Gamertell

Those looking forward to the release of Epic Games’ highly anticipated sequel Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360, on November 7, 2008, may be pleased to hear that the game’s official soundtrack will be getting a release of its own come November 25, 2008.

The Gears of War 2 soundtrack has been composed by Steve Jablonsky – known for his work on popular Hollywood films including Transformers, The Island and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - and recorded by the Skywalker Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus at Skywalker Sound.

Jablonsky is quoted in a press release issued by Sumthing Else Music Works earlier this week (October 27, 2008) as saying that he “experimented with a lot of hybrid organic/electronic elements, and combined them with…

MORE »

Next up to cast a shadow on PC gaming’s vitality is id Software, which had been a driving force in the platform’s popularity during the ‘90s with the Doom and Quake games. 

Last Thursday (March 20, 2008), id’s Director of Business, Steve Nix, told Eurogamer that the average first-person shooter player isn’t just some guy armed with a keyboard and mouse anymore. Although id will continue to steadfastly support PC gaming, it must take into account the current market shifts. Nix told Eurogamer that even formerly die-hard PC gamers are making the jump to consoles.

“I know that I have friends who are…

MORE »

Microsoft has had a forgettable start to the year with the Xbox 360 finishing third for the first time on US sales charts in January 2008. The news of Blu-ray triumphing in the HD format war has only aggravated its woes, although it is putting up a brave pretense. But at the Game Developers Conference, Microsoft gave itself a few reasons to cheer by announcing a stellar games lineup, which includes the much awaited Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Too Human.

Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer at Epic Games, took center stage just as…

MORE »

As Microsoft has already confirmed that Gears of War 2 is already in development and ready for a November 2008 release, Epic took to the stage at this year’s Game Developers Conference to discuses some of the changes and additions being made to their hugely successful Unreal Engine 3.

It should be noted that all of the updates and improvements made to the Unreal Engine were demonstrated showing Gears of War. While these are more than likely not scenes of the upcoming sequel, they do…

Click through for more including the tech demo from GDC 2008.

MORE »

Gamepro strikes again.  After erroneously claiming that they had the scoop on a possible sequel to Gears of War, their latest issue puts forth the speculation that Microsoft may buy Gears‘ developer, Epic for $1 billion, according to DBTechno.com. 

On the surface, it may make a little bit of sense, considering Gears of War‘s great success in giving the XBox 360 a much-needed killer app and Microsoft’s need for a new high-profile developer to fill the void that Halo trilogy developer Bungie created when they left MS’ stable.  However, considering that Epic is doing very fine for themselves, in so small part as a result of Gears‘ sales, this seems unlikely, as well as the tons of money they rake in on Unreal engine licenses alone.

Epic’s Mark Rein himself seemed to imply this as he told Develop that $1 billion is far too low.

I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they’re going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion ... Because we don’t want anyone thinking that we’re cheap. :)

Read [Gamertell]  Also Read [DBTechno.com]  Also Read [Develop]

• Walmart’s Cyber Monday 2008 video game deals
• Configure your BMW on a Microsoft Surface
• Behold the future of zombie killing - the Firearm Mounted Anti Zombie Device

Epic’s lead designer, Clifford Bleszinski, who got his major career start during the golden age of PC gaming during the ‘90s with titles like Unreal and Jazz Jackrabbit, told the MTV Multiplayer blog last Wednesday (February 13, 2008) that the platform will probably be secondary for him from hereon out.

“I think people would rather make a game that sells 4.5 million copies than a million and Gears is at 4.5 million right now on the 360. I think the PC is just in disarray… what’s driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and WoW and a lot of stuff that’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. That’s the direction PC is evolving into, so for me the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we’re…

MORE »

Two days ago (February 4, 2008), we reported that the upcoming issue of Gamepro (due to come out on February 12, 2008) will have new, exclusive info about the sequel Epic’s popular XBox 360 exclusive, Gears of War.  In fact, to drive that point home, Gamepro mentioned it twice on the cover, as you can see above.

But somebody has taken issue with Gamepro‘s announcement: Epic’s Mark Rein.  He told…

MORE »