Topic: Gears of War PC -- Update: Eurogamer's first impressions on this one...

[MysterD]

Rumor has it, Gears of Wars might hit the PC in the end of 2007 for Vista:
http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19453&

ConsoleWars (German) is reporting that a Microsoft release list from Switzerland shows the game being released for Vista at the end of 2007 on the PC.

[idolminds]

It wouldnt suprise me. The game looks...interesting. Not totally sold on it, though.

[Quemaqua]

I'm looking forward to it.  Will get it for 360, though.

I'm grunting as I post this message.

[sirean_syan]

*grunts as he reads this post*

[PyroMenace]

*grunts as I slam my finger on the mouse button to reply*

[gpw11]

What the hell are you three talking about?

[Xessive]

Grunting.. I don't know..

I don't know much about the game, so I don't have a reason (yet) to revolt against the exclusivity to Vista.

[Pugnate]

It looked to have fantastic graphics, but that's about all I know. It just looked very much like Unreal Tourney in terms of art design.

[Quemaqua]

You get to play some marine guy who blows the living snot out of aliens in horrific ways.  I think it's squad-based to a degree.  Graphics are amazing.

*grunt*

[Pugnate]

*tnurg*

[MysterD]

*Ugh @ it being likely a Windows Vista exclusive*

[MysterD]

UPDATE: Looks like new PC Gamer holiday issue leaks out a GoW PC version photo

PC Gamer leaks Gears of War PC photo [UPDATE]

Posted by Nick on November 16th, 2006

It seems like PC Gamer has made a slip-up that reveals Epic’s Gears of War to be released for the PC. In the holiday issue of the magazine that is going to be released shortly to the public, they have a photo of Microsoft studios having a display stand for Gears PC version.

You can find this image on page 28 of this new issue and should be interesting to see once it is released. There is no official word from Microsoft on this right now and supposedly they have no plans to announce this in the near future. Although this isn’t fully proven yet, it could be highly unlikely the MS would just randomly have a Gears for PC display. This would be a great idea for them to release this and let the computer gamers really get a chance at this incredible game.

Source: [IGN]

[Pugnate]

As far as I remember that is pretty old.

[MysterD]

Microsoft says GoW not coming to PC, "at this time"....

No Gears of War on Windows
The second Microsoft misprint in a row.
by Patrick Klepek, 11/22/2006
1 of 1 users recommend this story.

Gears of War could certainly appear on PC eventually, but for right now, Microsoft's happy to debunk rumors to the contrary -- even ones they started themselves. A Games For Windows advertisement in PC Gamer features a Gears of War PC box, which was quickly scanned onto the 'net and spread through message boards and web blogs everywhere before Microsoft noticed.

Similar to the Lost Planet HDMI debacle, this appears to be nothing more than an unfortunate misprint. "These images were created using draft templates for the Games for Windows box art and a variety of Microsoft Game Studios cover images. Gears of War was accidentally included by the artist as one of the MGS titles used as examples to show what our retail setup would look like," said the company on the Gamerscore blog.

But even Microsoft doesn't outright deny the possibility it could appear someday. "We're incredibly excited about the success of Gears of War on Xbox 360, but we have nothing further to announce about Gears of War, or any other platforms it might come to, at this time," they said.

At this time, huh? We've heard that one before.

[MysterD]

So, there is a thread of someone unhappy GoW might come to the PC on Epic's Boards -- click here for that thread!

So, Mark Rein of Epic speaks out more on GoW PC Rumors -- click here for his post.

There is no "new information" that Gears will be released on PC. You know console games are developed on PCs, right? Even if we never release Gears of War on PC we still need to run the game on PC to develop and test content for it.

Our first E3 demo, over two years ago, was done on an PC equipped with dual NVIDIA graphics cards. That was how we simulated the power of Xbox 360 before there was actually a real Xbox 360 to run on.

We gave NVIDIA a copy of wargame.exe (along with some sample content from Gears) so they could help us tweak Unreal Engine 3 performance and reliability on NVIDIA graphics chips. That was necessary to make the development tools perform well and ensure that their drivers would support UE3 going forward. That was beneficial because two PC games (Roboblitz and Rainbow Six Vegas) have already shipped for PC and we're planning to ship our next Unreal Tournament game on PC this year as well.

So in reality the only thing this supposed "leak" demonstrates is that we work closely with NVIDIA to ensure the best possible performance for our engine on their platforms. Ditto for ATI and other graphics vendors as well.

Unfortunately none of the site reporting this silliness bothered to ask me for a comment on it

When asked recently in an interview whether I had "any comment on the Windows Vista version of Gears of War?" I replied the following:

There’s nothing to announce at this time. We’ve said all along that, at some point in the future, we could adapt Gears of Wars for PC. Based on past experience we’ve learned that it takes approximately 5 years for an OS to fully take hold among the gaming population. So unless it takes us 5 years to bring Gears of War to Windows, we certainly expect to keep supporting Windows XP users. For now however Gears is available exclusively on Xbox360 and we’re still working on improvements and enhancements to it.

[Cobra951]

Based on past experience we’ve learned that it takes approximately 5 years for an OS to fully take hold among the gaming population. So unless it takes us 5 years to bring Gears of War to Windows, we certainly expect to keep supporting Windows XP users.

That's reassuring to hear, but wouldn't M$ have veto power here?  If they want to force Vista on gamers, they sure are going to try to buy their way into veto power.

[Pugnate]

There is no "new information" that Gears will be released on PC. You know console games are developed on PCs, right? Even if we never release Gears of War on PC we still need to run the game on PC to develop and test content for it.

That made me smile.

[MysterD]

That made me smile.

Me too.

[MysterD]

So, when is it gonna be confirmed to the PC by Epic? Eh?

We know it's coming eventually...

And looks like more evidence is out there to be found, at it GoW PC footage was on a website and then removed.

Forty miles below sea level, deep in the heart of the Joystiq bunker, the tiniest of blips lit up our Internets. Footage of Epic's Gears of War for PC had hit the web in an instant and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Though we've known of a few clues regarding this release, nothing had been confirmed. But now that we have seen Gears running at higher resolutions, silkier framerates and with brand new content (see: Brumak above), we can no longer deny its existence.

Our only fear relates to requirements. With Roboblitz Rainbow Six Vegas being the only Unreal Engine 3 testing bed on the PC, the glorious beauty of Gears is bound to melt a few systems. The video itself was tagged under "E32007," so we're bound to hear more solid information on this release very soon.

Hey Cliffy, Brumak will be available as downloadable content for 360 owners, right? Buddy?

[Update - Yes, Rainbow Six Vegas is just a touch more demanding than Roboblitz. Thanks, Blackmanfu!]

[MysterD]

Okay, it's official now.

GoW PC will be coming for Win XP and Vista!

Gears of War for XP & Vista [July 11, 2007, 10:25 am ET] - Viewing Comments
Gears of War PC was announced by Microsoft at their E3 media briefing last night, rolling out CliffyB to present the news to the press. PC gamers get the welcome news that the game will include PC-specific content in the form of five new single-player missions (which will support co-op) as well as a level editor. Perhaps more welcome is the news that the game will run under Windows XP as well as Windows Vista, confirming that Windows Live will not be Vista only.
...
This press release covers this and the rest of Microsoft's announcements kicking off the show. Here's a bit:

    “Gears of War” will emerge on Windows XP-based and Windows Vista-based PCs this holiday with five new campaign chapters, a new multiplayer mode and a new game editor that will unleash the creativity of “Gears of War” players — only available for Windows. “Gears of War” will also take advantage of DirectX® 10 graphics technology, which is only available on Windows Vista.

[Xessive]

Will there be two separate versions?? If so, suppose I buy it on XP, will it work on Vista and will it be different?

EDIT: Scratch that, I misread a segment.

Hope I have sweeter system by then

[MysterD]

GoW PC's extra content will NOT come to the X360

Gears of War PC Content Not Coming to 360
Good things come to those who wait.
By Mark Whiting, 07/27/2007

IGN's got an interview that contains some disappointing news for you, untold legion of Xbox 360 Gears of War fans. You know all that cool downloadable content, map editor, bonus missions, extra boss fight, etc. etc. that the PC guys have been excited about for the last little while? Yeah. You're not getting any of it.

Straight from the mouth of Rod Fergusson -- Gears' PC Producer over at Epic -- comes the following:

    "There is no plan to provide the PC exclusive content to Xbox 360 gamers for a number of technical reasons. One is simply the size and scope of the new content which would be difficult to deliver as an update. But more importantly, Gears of War for Windows was not created with the same version of Unreal Engine 3 as Gears of War for 360. We wanted to take advantage of all the latest and greatest optimizations and features that are constantly being added to UE3 and as such, this new content is not easily compatible with the Xbox 360 version."

Dayumn. So, what does this new content consist of anyway? Awesomeness, essentially. 3 new multiplayer maps, a new game type (King of the Hill), a map editor...plus no less than five extra chapters to the main game's single player campaign.

Also present for PC gamers is a new boss fight against that giant living tank beast you saw chasing you away from the Fenix mansion -- 40 feet of guns, armor and teeth apparently known as a Brumak.

"Way back in the day we had hoped to fight the Brumak on the Xbox 360" says Cliffy. "But once we did our first schedules for the original title it became obvious that the beast would have to wait for later... Now, thankfully, he's able to be revealed in his full prime."

Gonna be a big consolation to those 360 owners who still don't know what the heck they were doing on that train there, Cliff. Oh well, Marcus says quit yer yappy yappin' you Xbox 360 owners. That's what you get for having all the fun these last six months.

[iPPi]

5 New chapters?!?!?

That's twice the length of the single player campaign on the 360.  Really lame that it's not going to be available for the 360 either.  Those sons of bitches.

[NatchDan]

5 New chapters?!?!?

That's twice the length of the single player campaign on the 360.  Really lame that it's not going to be available for the 360 either.  Those sons of bitches.

Nono, the 360 has 5 acts - each act 5 chapters. Listen to the podcast. xD

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, damn it!  Nobody listens to the podcast.  I've been meaning to start a poll and see who has actually bothered.  Think I'll do that.

Anyway, this really kind of blows for those of us who would like the extra stuff but don't want to buy the game again.  I mean, I got the Collector's Edition of Gears for the 360, and while I totally want to fight that giant dude (I was really sad that I couldn't), I really don't want to bad enough to buy it again.  This makes me sad.

[K-man]

Yeah, damn it!  Nobody listens to the podcast.  I've been meaning to start a poll and see who has actually bothered.  Think I'll do that.

Anyway, this really kind of blows for those of us who would like the extra stuff but don't want to buy the game again.  I mean, I got the Collector's Edition of Gears for the 360, and while I totally want to fight that giant dude (I was really sad that I couldn't), I really don't want to bad enough to buy it again.  This makes me sad.

That's why you wait six months for the price on the PC version to drop so you can pick it up then.

[idolminds]

And by then it'll be worth it for all the new missions the community creates.

[MysterD]

And by then it'll be worth it for all the new missions the community creates.

I'm sure PC modders will have fun w/ the GoW SDK.

[MysterD]

Eurogamer gives some impressions on GoW PC.

Graphics are a little more disappointing. Playing the PC version did reveal the kind of improved resolution that we were told about before we were let loose on the demo units, but it's going to take a serious rig to get Gears to make use of them.

Given how many of most recent Unreal Engine games run on my PC -- that would be GRAW, R6: Vegas, SC: Double Agent, and Bioshock -- I can see that happening.

[idolminds]

I wish they would hurry. With this and Viva Pinata. Damn I want to play those games.

[Cobra951]

I put Viva Piñata away so long ago I had almost forgotten it.  Strange game.  I kept putting in the long effort, waiting for the time when it delivered love, peace and happiness in the form of a pretty garden full of many different creatures prancing about in harmony.  That never came.  It always felt like, toil.  Heh.  Putting out fires got to be about 3 quarters of the gameplay.

[Quemaqua]

Julia felt that way too for quite a while and gave up, but then she went back at it and had a lot more fun the 2nd time around, once she had a better idea of what she was doing.  I bought her the guide that came out eventually, too, and between that and pinataisland.info she's managed to pretty much stomp all the toiling aspects.  The thing she's waiting on how is an HDD for the 360 because our MU runs out of space with that game fucking fast.  4 megs per save file and 8 per garden.  That's a minimum of 12 megs for one fucking game when most take like 150kb or something.  Really obnoxious.

[Cobra951]

Didn't you get a 512MB card?  I can't imagine that running out of space too soon.  I've even used mine for several games Bioshock games under offline profiles, and I rotate through about 5 save slots on each.

Edit:  I fat-fingered the hell out of this one.  Sorry for any spurious posts and other junk.

[Quemaqua]

I only wish.  When I got my 360, they had 64MB cards and... that was it.

[MysterD]

Looks like Nov. 6 for GoW PC, probably...

Gears of War PC on November 6 [October 04, 2007, 5:28 pm ET] - Viewing Comments

Shacknews has word that the PC edition of Gears of War is expected in stores on November 6. Accompanying this tidbit they offer a bunch of screenshots including looks at new multiplayer maps and the game editor as well as their hands-on preview. On a semi-related note, GameDaily BIZ has a Q&A with CliffyB where he discusses plans for the Gears of War movie.

[scottws]

You know, I just might buy it again.