It's all fun and games until the video game character you designed shows up at your office.
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Today it was the birthday of one of the workmate at gameguru who is very, very crazy about Gears of War (like me!). A week ago, they were all deciding how to give him a surprise. After much brainstorming, they decided to give him his ultimate fantasy, a Gears of War cake!......
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Epic VP Mark Rein has said that we won't be seeing anything of a Gears of War sequel at E3 next month, responding to yesterday's rumors that a trailer would be shown at Microsoft's pre-E3 event in Santa Monica. Yesterday a story claiming to have uncovered all of Microsoft's E3 goods swept the internet. In that story was mention of Epic Games showing some form of Gears of War 2 trailer. Fansite Beyond Unreal got in touch with Epic's Mark Rein who said, "We are not announcing a sequel to Gears ... » Read More

Release Notes

-New Achievements added! Eight new achievements worth a total of 250 points created for playing Annex and the Hidden Fronts Multiplayer Map Pack
-Improved Roadie Run to reduce getting snagged on cover
Tweaked up the amount of damage done by the Lancer Assault Rifle in multiplayer
-Fixed split-screen players interrupting the other player's actions when they die
-Stopped Annex scoring whenever a "Connection Error" dialog box is displayed
-Reduced the duration that corpses remain visible when hosting an Annex match
-Reduced the range of possible Annex bleed-out times selectable by host
-Addressed a number of multiplayer exploits
-Addressed other general housekeeping

Achievement Details

-"THIS! IS! ANNEX!" Complete 100 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in Annex and capture 3 objectives in each match. 40pt Achievement
-"Inconceivable!" Win 20 rounds of multiplayer matches in Annex by fewer than 5 points. 30pt Achievement
-"Nub Pwn3r" Win 20 rounds of multiplayer matches in Annex by shutting out the opposing team. 30pt Achievement
-"You Down With E.P.I.C?" Win a multiplayer match of 3+ rounds in any game type on 6 different downloadable maps. 30pt Achievement
-"Green Thumb" Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Garden multiplayer map. 30pt Achievement
-"Mind the Gap" Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Subway multiplayer map. 30pt Achievement
-"All That Juice" Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Process multiplayer map. 30pt Achievement
-"Purdy Mouth" Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Bullet Marsh multiplayer map. 30pt Achievement
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Epic's latest update for Gears of War, which adds new Achievements and fixes, is set to go live tomorrow. The patch makes use of new Microsoft guidelines allowing developers to add 250 extra GamerPoints via download content. The new Gears Achievements cover the recently added Annex game mode and Hidden Fronts map pack, so really you're going to have to spend some money somewhere down the line to get at them. A bit of housekeeping has also gone on in the Roadie Run game mode, which now sports ... » Read More

It has just been announced that Gears of War will be getting a title update tomorrow, June 14th after 0200 GMT. Inside the Title Update, you'll find eight new Achievements for the "Annex" gametype and the "Hidden Fronts" Multiplayer Map Pack on Xbox LIVE.

In addition to adding new Achievements, worth a total of 250 points, Epic has improved the Roadie Run controls so players have greater control of their movement. The title update will also help squash multiplayer exploits and provide general housekeeping.

The "Annex" gametype is now available for free and the "Hidden Fronts" Multiplayer Map Pack is available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points.
All four multiplayer maps will be available for free after Sept. 3, 2007.
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1up.com writes: "Some interesting internet happenings last week provided a perfect example of how rumors spiral out of control. If you've never heard of the Sony Protection Group, you're not missing much. In their own words, the group and website were founded as "a movement against Wii60 and a movement towards the Playstation 3" that can serve as "Sony's defense" against a perceived push of lies and rumors harming their beloved company."
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Mark Rein of Epic has lashed out against rumors that Epic are considering porting Gears of War to the PS3. Rein says the story is complete BS and Epic is very happy with its relationship with MS.

quote:

"This story is complete bull****. I emailed the site and asked them to take it down. We're very happy with our relationship with Microsoft. If it weren't for them Gears wouldn't be the huge hit it has become."
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A posting for a "Gears of War 1" book has appeared on an online retailer, suggesting that the story behind Epic's awesome shooter is set to appear in paperback. You know you've made a good game when the suits deem it good enough to live on in the book world. From what we can tell there's been no official announcement from developer Epic or publisher Microsoft about Gears being turned into books. But seeing the success Microsoft has had with the Halo paperback series (and illustrated comic ... » Read More

According to VH1 Game Break there will be a Gears of War novel..

Heres what they said,

"Perhaps you know that one-time dean of gaming journalism Steven Kent moved on (and mostly out of game journalism) to write military-oriented science fiction novels about clones. He even was up for a Philip K. Dick Award for one of the books in the series.

"Now, it looks as though Kent has scored a prime video game novelization by snagging the Gears of War franchise. The novel doesn't even have a title yet, just "Gears of War 1." That number 1 at the end of the placeholder title indicates to me that Kent has scored a multiple book deal, maybe two, maybe three."
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Mark Rein, one of the creators of Gears of War, tells that the next Gears of War update is coming along nicely. He goes on to say "We don't have a release time frame for it yet but I just wanted to let you know we're making significant progress. In addition to the previously mentioned plan to improve roadie run we're also going to have new achievements relating to Annex and the Hidden Fronts DLC."
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Epic VP Mark Rein says that "significant progress" is being made in the development of the next Gears of War update, and new Achievements are set to be added as well. Speaking on the official Gears of War forum, Rein said that Epic plans to make use of new Microsoft guidelines allowing developers to add 250 extra Gamerpoints via download content. "The next Gears of War update is coming along nicely," he said. "We don't have a release timeframe for it yet but I just wanted to let you know we're ... » Read More

It seems Epic just can't get enough of supporting their hugely popular title and quite frankly, who are we to argue? Speaking on the official Gears of War forums, Mark Rein Vice President of Epic Games has stated that "the next Gears of War update is coming along nicely" and has provided just a smidgen of detail.

The statement made today on the Gears of War forums reads:

Folks,
The next Gears of War update is coming along nicely. We don't have a release timeframe for it yet but I just wanted to let you know we're making significant progress. In addition to the previously mentioned plan to improve roadie run we're also going to have new achievements relating to Annex and the Hidden Fronts DLC. Of course no title update would be complete without more exploit squashing and the ever-popular "general housekeeping".
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In an unexpected announcement, Major League Gaming has added Xbox 360 hit Gears of War to its 2007 season, starting with June's event held at the Meadowlands. For the rest of MLG's 2007 season, Gears 4v4 tournaments will be held at every event with the total prize payouts reaching $140,000 and the finals awarding $25,000 to the team who topples the competition. If interested in competing, be sure to head over to MLG's website to register for events and to get all the details. Who knows, maybe you could be the next "big thing" in gaming.
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According to several reports hitting the web this morning (this being one of them) Cliff "Cliffy B" Bleszinski of Epic Games confirmed that a sequel to the multi-million selling 360 shooter is indeed a given. Following a few beers at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony in San Francisco, Cliffy B made a presentation early next morning, where he apparently confirmed the sequel would be happening. Gamespot has said that there are no further details on timing or plot available yet and we're ... » Read More

Epic Games boss Mark Rein has revealed a spin-off project based on macho Xbox 360 sci-fi shooter and - wait for it - it's Gears of War Golf! Yep, COG squad hard-man Marcus Fenix takes a break from dismembering Locust hordes, ditching his chainsaw-equipped rifle for a sturdy graphite driver and steps to the green for a pleasant round of hit the ball. Unfortunately, this intriguing clash of muscle and swing has only been created as an internal project at Epic, so don't expect it be appearing on ... » Read More

Epic Boss Mark Rein has today revealed a new Gears of War spin-off that see's the mighty Marcus Fenix lay down his Lancer and pick up his PING 3 Wood

Sadly the game won't be gracing consoles anytime soon as it's more of an in-house project that the Epic employees created to pass the time.
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Joystiq.com are reporting that they and other users are having problems with the new multiplayer maps that were recently released for Gears of War. They said that normally "tons of games" would be listed when searching for multiplayer games to play but that they were only finding one or two. The Gears of War official forums are cited to back up their claims.

They've e-mailed Epic Games for an answer and are currently waiting for a reply. Judging by some of the comments made by readers of the article one of the possible reasons for the problem could simply be that not that many people have bought the new maps and are waiting for them to become free.

Until an official response comes from Epic though, there's no hard evidence for what the source of the problem is.
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Gears of War got a bit bigger this week with the release of a new map pack - Hidden Fronts. The downloadable arenas are currently available on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The pack will be free to all on September 3. The map quartet's biggest selling point is probably its diversity. The settings include a dark and rainy swamp, an underground factory, a gas-choked greenhouse and even a subway station. Some new gameplay elements have been added as well. The greenhouse's lethal ... » Read More

Name: 'Hidden Fronts' Multiplayer Map Pack 2
Price: 800 Points
Availability: Not available in Germany

Dash Details: Get ready to enhance your Gears of War multiplayer experience. Download the four new maps today, including: || Bullet Marsh: In this Kryll-infested swamp, an old generator still powers the area lights. A few stray bullets could easily knock out the generator, leaving players in the dark to fend for themselves against the hungry Kryll. || Garden: This overgrown and crumbling conservatory still has a working fertilization and pesticide system. This system can pose a serious health hazard to anyone who ventures into the greenhouse without first venting the air. || Process: Teams must fight for control of this subterranean Imulsion processing plant, still active despite the cessation of the Pendulum Wars. || Subway: Timgad's Central Subway Station used to serve as a central hub for commuters. Now the tunnels are crawling with Locust.
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