"Epic Games, Inc. and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey will publish three novels set in the gritty world of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Gears of War video game series. The first novel, GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss, will go on sale October 28, 2008. The Gears of War 2 video game, the highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defining thir..."

"

• Collectible SteelBook™ DVD case

* "Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2," a 48-page hardbound book including character profiles, exclusive concept art, and foreword by Design Director Cliff Bleszinski
* Bonus DVD including exclusive making-of-the-game video footage, design galleries with audio commentary by Epic Games, and promotional videos including the E3 2008 trailer,
* "Rendezvous." An exclusive gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle available during online play"

"While there’s plenty of griping around the internets about a piss-poor E3’s boring press conferences and lack of big announcements, we saw plenty of great trailers for great games that we can’t wait to play. Get the popcorn ready; here are all the don’t-miss trailers of the show. We also stuck a few stinkers on the last page for LOLs."

"Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira present X-Play's award for Best Game of E3."

"One of these videos is the game-play footage of the story that Cliff Belinski (head designer behind Gears, and Gears of War 2 at Epic game studio's) walks us through at the live E3 Microsoft Press Conference. One of these videos features the new game mode introduced at the conference, Horde. Horde, is a new multi-player game mode announced by Cliff at the microsoft press conference. The game mode will feature online play with up to 8 players, where you and your fellow allies go up against wav..."

"Q: How is Gears of War 2 going?

Mark Rein: We had some folks in recently for the multiplayer play test and it was so much fun. I think the new game types are really good, really fun. Gears was always pretty popular online and it's still - almost two years later - in the top ten on Xbox Live and I think that Gears 2 is an improvement on that on a lot of things.

Q: Do you think Gears of War 2 will push console sales, considering that the biggest launch this year - Grand Theft Auto IV - d..."

"The first leaked video of Gears of War 2’s Multiplayer. Check it out"

"Video-gamers are in for some interesting news. Len Wiseman, director of the Underworld movies, is going to direct the highly anticipated Gears of War movie. While some of you might be cringing right now (and I wouldn’t blame you), hear me out.

In recent years, a lot of video game movies have quite frankly sucked. (Doom and Bloodrayne, anyone?) Whether the reason was bad adaptation, unfaithful storyline, poor graphics, or general lack of interest…something came up short. A lot of these movi..."

"Until recently, Microsoft could brag about how Live was by far the most feature-complete online service on any platform, with a unified Friends list, the best online shop, voice and video chat as standard and a consistent and stable online experience. But in recent months there’s been a shift in the market, and even bigger changes are coming. Microsoft is the only player to charge for online play, and their policy has landed some of the best online games on the 360... but as PC and PlayStatio..."

"New Line had initially aimed for a summer 2009 release for the pic, but further development on the project now will likely delay that plan.

"It's like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now," said Epic Games topper Mark Rein. "We want to get it right. There's no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think (Wiseman's) the guy who will do it.""

"New and Modified Weapons
Scorcher Flamethrower -- This sucker will appear only once on a multiplayer map. It benefits from a longer range if you can hit the active reload perfectly and will glow red when it's ready to bring death to the masses.
Gorgon Burst Pistol -- Faster rate of fire than other pistols and shoots in short bursts.
Poison Grenade -- Spews a nasty purple haze that brings down everyone in its path.
Shield -- This sucker can be chucked into the ground beneath you and used a..."

"Microsoft has announced plans to re-release Gears of War in North America with updated maps and achievements.

The updated version of Epic's game will be available from June 24, and cost USD 39.99 for the Xbox 360 and USD 29.99 for the PC."

"We're usually pretty skeptical about rumored release dates as developers and publishers often keep that card close to their chests -- however, we can't help but put our complete faith in a man with a name as awesome as Lester "Mighty Rasta" Speight. Yes, Mr. Rasta, who voiced Gears of War's "Cole Train", recently made an appearance at the TriForce panel at Wizard World to shoot the breeze about the company's line of GoW-related replicas. When asked about the sequel's release date, the TriForc..."

"Rumor has it that Gears of War Redux will be coming in next month. This would be if GameStop's placement would be believed. According to their site, the product is "Gears of War with Maps."

Now, apart from the pricing detail (it is tagged for US$ 39.99) and the pre-order shipment date, which is for June 24, 2008, not much detail is revealed. Although, Kotaku reports that it seems like this reissue will be containing content that were made available by DLC before."

"A popular video game for the Xbox 360 is getting a sequel this year - and it seems to be raising eyebrows with its level of gore and detail.

The game presents the player with a number of projectile weapons, but also features a chainsaw for melee attacks. In the demo, the player can use the chainsaw to cut a person in half, starting at the groin and moving upwards. Also, players can pick up the corpses of fallen enemies and use them as a "meat shield" to protect themself from enemy fire as ..."

"The Xbox 360 lineup will be led by "Gears of War 2," which was shown to reporters at Dogpatch Studios in a demo controlled by the game's lead developer, Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games. The game might not be done, but the talking points are far along.

Bleszinski reminded reporters that the game was "bigger, better and more badass" than its predecessor several times. To prove it, he controlled returning protagonist Marcus Fenix in an early level of the game. Bleszinski had Fenix standing on ..."

"

• Bigger and better gameplay. “Gears of War 2″ builds upon the gameplay of the first title in every way. New characters, more weapons, nastier enemies, bigger vehicles and grander locales offer players more action, more emotion and more thrills. Next, every major aspect of the game has been refined to create heightened, more immersive experiences. Finally, the overall tone of “Gears of War 2″ is more badass - replete with new weapon-specific executions, chain saw duels and shocking boss fights...

"

"How do you make a game girlfriend-friendly?

You do jump-in, jump-out co-op. You have configurable difficulty settings for the other player. You have very cool and bad-ass main characters that have a very human side. And you make sure that the female characters in your game don't have ginormous tits and aren't bad stereotypes."

"Things Learned From Gears of War 2 Gameplay Trailer
The Locust now have the ability to sink entire cities with giant emergence holes.
To defend against the Locust onslaught, the COG transport vehicles called Derricks bring tunnel machines called Grind Lifts to Locust occupied areas. Underground combat ensues.

Campaign level act one, chapter three is named "Assault".
Reavers are back for GoW2 and they are trouble.
Both the cover system and active reload look to stay true to their Ge..."

"The first-ever gameplay of this highly anticipated sequel.

"

"That's all you need to know, really. 1UP's GameVideos will be the very first place online you'll be able to see the footage, and we'll be posting it in all of its HD glory. And trust us when we say you're going to be blown away. So this Friday, go to dinner, go to the movies, or go play some GTA IV -- but whatever you do, make sure you check back here at 10:30 p.m. PST for the exclusive first Gears of War 2 video."

"Gears of War 2 will take place six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb at the end of the first game, Gears of War."

"After yesterday's announcement that Burnout Paradise would be getting motorbikes as a downloadable extra, we realised it's becoming quite a common occurance. GTA, Mario Kart and Project Gotham Racing have all had bikes introduced as a feature in later games. So what about other games? Will we be seeing bikes in every big-name franchise from now on? After some swift Photoshopping, we'd have to say... yes. Check these out..."

"Jonesing for your first taste of Gears of War 2 gameplay footage? Fortunately you don't have too long to wait.

Gametrailers TV just secured themselves the first in-game footage from the game. The bad news? It won't be airing until May 9 at 1 a.m. The good news? The footage, which features Marcus Fenix, includes a special introduction by bunny-loving Epic game designer Cliff Bleszinski."

"Before you jump on my ass over this column's title, please know that the author of this column is a rabid Gears of War junkie. I've spent countless hours on the original Gears, and I still play the original game quite often. I played the game so intensely at one point, that I even got invited to a handful MLG tournaments (yes, I'm bragging) and had some high spots on the game's online rankings. As you could have imagined, the announcement of Gears of War 2 initially had me absorbed with hype,..."

"Epic Games has confirmed to Shacknews that it is not planning to release a demo of the cover-heavy action title Gears of War 2 (X360) demo in advance of the title's November launch.

"[There are] no plans for a demo," associate producer Tanya Jessen told Shacknews. "The reason being that it's been such a fast turnaround. A two year production cycle, for a game of this caliber, is really short."

The lack of a demo continues the tradition Epic set forth with the original Gears of War, whic..."

"Mark Rein of Epic told Eurogamer today the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 could include a special easter egg-style treat for Gears of War fans.

"You might want to keep a close eye on the Unreal Tournament 3 disc. There might be something Gears of War 2 related on that," said Mr Rein, who would not confirm the exact nature of the content.

Mr Rein went on to claim Gears of War 2 would be a "much better" game than the original.

"I think Gears 2 is a much better game than the..."

"DC Comics and Epic Games today announced that they will be publishing a comic series based around Gears of War. The first comic based on the hit Xbox 360 franchise is set to release in October on DC's WildStorm publishing imprint. Details about the comic's story and creative team will be released later.

"We are thrilled to be working with DC Comics to further bring to life the Gears of War universe. A lot of our developers are huge comic fans, and have loved the personas and chronicles uni..."

"These scans are from the May 2008 issue of Game Informer which features a Gears of War 2 exclusive cover story. The screens look much better in the magazine, so pick it up as soon as you can! I want to get this out to you guys as fast as possible, so instead of summarizing the article myself, you can read it for yourself in the scans, or, you can check the link where there is a summary of all the important points by SHOTEH FOCK OP at NeoGAF.

Go to the source to check out the scans."

"For a while, Xbox 360 gamers have been waiting to fight a Brumak without having to buy the PC version of Gears of War. Voice-actor John DiMaggio, who voices Marcus Fenix in Gears of War, has revealed that Xbox 360 owners will finally get a chance to fight a Brumak in Gears of War 2. But that may not mean much at all, because the Brumak won’t longer be the biggest Locust in Sera.

CliffyB told Game Informer that Gears 2 “will have creatures that make the Brumak look like a baby panda bear.""

"If you recall, earlier this week a press release was sent out on behalf of Comic Con that mentioned Epic's Michael Capps and Joshua Ortega would be in attendance talking Gears and giving a first glimpse of GoW2. But now, according to Videogaming247 who contacted Epic about the Comic Con news, Mark Rein is denying that GoW2 will be shown at the event saying that "I'm not aware that we're showing anything there." Sounds like a big ball of confusion to us. Since the whole GoW2 Comic Con unveilin..."

"In an interview, due to be published tomorrow here, he said, “The next Gears of War game will have improved physics features and new lighting and rendering features. Work on the engine will continue through the whole engine cycle. There will be major new features we'll be adding two years from now that games just haven't done yet.""

"Though it's hard to imagine anything more exciting than obtaining The Hulk's autograph or shaking hands with Iron Man (watch out for that palm beam!), this month's New York Comic Con will also give attendees a glimpse of upcoming testosterone-fueled chainsaw epic, Gears of War 2. The convention will host a special "preview" of the Xbox 360 shooter on Sunday, April 20th, delivered courtesy of Michael Capps, president of Epic Games and Joshua Ortega, a man described as a "writer" for Gears of W..."

"In the first Gears of War, getting chainsawed was an unpreventable means of death once your enemy was in range with their Lancer revved. For the many of you who saw the recent Gears of War 2 Teaser, the first thought that probably sprang to mind when the battle of chainsaws between Marcus Fenix and the Locust enemy occurred was, “So we’ll be able to do this in the game?”.

Yes, yes you will.

More info at the source."