play. Create. Share.” is the mantra that Media Molecule, developers of LittleBigPlanet, has lived by since they announced the title two years ago.

LBP is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that combines the Super Mario Bros paradigm of simply getting from one end of the screen to another and takes it to the next level with real-to-life physics calculations. Thow in an endearing star like Sackboy, and a pre-bundled level creator expansive enough to recreate just about anything your mind can think up, and you may begin to understand why people are clammering to reserve their copy.

If creating isn’t really your thing, you can expect a fully featured online catalog of levels created by others. Assuming that its release is met by a highly motivated and creative community focused on providing a constant stream of mind-blowing content, LBP will be surefire success.

Fable 2 (Xbox 360) 10/21 - Over promising and under delivering has very much been the theme of Peter Molyneux, the design mastermind behind Fable. I haven’t followed his hyperbolic propagand much throughout Fable II’s development, but I’m sure he’s spewed his fair share of it. The one thing I did hear is about the Han Solo factor.

The factor that has a player not being equally generous and forthcoming to everyone met, but a greedy, look-out-for-self, inward thinker that’s not exactly pure evil:

“With Han Solo, how good is good? Can you get as good as Luke Skywalker? Even he wasn’t truly good.” Molyneux said. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer blog.

He then went on t o hypothesize a potential situation in Fable II:

“If you saw a family there and had to kill these bandits to save the family, you’d kill the bandits to save the family. If I said to you, ‘okay, to save this family, you give up half your gold.’ Would you give up half your gold to save the family? Maybe you would, don’t know. The most interesting one is if I said ‘to save that family, you must be horribly, grotesquely scarred and there’s no way of ever removing the scar or the aging.’ What we found is that far, far fewer people were willing to sacrifice that.”

Would you sacrifice superficial features in a game to accomplish your good deed for the day? What about in the meatspace; fight or flight? Could an in-game situation make you stop for a second to contemplate the repercussions of your actions? Would you second guess your decision making? That seems to be the goal they are striving for here.

Fallout 3 (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 10/28 – Post-apocalyptic wastelands haven’t been done right since 1998, or so they say. Having only become a PC gamer recently, I missed out on both Fallout’s, and I’ve neglected to watch any of the Mad Max movies. As such, I’ve never been set in a Mad Max-esque setting – and I’m not quite sure what to expect. In other words, I have little insight into this cultural phenomenon.

I know about the barren stretches of land, the different factions, your dog, the vaults, the open-ended consequence-filled nature of the world, the VAT combat system and the Pip-Boy. All that knowledge taking up real-estate in my head, but even so, I can’t begin to understand the hype machine surrounding this games pending release. Despite my not having any comprehension as to how the game will actually “work”, it’s piqued enough of my interest that I will definitely be playing it on day one.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) 11/4 - “Bigger, better, and more badass.” Was the phrase Lead Designer Cliff Bleszenski chose to introduce the world to Gears of War 2, although it was scrapped shortly thereafter. Setting aside the idiotic catch phrase, my initial fears were that little to no advancement had happened in the two year gap between the first and the second Gears of War’s.

Epic could’ve released what would ostensibly be the original Gears with a new single-player campaign and, by and large, be met with success, both critically and commercially. Marginally upgraded graphics, new enemy types, and new weapons would have likely been sold as more than enough reason to come back for round two.

Thankfully though, they didn’t phone Gears of War 2 in. A new campaign, 5 player co-op, and what seems like a vastly improved multiplayer mode have me at attention and ready for battle. The 5 player co-op has a bit of a twist, as it pits you and your friends in something more analogous to Geometry Wars: Waves. You fight through waves of Locusts with each subsequent wave being more difficult than the previous. It’s chances of being Game of the Forever are slim to none, but what it does have is a great foundation to work from, if taken in the right directions it will prove to be a success in most aspects.

Resistance 2 (Playstation 3) 11/7 – Ever since its announcement, you’ve heard about Resistance 2 and it’s scale. In fact, Insomniac Games made sure that one was never mentioned without the other. A prime example being the skyscraping 300 ft. tall Leviathan shown off at the Sony E3 Press Conference months ago. It ravaged through a 1950’s war-torn Chicago and smashed buildings with little remorse.

For those that missed the original, it’s an alternate historical take on World War II, where instead of the war progressing as it should with the Allies vs. Axis, it’s become Humans on Chimeras, a mysterious alien species life form that’s decided to invade Earth.

The first takes places through European cities. With the second, the war comes stateside and it’s up to hero of the European invasion, Nathan Hale, to play his part. Apart from repeating the word “scale” until it ceases to have meaning, they’ve also been playing the numbers game like it’s nobody’s business, unleashing an 8 player class-based co-op campaign, and 64 player squad-based competitive multiplayer.

In addition to the numbers game, they’ve also been building a new website behind-the-scenes. One that’s meant to foster a community. MyResistance.net is slated to be to Resistance 2, as Bungie.net is to Halo 3. Those are big shoes to fill, but Insomniac readily boasts the “scale” to do it.

Mirror’s Edge (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 11/11 - We got our first taste of the evolved paradigm of platforming courtesy of last year’s release of Assassin’s Creed. The craze is called Parkour, which is a French developed sport involving running, jumping, and otherwise traversing urban areas with complete grace and shocking fluidity. When directly translated from French to English it means “The art of movement”. The definition and translation of Parkour is easily transferable and a perfectly acceptable for Mirror’s Edge, as it takes Parkour, and translates it into a first-person action game.

Mirror’s Edge takes place in a not-so-distant dystopian future, run by a totalitarian government. I don’t know how much you know about totalitarian governments with Orwellian traits, but they like to control things, and one of their favorite things to control is information. That’s where the “Runners” come in. They take information in various forms and get it from point A to point B.

You play Faith, an extremely agile and graceful runner. As such, she can move through her environment with relative ease and fluidity. Much of Mirror’s Edge involves forward movement, you can expect to, more often than not, be in situations where you’re being shot at, chased, or otherwise incentivized to — you guessed it, move forward.

The only downfall I can think of is the game’s lack of interaction with civilians in the dystopian city. There’s just a picture perfect scene in my mind’s eye, where Faith is going from a rooftop, through a door, down a stairwell, and finally arriving in an office, ultimately interrupting a regular work-day, turning workers into obstacles that become part of the stage.

Those are the games that will keep your wallet (or purse, if you’re into that sort of thing) lighter than it has been all year.

Make sure you come back within the next few days, as I’ll be pushing the games of Fall that may slip under your radar, but shouldn’t. Save your pocket change — you’re going to need it.

Electronic Arts has just signed a deal to publish an all-new IP from Epic Games, the creators of the Gears of War and Unreal series. The new IP is currently being developed by Epic’s People Can Fly studio in Poland, the team behind Painkiller and the Gears of War PC port.

These kind words came from Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein.

“Epic is excited to work with EA Partners to launch our next big IP on the global stage. EA Partners gives independent developers like Epic the muscle of a global publisher like EA, along with the focus and flexibility of a smaller team committed to working with our individual needs.”

Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label, returned the favor by saying:

“Epic brings first class talent and technology to the development of this new title. We are very proud to have Epic join the growing roster of EA Partners.”

For dedicated achievement whores who are strapped for cash but don’t want to sell their entire game collection, there’s a new option-– sell the time you spend playing them.

It’s widespread practice, it seems. Den of Geek has found an auction offering such services for Gears of War. The Ebay link is nowhere to be found, but plenty of others – like this one for Guitar Hero and another for Gears of War – are out there. A bit more digging and you can even pimp your gamerscore on a grand scale.

This works because you’re not actually selling your own achievements or gamerscore, which are technically property of Microsoft anyway. You’re selling your time to do it for someone else. All you need is their live ID and password.

Would I buy them off you? Probably not. Sure, having them all would look great, but it’s still someone else’s score. I’ll still be as good (or rather, as bad) as I was before I paid to have these false accolades bestowed on me. Still, plenty of people out there fed up of being a noob.

Here’s the ad as posted on Den of Geek:

GEARS OF WAR – ACHIEVEMENT GLITCH!

The following auction is for the following achievements to be unlocked on your xbox 360 account :

SERIOUSLY… – 50G

All weapon achievements, including sniper, hammer of dawn etc.

Once payment is recieved., please send me the following details :

Your Gamertag, Email & Email Password.

And we will discuss a convenient time for both of us on when i should do it

Once recovered, i will have finished in around 15 minutes

After the achievements are unlocked on your profile, i will delete your account from my hard-drive and email you so that you know i have finished.

Sadly, the above is not a new screen shot. It is but a fanciful idea I had. I’m sorry, Gears 2 doesn’t come with Unicorn Lancers, but the filters are real. It’s looking like Gears 2 will follow in first Gear’s footsteps and implement a filter for both violence and language.

Even though the game already has an ‘M’ rating, which I always interpreted as “mature” as opposed to “3 and up”, I guess some whiny brats may pester mummy for an early Christmas present, and we can’t have little Timmy hearing the f-bomb now can we?

Ok, I’m being a little pedantic. There are a number of reasons why you may want this filter in place, if you’re playing in front of relatives, if you want the performance gain from less blood, or if you don’t like it when your entire screen gets covered in red ooze.

Whatever your preference, come November 7th, at least Timmy will be safe.

As an aside, if like me, you think the idea of a weekly “Unicorns of Mass Destruction” column, in which I photo-shop unicorns in place of famous videogame weapons is a good idea, please do let me know.

There are case mods, and then there are freaking epic case mods. This bad boy not only screams Gears of War, it looks like it belongs in the damn game itself. Dark and gritty with a fiery glow inside — if I didn’t know any better, I’d think it had a few Locust inside ready to surface at any moment.

While the mod looks like it was forged on the blood stained soil of Sera itself, the highly detailed work is that of 24 year old Dallas Texas based artist, Frank Gonzales (DFW Monkie). Kudos to Frank. This is hands down the best Gears case mod I’ve ever seen.

Hit the jump for a video and a few more detailed photos of the case.

Have something you think we should show on Geeked-Out? Email it to us.

Source: forums.llamma.com

The 1980s gave birth to Murdock, B. A. Baracus, Hannibal, and Faceman — better known as The A-Team.  An elite special forces unit, shunned by the military they served, for a “crime they didn’t commit”.  Sound familiar Marcus fans?

Well, some creative minds took the original audio from the A-Team intro, and mixed in various Gears of War footage.  The result is something worth checking out.  In fact, I “pity the fool” who refuses to watch this video!

Via: videosift.com

Continuing our coverage of Comic-Con 2008, during a Gears of War panel, the developer formerly known as CliffyB was asked about the upcoming film adaptation of his beloved shooter. Read what he had to say after the break.

Everyone knows that videogame-to-film adaptations have a pretty awful track record, so Cliff started off by addressing just that.

“Look, we know that video game movies have been pretty bad, but just think how bad comic book movies were for such a long time.”

With The Dark Knight getting rave reviews and smashing box office records left and right, it’s a great time to point that out. Cliff then goes on to say that they aren’t just looking at any buff, meaty guys to fill the roles.

“I know people have ideas where they want to see some wrestler, some huge buff guy. The thing we care most about is charisma, someone you’d want to watch for two hours.”

It’s an odd choice of words, as professional wrestlers are very charismatic. Still, I get what he’s saying.

Gears of War is currently set to hit theaters Summer 2010.

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.

If you enjoyed the last Battlefield: BC trailer, Snake Eyes, and its cheeky pokes at Metal Gear Solid, chances are you will love these two new trailers.

Above you can see Bad World, the first of the new trailers. A parody of the renowned Mad World trailer for Gears of War. The second new trailer, Rainbow Sprinkles, puts Bad Company through some Tom Clancy style stealth action.

Not wanting to sound like a gullible fool, but after playing, and subsequently being a little under-impressed with the Battlefield: BC demo, these trailers are making me want to buy the full game. If only out of hope that the comedy in the game can match the comedy found in these trailers.

Full HD versions of the trailers are available from Planet Battlefield.

Via: Joystiq

More Halo 3 stuff… yay. In addition to the new gamer pics and theme, check out what else is new on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Full details after these commercial messages.

Themes

Samsung Halo 3 – Theme
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, United States

Gamer Pictures

Samsung Halo 3 – Gamer Pictures
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Canada, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, United States

Trailers

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Kulkuneuvotaistelun opetusvideo – Traileri (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Finland

Frontlines: Fuel of War – Vídeo de instrucción para soporte aéreo – Tráiler (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Spain

Bully: Scholarship Edition Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Asia

Lost Via Domus – The Game Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions

Videos

Gears of War 2 GDC 2008
Price: Free
Availability: Japan

consol.at LIVE, Episode 2 – Video (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Austria

In Game Content

Lost Odyssey – Double Bonus Pack
Price: Free
Availability: Asia

A little TV background noise while working is usually harmless, but when the Roger Clemens Steroid Congressional Hearing plays through your mind as you admire newly released images of Street Fighter IV characters, bad things can happen.

While sorting through GDC emails and press releases, I randomly found myself listening in to some of the comments being made during the hearing. The majority revolved around steroid use by professional athletes and the effect it has on impressionable children — because we all know that little Jimmy wants to grow up big and strong just like Mark McGwire.

So these thoughts are making their way through my head (along with the always present dancing elves and angry mushrooms) as I click open an email from Capcom. Ten or so images of an immensely muscular character by the name of Abel stare me in the face, and it hits me, videogame characters have become excessively muscular in the past five years or so. Surely they must also negatively impact our “impressionable” youth.

If Congress is genuinely concerned about impressionable children idolizing overly manly men, why stop at pro athletes? Videogame developers inject countless character models with unnecessary muscle mass each day, so how about asking the man behind the mouse to scale back the definition on E Honda’s Abs?

The main characters in Gears of War look like they drink HGH milkshakes for breakfast. Ken and Ryu, of Street Fighter IV, look like they’ve been shooting each other up with roids nonstop since Street Fighter III.

In an article published by USA Today in 2003, the publication reported that 47% of high school males participate in sports — a number that has held steady for nearly a decade. In contrast, according to an article published in 2000 by the Chicago Medill News Service, 84% of all teens play video games, of which 92% are male.

So come on Congress, put that juice caboose into high gear and spend some more of our hard earned tax money, because little Jimmy just may tear down that Mark McGwire poster and decide he wants to grow up big and strong like Ryu!

Update: This is an over the top piece meant to poke fun at the steroid scandal, wasted tax payer dollars, and overly muscled videogame characters. That said, please refrain from forwarding this to a certain lawyer with the initials JT — he may not get the joke.

Gears of War did a lot of things right. It finally implemented a decent cover system into the core gameplay of a third person shooter, its graphics put a muzzle on all those cynical high-end PC owners out there and it allowed you to shove a grenade down an enemy’s gullet. Not to mention the fact that the game had a gameplay mechanic that allowed you to curb a downed Locust ala Ed Norton in American History X. If there was another slot available in this list it might have been given to Marcus Fenix’s foot.

The Chainsaw Bayonet could be the best idea to come along in gaming since some unnamed genius decided that eating randomly abandoned slabs of roast beef equated health recovery. Chainsaws are always fun…especially when they aren’t used the way they were initially intended. The reason for this is anybody’s guess, but I’m thinking it’s probably because trees don’t bleed.

The brutality of the weapon is absolutely a sight to behold. It’s rewarding regardless of whether you’re hacking up Drones, Wretches or your best friend over XBOX Live. The Bayonet let everyone know what it was like to be Leatherface for a few hours, sans the dysfunctional family and twisted fashion sense.

Now, some of you might see Gears of War on this list and cry foul for not including the Hammer of Dawn. Well let me tell you that it was no menial task choosing between the two. But it came down to this – the Hammer of Dawn isn’t gruesome enough to cause hysterical laughter. The Hammer may cook you up, but the Bayonet cuts you in half and leaves you to rot. Now that’s vicious.

Cliffy B. (Gears’ creative genius) has been quoted as saying that “the difference between good and great are all those small touches.” Well I for one think he hit the nail on the head. Putting a chainsaw on the Lancer Assault Rifle was a small touch that nobody knew they wanted. And now it’s hard to imagine a world without it. And who would want to? Someone give this man a cookie.

Top Ten Most Badass Weapons List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl scribe, Stuart Beattie, proclaimed in an interview with GamePro.com that the Gears of War movie will mirror the recent box office hit “300″ in that the entire movie will be shot on green screen.

“There’s no way to build that world any other way, really”, said Beattie. “That’s a huge world. It’s a planet and it’s a bubble and it’s a building. It’s an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a soundstage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely.”

CliffyB will be working closely with Beattie, closely monitoring the scripts development and tapping into the Studios in-depth knowledge of the world and now iconic characters. We have a good feeling about this one.

Source: GamePro.com

Alright, both have mellow soundtracks that carry you throughout the teaser, a civilization in ruins, artifacts scattered about, and dramatic lighting. So, which do you think does a better job of getting you hyped up to play the game?

Check out both videos below…

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Gears of War – “Mad World” Teaser

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Fallout 3 – Teaser Trailer