All Articles: Gears of War

Microsoft is having a terrible time keeping Gears of War: Ultimate Edition secret. First, a source close to the development team confirmed the game’s existence last month. And today, Polygon has gotten their hands on a number of leaked videos that showcase the game’s remastered graphics:

The videos, apparently captured with Xbox One’s DVR capabilities, were quickly removed from several sites that automatically pull Xbox One recordings from the cloud, but not before they were grabbed by viewers and reposted elsewhere.

The videos appear to show a Gears of War with improved lighting effects, textures and framerate [than] the Xbox 360 original.

Rather than sit back and repeat “No comment” until this whole thing blows over, Microsoft went to work banning all the testers responsible for the leak. Polygon is reporting that the testers, who are employed by an outside testing service, have had their Xbox Live accounts banned as well as all of their “Xbox One privileges” (and I do mean all, Microsoft has supposedly effectively made their Xbox One consoles “unusable” online):

Microsoft also permanently disabled their Xbox LIVE accounts (as well as other suspected accounts present on their Xbox One kits) and temporarily blocked all of their Xbox One privileges – meaning that for a period of time which Microsoft decides on depending on the severity of the offense, their Xbox One is entirely unusable.

I guess the moral of the story is… don’t break non-disclosure agreements. Of course, the more important takeaway from this tale is that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is real and its coming soon.

Microsoft has gone back and forth for over a year now about the possibility of a Gears of War remake on the Xbox One. According to a new report on Polygon, it looks like the pendulum has officially swung back to the “let’s do it” side.

Citing unnamed sources close to the project, Polygon said the remastered game will include “updated visuals and reworked cutscenes.” After the story went to press, an additional update revealed development on the game is currently taking place at Splash Damage. The developer, best known for Brink and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, recently posted a variety of job listings on their Careers page looking for employees to work on a “very well known and highly popular AAA title with next gen technology.”

Microsoft acquired the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games last January. At the time, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer said, “I think if you look at what we did with 343 and getting them up to speed for Halo 4, you can maybe anticipate some things that are similar to that.” Many people assumed this meant a Gears of War remake was on the way, just as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was released shortly after Microsoft purchased the rights to Halo from Bungie.

Rod Fergusson, the Studio Head of Black Tusk Studios, seemingly put the kibosh on this rumor (via Twitter) last month. But Fergusson specifically said there was no “Marcus Fenix Collection” in development, which means he was telling the truth if only the first game is being remade.

Whatever happens, we’ll probably find out for sure at this year’s E3 Expo… if not earlier.