Unreal Engine maker Epic Games will announce a new installment for Gears of War, its popular third-person shooter series directed by Cliff Bleszinski, at E3 on Monday.
Gears of War is one of the biggest franchises on Xbox 360. Epic, which is currently building its much anticipated Unreal Engine 4, often uses its Gears of War releases as a showcase for what other developers can accomplish with its game engine.
Since debuting in 2006, the series has sold over 16 million total copies on Xbox 360 and on Windows, with 3 million of that coming from Gears of War 3's first week on sale last September.
Game Informer revealed the new entry's existence with a preview of its next magazine issue's cover, but it disclosed hardly any details about the game other than that it will release for Xbox 360.
Epic Games will reveal more information about the title at Monday's E3 press conference for Microsoft, which published the previous Gears of War games.
[Update: Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, has tweeted thatBulletstorm developer People Can Fly, of which Epic owns a majority share, is involved with the new title in some form, although he didn't specify how.]
I would have figured that a Gears of War 4 launch title for the next Xbox would have been the best thing for both the series as well as the new Xbox. I'm almost shocked at this news.
While there's the possibility that the game could hit both a current and next gen platform (which would make Epic a big winner as it would demonstrate to developers that they could use their engine to make a game for a well-established consolebase and a new userbase at the same time), it's a possibility that doesn't seem likely to me.
You know what? Considering the timing less than a year after Gears of War 3, and the minimum of two year cycle time between Gears releases, this is almost certainly the first part of a two year reveal plan for the 720, as happened with Wii and PS3 in 2005 and 2006, and has now happened with Wii U in 2011 and 2012. I think the emphasis on fiery particle effects in this cover (channeling the first shots of the new engine http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/170524/Epics_Unreal_Engine_4_looks_to_ drag_th is_industry_into_the_next_generation.php) further cements that Gears 4 is running Unreal 4 and that Microsoft will give initial showings of 720 capability next week.
Sony, almost certainly aware of the current state between Epic and MS, will be using this to match timing on reveal and so conceptual capabilities for PS4 will be shown off as well. Given the technical challenges that are demanded when scaling up to these expected monstrosities, it's frankly reasonable that they get the audience (and the developers) prepared for the release and more importantly the cost with as long a lead time as possible.
I'm calling it: All 3 next-gen systems will have some sort of showing in a week's time. The core industry will declare Nintendo the loser by technical default as Epic mention they have no interest in directly supporting Unreal 4 technologies on their platforms. MS will make the most of Unreal 4 being first on 720(or whatever) and their competitor's 'shortsightedness' while offering a knock down 360 that integrates Kinect (and handily circumvents the Motorola infringement). In Sony's camp attention will be pulled towards PS4 and unfortunately away from Vita, sealing its fate. On their side Sqeenix might possibly cut a last minute deal showing Versus XIII running in 'realtime' on spec PS4 hardware - well, that one's a bit speculative, but I really think this article has given a lot of the game away for E3 2012.
I'm assuming it's going to be a prequel. From the pics that looks like Marcus, but I've read the novels and comics and would love to play a game that deals with the civil war and the aquisition of the Hammer of Dawn.
"(...) it will release for Xbox 360."
While there's the possibility that the game could hit both a current and next gen platform (which would make Epic a big winner as it would demonstrate to developers that they could use their engine to make a game for a well-established consolebase and a new userbase at the same time), it's a possibility that doesn't seem likely to me.
is_industry_into_the_next_generation.php) further cements that Gears 4 is running Unreal 4 and that Microsoft will give initial showings of 720 capability next week.
Sony, almost certainly aware of the current state between Epic and MS, will be using this to match timing on reveal and so conceptual capabilities for PS4 will be shown off as well. Given the technical challenges that are demanded when scaling up to these expected monstrosities, it's frankly reasonable that they get the audience (and the developers) prepared for the release and more importantly the cost with as long a lead time as possible.
I'm calling it: All 3 next-gen systems will have some sort of showing in a week's time. The core industry will declare Nintendo the loser by technical default as Epic mention they have no interest in directly supporting Unreal 4 technologies on their platforms. MS will make the most of Unreal 4 being first on 720(or whatever) and their competitor's 'shortsightedness' while offering a knock down 360 that integrates Kinect (and handily circumvents the Motorola infringement). In Sony's camp attention will be pulled towards PS4 and unfortunately away from Vita, sealing its fate. On their side Sqeenix might possibly cut a last minute deal showing Versus XIII running in 'realtime' on spec PS4 hardware - well, that one's a bit speculative, but I really think this article has given a lot of the game away for E3 2012.