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All Articles: Gears of War
Gears of War movie adaptation announced on the eve of Gears of War 4’s launch
Epic Games tried to bring a Gears of War movie to the big screen nearly a decade ago, but as things often do in Hollywood, things fell apart and the adaptation was ultimately canceled. But it looks like Microsoft wants to take another chainsaw stab at the idea…
Announced yesterday during a massive Gears livestream, The Coalition’s Rod Fergusson said that Microsoft is teaming up with Universal to distribute the film. Production will be handled by Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark of Bluegrass Films, who have previously worked on dozens of films including Ted and the upcoming Patriots Day.
While it was too early to speculate about who would play Marcus Fenix, Fergusson did say that the film won’t necessarily be based on the storyline from the games:
When you do a movie like this, you have to… realize that it’s a different medium with a different audience. I think if you were to go in and say, like, “OK, it’s got to be completely 100% faithful to the game canon,” or the story of the game, like, what’s going to end up happening is… it’s not going to be the best movie. The big thing we’re really trying to focus on is making the best Gears movie possible, as opposed to the one that’s the most closest to the game.
The developer later expanded on his plan to create a great movie that’s not wedded to the game’s plot in an interview with Variety:
“I think you have to let the movies be the movies,” Fergusson said. “They’re two different mediums, and two different audiences in some cases, and I think some video game movies in the past have failed because they tried to make a movie for gamers. If you have this great IP with a deep backstory and lots of lore that you can make interesting stories out of it’s great, but if you just go after the gaming audience then it isn’t going to be a successful movie.”
We don’t know when Gears of War will hit theaters, but Gears of War 4 will be available for the PC and Xbox One on October 11 (or four days earlier if you sprung for the Ultimate Edition).
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is now available to download on Windows 10 PCs
Like the Locust Horde bursting out of the ground on Emergence Day, Microsoft surprise-launched Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10 PCs today. Microsoft is touting the Gears Ultimate Edition as more than just a simple remake, and according to a new post on the Xbox Wire, the team responsible for the remake at The Coalition rebuilt everything from the ground up:
Cam McRae, Technical Director at The Coalition – the studio who’s spearheading Gears of War: Ultimate Edition’s transition to PC which is available today – is insistent that his team didn’t mess with the fundamentals that defined the classic shooter’s identity. By this, he means the countless little things that make Gears feel like Gears: the way the characters move, the timing of their weapons, and the tactile feel that you get when they collide with objects in the game’s world. “One of our goals with the PC version was ‘don’t touch the art.’ But beyond that,” McRae said, “we changed everything.”
While Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will feel very similar to the 2006 original, Windows 10 players will get the best-looking version of the game to date. Almost every object in the game has been “uprezzed” with 10-30% more polygons and it’ll be playable at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second in single-player (and very close to that in multiplayer).
To get players ready for the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, a new video focusing on the first ten minutes of the game has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Gears of War
A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (April – September)
The Spring and Summer months are currently less dense with new releases than the first three months of the year, but that should change fairly soon, especially since publishers have staked a claim to every week from the beginning of April to the end of June with at least one big new release dropping every seven days.
Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Ark: Survival Evolved, Battleborn, Bravely Second: End Layer, Dark Souls III, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2, Doom (2016), Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, Fable Legends, FIFA 17, Gears of War, Homefront: The Revolution, Hyper Light Drifter, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Madden NFL 17, Mighty No. 9, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, NBA 2K17, NHL 17, No Man's Sky, Odin Sphere, Overwatch, Pikmin 4, Quantum Break, Ratchet & Clank, Star Fox Zero, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Umbrella Corps, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, World of Warcraft, Zero Escape Volume 3
Microsoft offers a “snapshot” of their 2016 Xbox One/Windows 10 exclusives
Microsoft loved to promote their 2015 release schedule as the “Greatest Games Line-Up in Xbox History,” but the publisher plans to continue to use that tagline in 2016. Mike Nichols, the Xbox Division’s Corporate Vice President of Marketing, has posted a look back at some of Microsoft’s achievements from the previous year on the Xbox Wire, but the executive also gave us a “snapshot” of Big Redmond’s 2016 lineup of Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusives.
Most of these release dates are well known, but it’s nice to learn that the Windows 10 version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be released this Spring. And it looks like Keiji Inafune’s ReCore will also be released for the PC in addition to the Xbox One, though its release date has been changed from “Spring 2016” to “TBA 2016”:
Greatest Games Line-Up in Xbox History Extends to 2016
- Cobalt (Xbox One / Xbox 360 / Steam) – February 2
- Killer Instinct: Season 3 (Xbox One / Windows 10) – March
- Quantum Break (Xbox One) – April 5
- Fable Legends (Xbox One / Windows 10) – Spring (Open Beta)
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Windows 10) – Spring
- Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Xbox One / Windows 10) – Spring
- Crackdown 3 (Xbox One) – Summer (Multiplayer)
- Gears of War 4 (Xbox One) – Fall (Launch) / Spring (Multiplayer Beta)
- Halo Wars 2 (Xbox One / Windows 10) – Fall
- Gigantic (Xbox One / Windows 10) – TBA 2016
- ReCore (Xbox One / Windows 10) – TBA 2016
- Sea of Thieves (Xbox One / Windows 10) – TBA 2016
Microsoft has several other unannounced titles on track for 2016 and will make further “new title reveals” in the coming months.
Xbox One Holiday Bundle will (technically) include 36 free games
Gamers who receive an Xbox One 1TB Holiday Bundle under the tree this Christmas will also receive a gargantuan gaggle of free games from Microsoft.
Available beginning in October for $399, the Holiday Bundle will also include physical copies of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and Rare Replay, as well as a download code for Ori and the Blind Forest. A three-game bundle is already a pretty great deal, but it gets even better when you realize that Rare Replay is a collection of 30 of Rare’s most popular titles. Battletoads, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct Gold… they’re all here (a complete list of Rare Replay’s contents can be found right here). And if we keep counting, we can add four more Gears of War games as the Ultimate Edition includes a download code for the Xbox 360 editions of Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Gears of War: Judgment.
And when you add it all together you get 36 games in a single bundle. That’s actually pretty impressive. More details about the bundle can be found at Xbox.com.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Gears of War, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rare Replay
BOOM! Madden NFL 16 is the best-selling game of August 2015
Whatever your opinion of Tom Brady and Deflategate (for the record, I agree with Tony Kornheiser, the suspension was “completely unjust”), it looks like nobody can take the air out of EA’s Madden NFL franchise. And don’t just take my word for it. The latest entry in the series, Madden NFL 16, topped the NPD Group’s newest monthly report and was declared the best-selling game of August 2015.
Madden NFL 16’s ascendance to the top of the list was a foregone conclusion, but August was an unusually quiet month for new releases. Just look at the three remakes/re-releases that broke into the top ten. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition chainsawed its way into the #3 spot, while the 30 games in the Rare Replay compilation collectively landed at #6. Finally, a Combo Pack containing Call of Duty: Black Ops + Call of Duty: Black Ops II claimed the #8 position (two spots ahead of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare at #10, I might add). The only other new release to crack the top ten was Sony’s Until Dawn at #7.
But the real story of the month might be that Minecraft continues to sell. Even though its been available on the PS4 and Xbox One since last year (and another year on the PS3 and Xbox 360), the game continues to sell month after month. Only Madden NFL 16 was able to outpace Mojang’s creation in August as Minecraft is sitting at #2 on the best-sellers list.
A complete look at August 2015’s top ten is available after the break. (more…)
Xbox Store Today: Madden NFL 16, Gears of War Ultimate, Mega Man Legacy, more
Microsoft’s Summer Spotlight comes to an end this week as the Xbox Games Store adds eight new titles to its digital shelves.
This week’s biggest release is definitely Madden NFL 16 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. The latest rendition of EA’s popular football franchise focuses on the passing game and even features Odell Beckham’s wild catch on the cover. But a trio of classic games are also being re-released on the Xbox One this week and many gamers are no doubt looking forward to playing them again…
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is a remake of one of the Xbox 360’s signature shooters and brings us back to the beginnings of the war with the Locust Horde.
- Capcom’s Mega Man Legacy Collection compiles the first six Mega Man games into a single package alongside a brand new Challenge Mode and an extensive collection of trivia and concept art.
- Finally, Dishonored: Definitive Edition upgrades Corvo’s stealthy mission of revenge while including all of the game’s downloadable content.
Information on all of these games and several other new releases (including Goat Simulator: Mmmore Goatz Edition and Don’t Starve: Giant Edition) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Dishonored, Don't Starve, Gears of War, Madden NFL 16, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Octodad: Dadliest Catch
New Releases: Madden NFL 16, Disney Infinity Star Wars, Until Dawn, More
Do you feel that nip in the air? And surely you’ve noticed that kids are gearing up for “back to school” time. And that can mean only one thing… the Fall gaming rush is upon us! While these tell-tale signs of the Fall are out there, the Summer’s not over quite yet. It’s still pretty warm in most of the United States and a majority of kids get to enjoy a few more weeks of Summer vacation.
And even though it’s still August, I think the Fall gaming rush has officially begun…
Everything begins, as it always does this time of year, with the release of Madden NFL 16 (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One). The latest entry in EA’s long-running football simulation series features Odell Beckham on the cover and improved passing/receiver controls.
One of this Fall’s biggest “all ages” titles, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, will also be available this week. As the title says, Star Wars characters have been absorbed into the Disney Infinity universe for the first time. If you’ve already got a shelf of Disney’s popular figures, prepare to build a second one. And if you haven’t caught the Disney Infinity bug yet, you’re probably going to need a sturdy shelf to hold all your Star Wars figures.
On the complete opposite end of the age appropriateness spectrum is Sony’s Until Dawn. Available exclusively for the PS4, Until Dawn is one of the first games that attempts to recreate the horror (and excitement) of watching a slasher flick. Until Dawn’s star, Hayden Panettiere, even has plenty of experience running from crazed killers on screens both big (Scream 4) and small (Heroes).
Finally this week, a pair of remasters will give a new generation of players the chance to check out (or revisit) two PS3/Xbox 360 era classics. Dishonored: Definitive Edition brings its stealthy steampunk aesthetic to the PS4 and Xbox One, while Gears of War: Ultimate Edition upgrades the popular Xbox 360 shooter for the Xbox One. Microsoft will also release an Xbox One 500GB + Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle if you haven’t picked up an Xbox One yet.
A complete list of all of this week’s new releases (which also includes the PS3/Vita debut of the SteinsGate visual novel) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Dishonored, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, Gears of War, Madden NFL 16, SteinsGate, Until Dawn