Gears of Wars 2 coming to XBOX 360
Epic and Microsoft Shared the GDC stage to Announce Release
Epic Games and Lead Designer Cliffy B finally announced a release date for the much anticipated Gears of War 2. The Game will be an XBOX 360 exclusive.
Microsoft took their keynote address at GDC 2008 as a time to drop some big news to developers and the public alike, however some of those secrets were amongst the worst kept the industry has ever seen. Among those less than well-concealed secrets was an announcement regarding the upcoming game, Gears of War 2.
The high-octane third-person shooter will be a followup to the 2006 smash hit Gears of War. The announcement solidified what has been months of rumors regarding the sequel. Everyone knew it was coming. Gears of War has sold 4.5 million games to date, according to Tom Magrino for Gamespot.
The game takes place on Sera, a planet inhabited by humans, and gives players the opportunity to play as the 4 man characters of Delta Squad: Marcus, Dominic, Augustus and Damon.
The game was well received even before it hit the stands and was marketed as one of the most anticipated 360 games of the 2006 season according to Will Tuttle, a writer for Gamespy in 2006. It received several awards at E3, one of the largest development conferences of the video game world along with the Game of the Year 2006 from Gamespot and Xbox 360 game of the year, dulled out by IGN. The game took home 5 more awards from IGN that year and 6 more awards from Gamespot. Both Gamespot and IGN are leading gaming websites and communities.
The game opened to an average review of 94 out of 100 and has held steady since then. With award-winning prowess and close to perfect reviews it would have been in poor taste to not make a sequel, not to mention a dumb business move. All users and reviewers were waiting for was the final word, and they received that during the Feb. 19 keynote address at GDC.
According to live reports from the GDC by Gamespot.com halfway through the keynote address there was no speak of Gears of War 2 but eventually the lights dimmed and a trailer was presented to the audience. The video gave the audience a glimpse into just what Epic has been doing since 2006.
Clifford Bleszinski (aka “Cliffy B”) lead game designer for Epic, the company that makes Gears of War, stormed the stage and announced the title would drop in November of 2008.
While fans are sure to be anxious to get their hands on it Microsoft and Epic have strategically placed the game in prime business position. Just shy of the holiday season, Gears of War 2 is sure to light up 360 sales and be a difficult to find release.
Microsoft additionally released information regarding Fable 2 and the new Interactive community for homebrew developers, but that’s another article entirely.
