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Gears of War 2's Title Update 4 now live

by David Hinkle { Jul 3rd 2009 at 1:46PM }

Heads up, COG soldiers. Epic's Gears of War 2 has just received its highly-anticipated fourth Title Update. The new update not only adds experience to Horde mode, but also fixes a variety of bugs, according to the update notes on the Gears forums. Aside from fixing some issues with the new cringe-inducing smoke grenades, the new update also tweaks the Wingman match type, doing away with some of the issues involving weapon spawning and a particularly nasty exploit where players could get credit for two kills while only killing one opponent.

Hopefully, this will fix some of the persistent issues plaguing Gears of War 2's online component. So, grease up your Lancer and head out into battle. This weekend is chock full of XP, after all!

[Thanks, Paul!]

Gears of War 2 gets double XP and TU4 this weekend

by David Hinkle { Jul 1st 2009 at 10:35AM }

To celebrate Independance Day, the folks at Epic Games are going to liberate (see what we did there?) Gears of War 2 from some of its nastier afflictions, through another title update. The latest update should drop sometime before this weekend, and will bring some changes to Horde mode. We'll be sure to let you know when the update is ready.

On top of that, it's also going to be another Gears-themed weekend, as Epic has turned on the XP firehose. During ranked matches on the public playlist, everyone will receive double the XP, and the winning team will also walk away with an additional 500 XP (plus, you know, their lives). Epic has also added some of its own brand of fireworks to Horde mode as an homage to our own firework-shooting, independence-celebrating festivities planned for this holiday weekend. In every wave of the Horde, there will be added Tickers, and on every 10th wave of every Horde match, there will be only Tickers.

The festivities start on Friday morning, and will run until Monday, July 6.

[Thanks, Alan!]

SIGGRAPH 2009 panel to focus on Fight Night Round 4, Gears of War 2 graphics

by Randy Nelson { Jun 26th 2009 at 6:00AM }

The organizer of SIGGRAPH, an annual gathering of digital visual artists, has already implied that gaming will have a larger presence at 2009's conference than in previous years; there's even going to be a keynote address by SimCity creator Will Wright. It's now been announced that a session focusing on real-time computer graphics will explore the creation of visuals for EA Sports' newly released Fight Night Round 4 and Epic Games' not-so-new (but still mightily pretty) Gears of War 2.

Titled "Big, Fast, and Cool: Making the Art for Fight Night Round 4 & Gears of War 2" (that title is neither small, quick or cool, by the way), the session is being offered for CG artists because, as SIGGRAPH 2009 real-time rendering chair Evan Hirsch says, "So much of what makes today's videogames so great are the responsive graphics and the stories that unfold during game play." It's a shame about that "during game play" bit; otherwise the entire thing could be called "The cinematics of Metal Gear Solid 4: Watch and Learn." Next year, Kojima. Next year.

Xbox Live Top 10: World remains at war

by David Hinkle { Jun 23rd 2009 at 5:15PM }

Dearest Lorraine,

Microsoft's Major Nelson has brought us another annual status report on enemy movements throughout Xbox Live, and it's not pretty. Conflict has surrounded us, as the enemy, Call of Duty: World at War, has spread like wildfire, becoming the most-played game last week. We tried to flank it with our platoons of Halo 3 and Gears of War 2, but, alas, the enemy had reinforcements in Call of Duty 4. Hope has diminished, and one only needs walk by the injured tent to feel the full force of the enemy's cruelty.

Lorraine, I know not if I will return home. I have managed to live longer than most, but, I feel there's that one bullet out there with my name on it, relentlessly pursuing its new home. Please, take care of my Gamertag when I am gone (I think my Gold subscription ends next month, so look into that), and be sure to earn as many Achievements for me as you can. I suggest you start with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yours Truly,
Gus

Epic dishes on Gears of War 2 TU4, Dark Corners Achievements

by David Hinkle { Jun 23rd 2009 at 11:45AM }

Epic is waiting on certification for Title Update 4, the latest major update to Gears of War 2, but that didn't stop Rod Fergusson from hitting the forums and dropping some info. First of all, Public Horde matches will now have the ability to restart on a failed wave, instead of having to go all the way back to square one. Then there's the addition of experience to Horde mode (which we knew about), which Rod says will break down as follows:

50 points per completed Casual wave.
75 points per completed Normal wave.
100 points per completed Hardcore wave.
125 points per completed Insane wave.

Epic is also adding Achievements for the new Dark Corners DLC and updating the game with 325 more points of delicious Gamerscore. Head past the break for the full list.

Continued →

Bleszinski not working on survival horror game, not sick of Gears yet

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 19th 2009 at 11:50AM }

We've heard a number of rumors claiming Mr. Clifford B. was preparing to eschew his chainsawgun-heavy namesake in favor of one more spooky. However, these rumors were recently crushed between Bleszinski's manly, well-maintained jaws during an interview with OXM, in which he explains he's "not making a horror game next," because, well, "Gears is very much near and dear" to him.

While news that Bleszinski's next project won't contain ammo conservation or purposefully poor lighting may seem like the biggest news to come out of the interview, the real sizzler arises three questions later, when Bleszinski proudly admits, "I'm a giant douchebag." (No, we're not making that up. Promise!)

A look at Epic's latest Unreal Engine 3 additions

by David Hinkle { Jun 11th 2009 at 8:15PM }

We first heard about some changes coming to Unreal Engine 3's backend way back at GDC, where the tech was first demonstrated for developers. At last week's E3, Epic was kind enough to give us a demonstration of some of the changes coming to its famous engine, and we have to say they're pretty spiffy. Nothing is jaw-dropping, but with some tweaks under the hood, the development process and post-release analysis can help developers utilizing Unreal Engine 3 in many surprising ways.

Gallery: Unreal Engine 3 tools (Lightmass, MCP, Content Browser)

Continued →

Hands-on: Gears of War 2 Dark Corners 'Nowhere'

by Kevin Kelly { Jun 10th 2009 at 8:00AM }

This should actually be called "Hands-on: Gears of War 2 Dark Corners DLC -- One Map Only," because Epic wasn't showing off any of the single player campaign when we stopped by, and it only had two kiosks on the side of the Microsoft booth playing the Nowhere map. Even though the other maps appeared in the menu screen, they wouldn't let us select them. What are you hiding from us, Epic?

So here's a tiny review of Nowhere, and a big new video featuring the "Road to Ruin" deleted chapter of the DLC, along with a peek at the seven new maps just beyond the jump.

Gallery: Gears of War 2: Dark Corners DLC

Continued →

Shadow Complex likely won't be less than $20

by David Hinkle { Jun 4th 2009 at 5:15PM }

While checking in with Epic's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title Shadow Complex again today, we were given a nice little tidbit of info from Epic programmer Rob McLaughlin. While playing through the game's introductory level, we casually asked about a price for Unreal Engine 3-fueled shmup, to which Rob replied that the title would likely not see price point below $20. We grilled hm for more info, but, sadly, he couldn't accomodate us.

Shadow Complex has stat trackers beyond Achievements

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 3rd 2009 at 12:05PM }

Shadow Complex, the XBLA game from Chair and Epic that's two parts Metroid and one part Castlevania (even Cliff Bleszinski noted it was a "Metroidvania" title), has a robust stat tracking system behind the scenes. Beyond the standard Xbox Live Achievements, the game also tracks things like headshots with "Your head a-splode."

The 10-15 hour title is meant to be accessible to those who casually played titles like Super Metroid, but it's definitely being designed to appeal to speed-runners. There will be unlockables in the game for playing with only a certain weapon or beating the game under a certain amount of time. Chair's Donald Mustard told us there's a special unlockable for beating the game in under two hours. Our theory: Marcus Fenix skin for the main character.

Gallery: Shadow Complex

Hands-on: Shadow Complex not too complex, very familiar

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 2nd 2009 at 6:45PM }

click to power-up

Let there be absolutely no doubt that Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex is heavily inspired by 2D exploration games of yore, namely Metroid and Castlevania. The Xbox Live representative that guided our hands-on demo used the word "Metroid" no less than 437 times (slight exaggeration). The game is 2D, it doles out power-ups gradually and contains plenty of exploration and action. Let's be clear about this: That is absolutely not a bad thing.

Gallery: Shadow Complex

Continued →

Shadow Complex: Metroid meets Contra and HAS A BABY

by David Hinkle { Jun 1st 2009 at 9:30PM }

When Epic's Cliff Bleszinski hit the stage sans Lancer at Microsoft's E3 keynote, many at both the Microsoft keynote and here at the Joystiq mobile HQ wondered what Epic was up to. Then, we noticed he was accompanied by Chair Entertainment's Donald Mustard, and we caught our first glimpse of Shadow Complex, a game with heavy amounts of influence from 2D titles such as Metroid and Contra, with a splash of its own unique 3D action, making this a project all its own. For an XBLA title, it has an incredible amount of polish, and we're sure the price will reflect that when it releases this summer.

Gallery: Shadow Complex

Epic Games' next is Shadow Complex for Xbox Live Arcade

by David Hinkle { Jun 1st 2009 at 2:12PM }

Epic's Cliff Bleszinski just took the stage at Microsoft's E3 keynote and revealed Shadow Complex, a new game for Xbox Live Arcade in collaboration with Chair Entertainment, the folks behind XBLA title Undertow. Mixing elements from titles such as Contra and Super Metroid, the game is a 2D title infused with slick 3D graphics. Big guns and big enemies are the name of the game here, as Bleszinski promises big boss battles and a summer release for the title.

Unreal Tournament 3 free to play on Steam this weekend

by Jem Alexander { May 27th 2009 at 1:30AM }

Unreal Tournament III will be completely free to download and play on Steam this weekend. This free version, called Unreal Tournament III Black, will include all the new content that was added in the Titan Pack in March, as well as a recent patch, taking the version number up to 2.1. You can pre-load the game right now, in preparation for a weekend of Unreal goodness.

Sure, the game may not be as fresh as it once was, but free is free and Epic has to find some way to draw in interest from the now reinvigorated Team Fortress 2 crowd. At least it will give you something to do while you're waiting for all the E3 news to begin on Monday.

[Via BigDownload]

Gears of War Xbox 360 bundle heads down under

by David Hinkle { May 25th 2009 at 12:00PM }

Microsoft is sending a special Gears of War Xbox 360 bundle (depicted above) to our friends in Australia. Included in the bundle are copies of the original Gears of War and Gears of War 2. Sadly, the console itself isn't as special as the box it comes in, for it's of the plain white Pro variety.

The new bundle will hit Aussie store shelves on June 4 and retail for $449 AU.

[Thanks, Josh]