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AUGUST 2015 JB Hi-Fi
070
visit FEATURE GAMES
Epic Games, Inc, was founded by Tim
Sweeney in 1991. It was originally
called Potomac Computer Systems.
The popular game engine, Unreal
Engine, was developed by Epic for its
1998 first-person shooter, Unreal.
A Gears of War title without a
chainsaw bayonet is like Alien
without Ripley. And it nearly
happened. Microsoft tried to veto its
inclusion and it was only added after
Epic pleaded with the publisher.
Lead game designer
Cliff Bleszinski
developed his first
commercial game
at the age of 17.
Bleszinski joined
the Gears of War
project after
achieving success on
the FPS Unreal franchise.
Gears of War had originally been
designed to be part of the Unreal
universe. It was going to be called
Unreal Warfare.
Initially conceived as a FPS, Bleszinski
– influenced by the Resident Evil
Over-the-Shoulder camera concept
– changed the design.
Epic had planned to call the Locusts
(the antagonists in Gears of War)
'Geist'. That was until Nintendo
released a game of the same name
on GameCube.
For Gears of War 2 , Epic enlisted
notable comic book writer Joshua
Ortega to pen the plot.
Anyone for toast? In Gears of War 2,
hidden inside a stone pillar in Act 4:
Chapter 5 (The Best-Laid Plans), is a
toaster. When activated and the toast
pops, Marcus asks, “Who wants
toast?”.
Gears of War 3 was the first game in
the series to feature playable
females.
English sci-fi author Karen Traviss,
author of five books based on the
Gears of War universe, was brought
in to write the GoW 3 story.
Ice T’s band Body Count recorded
‘The Gears of War’ for GoW 3.
The rapper also voices a role in the
game.
Gears of War: Judgment is the first
game in the series not to feature
Marcus Fenix.
Every main character in Judgment is
playable during the game.
The game was written by Rob Auten
and Tom Bissell, who collaborated on
the single player campaign for
Battlefield Hardline.
In January 2014, Microsoft bought
the Gears of War rights from Epic,
effectively ensuring that the game
will never appear on a PlayStation
console.
Gears of War 4 is the sequel to 3 and
will be released on Xbox One only in
2016.
GoW 4 is being developed by
Canadian studio, The Coalition.
Microsoft hired Rod Fergusson,
executive producer on the first three
Gears games, to oversee the project.
This month, Xbox One owners will get the opportunity to revisit the original
Gears of War – remastered with 90 minutes of previously unseen campaign to play through, in
glorious 1080p and running at 60fps. Check out these 20 useless facts about the GoW universe.
...you may or may not know. Franchise