“We just discovered that there is an issue which requires that we push back our Xbox Live arcade game release date a little.  We’ve already submitted an update to Microsoft to fix the problem, and as soon as we know that the issue is fixed we’ll have a new release date.  I know our fans have been waiting a long time for the game, and hopefully they’ll have the patience to wait just a little while longer.  What’s mine will be yours very, very soon!”

It doesn’t seem that the PC version of the game will be affected by the issue and will be released on Steam later today as expected.

Source: Official Facebook Page

So, if the reports are accurate, we’ll have to wait about 6 weeks to find out the real information on the next Xbox and if rumours of an “always-online” connection are true.

In maybe-related news, Microsoft sold their Mediaroom IPTV business to Ericsson today and Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi wrote in a blog:

“With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet.”

This would leave us to believe that they’re hedging all bets on Xbox TV and we can expect even more multimedia features in the future on Microsoft’s consoles.

Source: The Verge

The email reads:

We’re sending you this message because you have an account on RockBand.com, DanceCentral.com, and/or Creators.RockBand.com. We are investigating an apparent attack on our servers that we detected this week.

The security of your Harmonix user information is very important to us. We’ve taken the sites down while we investigate this incident and determine how our systems and the information we maintain may have been compromised. At this time, we have not found that any of our users’ information has been published or misused. None of our sites maintain any credit card information, social security numbers, or financial account numbers for any of our users.

As a precaution, we have disabled your Harmonix password. We’ll send you a notification when the sites are back up. When you log back in, we will require all users to reset their passwords. If you have been using your old Harmonix password on other sites, we recommend that you change those passwords too.

We’re sorry for this inconvenience. Stay tuned to Harmonix on Facebook and Twitter for further updates.

Now, CharlieIntel.com have done a comparison of the two maps side by side (or rather top-to-bottom) so you can see the changes and similarities for yourself.

Here’s a sample of their work:

You can view all comparison photos on Charlie Intel’s post here.

The four new maps include Vertigo, Encore, Magma and Studio and the add-on also includes a “zombie adventure” called “Mob of the Dead”.

Regarding the maps: Vertigo takes place in a futuristic high-rise in India, Encore is set in the aftermath of a London music festival, Magma is a Japanese village beside an active and menacing volcano, and Studio is an updated version of Firing Range from the original Black Ops.

The zombie content is set in Alcatraz prison during prohibition years, features new guns, and voice work from Ray Liotta, Chazz Palminteri, Joey Pantoliano and Michael Madsen.

You can expect to pay 1200 Microsoft Points for the DLC or it will be free if you’ve already purchased the season pass. The content should be on PC and April in mid-May.

Source: The Examiner, Official Web Site

At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Epic showed off their Unreal Engine 4 using the “Infiltrator” tech demo, which you can view below. It looks really purdy but it’s not just another rendered video. At the GDC presentation, Epic claimed that it was running in real-time and, to prove it, they switched between filters and effects on-the-fly.

While the video may not mean much to most gamers, it’s worth bearing in mind that the engine could be what’s powering a lot of games for the next generation.

That’s the case on most next generation systems but, unfortunately for Wii U developers, Epic’s VP Mark Rein said that UE4 won’t run on Nintendo’s latest machine, that “if you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it’s powering some of the best games on the Wii U already”.

It was already announced by DICE that the Frostbite 3 engine, used to develop Battlefield 4, won’t run on Wii U either.

So, for gamers, it could potentially mean that a lot of our favourite games won’t see ports to Wii U.

Source: Joystiq

If you missed out on the Xbox Live Ulimate Game Sale last month, fear not, for Xbox.com has started teasing a Spring Sale. The website says that the savings will begin on 26th of March and last until April 2nd.

The site currently features slots for 5 Live Arcade games, 5 Game on Demand titles, 5 add-ons and 5 movies. There’s also a link for an “April Fools Deal”. We had assumed that meant when we opened our Xbox 360′s disc drive on April 1st a springy snake would pop out. Though it turns out that it just means that there’s special unannounced daily deals for that day, whereas all other reductions will be for the entire duration of the sale.

The list of what’s expected to be reduced can be found on Major Nelson’s blog here. Games featured include The Walking Dead, LA Noire and Skyrim (add-ons).

Great news for the day that’s in it; Ireland’s Team, Epsilon, have won the first ever European Finals of the Call of Duty Championship held at the ESL Headquarters Studio in Cologne. The finals, part of ESports, were held after weeks of online qualifiers and featured 16 teams, 2 from each region in Europe.

Epsilon.IRL beat the UK’s Fariko.Dragons in the final round and took home the €10,000 prize money between them.

Epsilon will now go to the World Finals of the CoD Championship in Hollywood, California, on the 5th to the 7th of April and compete for the grand prize of $1 Million.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Volition have announced that Saints Row IV will be released on August 20th in the US and August 23rd everywhere else. It will launch on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

“Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.” – Official Blurb

Deep Silver purchased Volition Inc. and, separately, the Saints Row IP in the THQ administration auction in January this year. Saints Row IV will also feature DLC content from Saints Row III’s “Enter The Dominatrix” add-on that was canned after Deep Silver took over publishing.

Players can now purchase an extra slots pack for 160 msp that adds slots for Create-a-Class, emblems, films and screenshots. Calling card packs that feature flags of the world are also available for 80 msp and are grouped by region.

Community Manager Dan Amrich said:

“At the end of the day, all of these items are completely optional, and were created for players who’ve asked for more customization options…”

Further to these, Activision have also added the Nuketown Zombies map for 400msp and the Nuketown 2025 map is free to all players of the game.

It has been rumoured in an article on Kotaku that Star Wars: First Assault has been put on hold. If you’ve not heard of the game, you’re not the only one. We knew that a yet-to-be-named game for Xbox Live Arcade was in the works at the studio but the article, which sourced a leaked document, indicates that it’s the aforementioned Star Wars title.

According to Kotaku, the document revealed a downloadable first-person shooter for up to 16 players, 8 rebels versus 8 Stormtroopers, on a number of worlds from the series. First Assault was planned to serve as a test for production on a new Battlefront game, something which has yet to be formally announced either.

Source: Kotaku

Good news for fans of Snoop Dogg, or Snoop Lion… or whatever he calls himself now… Snoop Penguin is getting his own rhythm-based action beat ‘em up game with voice acting from the man himself, Snoop Duck.

Snoop Giraffe can be seen in the video above doing voiceover for the game, Way Of The Dogg, which draws inspiration from his love of 70′s kung fu Blaxpoitation movies. Each stage will be set to a track from Snoop Ocelot’s back catalogue.

The game is being developed by Echo Peak and published by 505 Games and you’ll be able to download it later this year from Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and on phones and tablets. Snoop Shark will also be releasing his new album, Reincarnated, at the same time.

]]> http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_snoops-way-of-the-dogg-game-being-made/feed 0 http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_final-mass-effect-3-dlc-lands-tomorrow http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_final-mass-effect-3-dlc-lands-tomorrow#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:49:00 +0000 Patrick Doyle http://www.techtv101.com/?p=21967

“When a sinister conspiracy targets Commander Shepard, you and your team must uncover the truth, through battles and intrigue that range from the glamour of the Citadel’s Wards to the top-secret Council Archives.  Uncover the truth and fight alongside your squad — as well as the cast from the original Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, including Urdnot Wrex!” – BioWare

Regardless of how you feel about the divisive ending of Mass Effect 3, you still have to acknowledge that the series is still one of the greatest sci-fi series in gaming history. It has a universe to rival those of Star Trek and Star Wars and as many dedicated fans. I count myself as one.

So it is quite melancholic that Mass Effect 3′s final DLC, Citadel, will release tomorrow. On the one hand, it’s more Mass Effect and, on the other, this is the official end to the trilogy.

This add-on will bring to a conclusion the story of [INSERT CUSTOM NAME] Shepard and his/her many adventures through the Milk Way galaxy. That’s it. No more Shepard after this. Though BioWare have already stated that you might want to hold onto your save files for Mass Effect 4, which is in pre-production at the moment.

The ”Citadel” DLC, as the name implies, takes place on the iconic Citadel station and sometime before the end of the game. It looks like our main protagonist is in some sort of danger on what seems like standard shore-leave. You know, lots of drinking in dark nightclubs, fancy hotel suites, catching up with old buddies… and gunfights.

Citadel will be available to download tomorrow, March 5th, on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 for €14.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points. You can watch the trailer below… and try not to shed a tear.

Good news for Xbox Live Silver members, you’ll get to sample Xbox Live’s Gold features this weekend and see what the fuss is all about. So whether it’s online gaming, chatting with buddies or simply watching Netflix*, you can do so from March 8th to the 10th for free. There’s also some neat additions detailed in this nice little info picture:

If you want to continue to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, it can cost anywhere between €40-60 for 12 months depending on where you purchase. So it’s worth shopping around for the best deal.

(*Note: Additional services such as Netflix or Sky Player require you to pay a subscription to them. If you have a Sky account, you can sign up for the player on their website and enable your Xbox 360 as a device.)

ORIGINAL POST:

While the gaming world is still fresh from Sony’s Playstation 4 announcement last week, it’s very easy to forget that we still have current generation hardware out there… and people who love to save money.

Fear not though, Microsoft hasn’t forgotten and, with that in mind, has decided to host a sale on Xbox 360 Games On Demand titles. The full list of titles was posted by Xbox spokesman Larry Hryb (better known by his gamertag Major Nelson) on Friday.

The sale starts today, February 26th, and runs until March 4th with different titles getting reduced everyday by as much as 75-85% off their regular price on some games. While the list the Major posted concerns the North American region, we can still expect some similar savings on top titles here. Just check prices before purchasing.

You’ll obviously need to be connected to Xbox Live to avail of the savings and take note that most Xbox 360 games are between 4GB and 7.5GB in size. So yeah, don’t get carried away!

UPDATE DAY 1:

Halo titles are getting the sale treatment first with Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo: Reach on sale for €9.99 while Halo 4 can be downloaded for a reasonable €29.99. The Halo games are on sale for today only.

Other non-Halo games on sale include:

• Call of Juarez (€2.99)
• Bioshock (€4.99)
• GRID (€4.99)
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 (€2.99)
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (€2.99)
• Tom Clancy’s HAWX (€2.99)
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (€2.99)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids (€2.99)
• The Darkness (€4.99)
• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (€4.99)
• Virtua Fighter 5 (€4.99)
• Tomb Raider: Legend (€4.99)

It would seem that these non-Halo games are on sale for the duration of the Games On Demand Sale week.

UPDATE DAY 2:

Assassin’s Creed titles are on sale today, Wednesday 27th. You can download Assassin’s Creed 1 and 2 for €9.99 each and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations for €14.99. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood should be on sale for €9.99 as well but, as of writing, that price hasn’t changed. Keep an eye out though, those assassins are a sneaky bunch. As usual, check prices before downloading.

UPDATE DAY 3:

Thursday 28th, Day 3 of the Xbox Live Ultimate Game Sale is featuring Resident Evil titles. For one scary day only, you can get Resident Evil Code Veronica X for €4.99, Resident Evil Operation Racoon City for €14.99,  Resident Evil 4 for €9.99, Resident Evil 5 also for €9.99, and you can pick up Resident Evil 6 for €14.99. All those games are half price except Code Veronica, which is 75% off of it’s normal price. Remember that these are daily deals that last for one day only. The list of games on sale for the duration of the Ultimate Game Sale can be found above in the Day 1 update.

UPDATE DAY 4:

Today’s Xbox Live Ultimate Game Sale daily deal is on Call of Duty titles. From Call of Duty 2 up to Modern Warfare 2 will cost you €9.99 each, though some prices have yet to update as I write this so please do check before purchasing.

Modern Warfare 3 will be reduced to €29.99 for the day and Black Ops will cost €24.99. Black Ops 2 is also listed in the sale but I couldn’t find it at the cutdown price when I checked.

As usual, a reminder that these are daily deals so are only for today. The list of week-long deals can be found above.

UPDATE DAY 5:

Day 5 brings a bit of variety to the Ultimate Game Sale on Xbox Live. You can get Batman: Arkham City for €14.99, Borderlands for €9.99, Borderlands 2 for €19.99, Dead Island for €9.99, Fallout: New Vegas for €9.99, Portal 2 for €14.99, Red Dead Redemption for €14.99 and Dishonored for €19.99. Fable III should also be on sale but wasn’t when I checked the Irish store. That’s a whole lot of games and they’re all extremely good ones!

UPDATE DAY 6:

Sunday is indeed a day of rest and so Xbox Live hasn’t officially released a list of “daily deals”. However, of the remaining games on the original list, the following highlights appear to be reduced*: Fallout 3 for €14.99, Batman: Arkham Asylum for €9.99, Street Fighter IV is €19.99 and Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker HD is €14.99.

(*They seem to be lower priced than you would expect of GoD triple-A titles. We little you know if we get a more official list.)

Major Nelson tweeted this at about 9pm (Irish time) this evening:

“Re: Deals for Today…the team ran into a little snag, and they’re working on getting the right content on sale for the right regions.”

The other games remaining in the sale that haven’t been reduced yet are The Orange Box, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Left 4 Dead 2, Max Payne 3, Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Latest: Major Nelson tweeted the list of titles on sale for Day 6 

UPDATE DAY 7:

It’s the final day of the Xbox Ultimate Game Sale and it’s going down fighting. You’ll find the following daily sale savings:

• Mortal Kombat is €19.99
• Mortal Kombat vs DC is €4.99
• Street Fighter IV is €9.99
• Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition is €9.99
• Street Fight X Tekken is €19.99
• Tekken 6 is €9.99
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is €9.99
• The King Of Fighters XII is €4.99

Day 6 of the sale started late so the games that were due to be on sale yesterday have been extended for 24 hours. So the following are also on sale today:

• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is €9.99
• Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker HD is €4.99
• Fallout 3 is €4.99
• Max Payne 3 is €4.99
• Left 4 Dead 2 is €9.99
• The Orange Box is €9.99
• Sid Meier’s Civilisation Revolution is €9.99

It’s also the last day for the weekly sale, which you’ll find details on above in the UPDATE DAY 1 section.

Remember to check prices before confirming your purchase.

Source: @MajorNelson

On Thursday it was revealed that the next Assassin’s Creed title was in the making. Further details have since emerged about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag including it’s release date and that it would be on next generation consoles. The information was stumbled upon by DarkZero via some very clever modding of the URL for the game. He simply replaced a letter in the web address with a V.

As you can see by the above pic, the game is coming on October 29th and there’s confirmation that it’s coming out for “next gen consoles”. Whether that’s this year or 2014 hasn’t been confirmed.

The bottom of the page shows logos for Xbox 360 and PS3 so we can assume that it will be a multi-generational release (get used to that phrase, I’m bringing it back!). Of course those two platforms, as a well as PC and Wii U, had already been confirmed on Wednesday by Ubisoft.

Meanwhile, today, a trailer leaked for the game and we’d love to show you it but… eh… it was removed from the public domain very quick and made private on YouTube (including mirror copies). Boo-urns!

So should you want to view the trailer featuring Black Flag’s new hero, you have two choices: either look for a dubious copy on the inter-webs or wait until Monday when Ubisoft will likely release the trailer officially when it divulges more details on the game. We don’t condone the former but as the saying goes: “Nothing is true. Everything is permitted”.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has been announced as the next title in the Assassin’s Creed series. Judging from the artwork, I think it’s a safe bet to assume that pirates will somehow feature. So we’re dubbing this installment of the franchise “Assassin’s Creed Fouarrrrgh”.

The game has been slated for release on Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The PS3 version will get “exclusive content”, as is the norm these days. More details will be announced on Monday.

Sources: Joystiq, MCV UK

Bad news for fans of Nexuiz on Xbox Live, the online-only multiplayer game had it servers shutdown a few days ago. The move came in the wake of  THQ’s recent demise. THQ published and had control over the Xbox 360 servers but the game’s developer, IllFonic, will continue to run the servers on the PC version of the game. The company announced the shutdown on the game’s Facebook page:

“As some of you know, the Xbox Servers are now offline.  It was fun while it lasted on there and we are glad you guys enjoyed the game! Unfortunately, the Xbox Servers were controlled by THQ and in the current state, cannot be maintained anymore.  Since the PC servers are different and can be controlled 100% by IllFonic, they will remain online and functional.  Thanks!”

The game had only been running on the Xbox Live service for a year. The IP is on the list of THQ assets to be sold off at auction in April.

Source: Facebook

Yesterday we posted an interview with Jim Brown about the new Gears of War:Judgement and how the game has progressed from the last games, and now we post part two of the interview where Jim tells us what to expect in the latest addition to the GOW series and also in multiplayer.

Q. What can you reveal about the story of the campaign?

A. Gears of War: Judgment takes you back before the events of the original Gears of War trilogy to

the immediate aftermath of Emergence Day. Judgment is set 30 days after the events of E-Day.

E-Day is the time when the Locusts emerged from underground and started ravaging the planet

Sera. The game follows Kilo Squad led by Damon Baird and Augustus “The Cole Train” Cole. At

the opening of the game, Baird is facing a military tribunal, and players get to experience the

individual squad members’ story in a series of “flashbacks”. As each character gives testimony

to the tribunal, players will get to live that story in real time. And let’s face it – the story

wouldn’t be much fun if there weren’t at least a few surprises in there!

Q. Why was Emergence Day chosen as the setting for Judgment?

A. Again this came from the fans. It was natural for us to go back so far in the timeline prior to the

original Gears of War. We already had explored the timelines of the first three Gears titles, so

we just wanted to go someplace different. Earlier made a lot more sense than later, but one of

the most noticeable things that it allowed us to do was show the planet in a much different

state. It allowed us to convey different emotions. The first three titles were all visually based

around a theme of Destroyed Beauty. You saw everything just ravaged and war torn, now that

the conflict is so fresh it feels much more alive. There is a feeling of life, people living and

moving around the city when all of a sudden that sense of security was ripped away because of

the Locust invasion. You will see this throughout the game, places where suitcases are strewn

around as people didn’t have time to grab them in the midst of a rapid evacuation. Buildings are

still burning and crumbling down, the battle rages throughout the city. It is a really interesting

visual and emotional change for the series.

Q. How does this campaign differ to previous Gears campaigns?

A. It really has been streamlined and plays a lot more intense. We really wanted to get back to our

roots and focus on core gameplay rather than elaborate storytelling. We still tell a story, but we

rely a bit more on the player and the events of the game to convey that story rather than

creating two hours’ worth of movies that play throughout the game. We didn’t want to turn

focus on a million different things, instead we wanted to make a really intense experience, one

that will challenge gamers, make them think a bit about the best way to progress through the

game. We built some new gameplay systems to support that. We have introduced a little bit of

Horde Mode into the Campaign too with sections that are built to be defensive scenarios. All of

that was crafted to give gamers an intense, challenging game and something to make your

palms sweat a bit as you play.

Q. Why was Baird chosen as the lead character for Judgment?

A. We ended up focusing on Baird as the main character pretty easily. For us, he is a really

interesting character who never got his moment in the sun. We obviously explored Marcus and

Dom, Cole even got a moment in Gears of War 3 with his own mission. But players did not know

a lot about Baird. We then also received some survey data that showed Baird is actually the

most popular character in the series. After every game release, Microsoft puts out a customer

satisfaction survey and they did one for Gears 3. One of the questions was “Who is your

favourite character?” You had a choice between everyone who was in Delta Squad, as well as

some other supporting characters and Baird was number 1. Marcus was like four or five. So

when we settled on going to a prequel, we knew Baird had this interesting backstory. After that,

we were set on using Baird as the main driver for the story, telling his story on how he was once

an officer and what happened in his life to set him back to being a Private in the army.

Fans will notice a slightly different Baird. He is still the wisecracker that everyone loves, but as

an officer, he is just a little bit more serious sometimes too. The writers did a great job of

making some subtle changes so we could be sure that he was interesting enough to carry the

story on his shoulders, yet not to change him too much so that he would not be recognizable to

our fans.

Q. Can you reveal any information about the support characters, Garron Paduk and Sofia

Hendrick?

A. Let’s start with Sofia Hendrick, out of the four members in Kilo Squad she’s the only one who is a

real COG soldier and firmly believes in the cause. Sofia’s been to the Onyx Guard Academy and

was trained as a media, in contrast, squad leader Baird’s a rich kid and Cole is a celebrity

thrashball player.

Kilo Squad’s fourth member, Paduk was fighting for the other side Union of Independent

Republics up until a month ago when the Locust attacked. He has a totally gloomy Soviet

perspective on everything and gives us some insight into what the UIR was like.

 Q. What can you tell us about the new enemy, Karn?

A. Karn is the unstoppable locust general who’s leading the invasion of Halvo bay. Although Paduk

has experience with Karn from his years as a UIR solider, this locust general is new to the COG

military leaders who underestimate his lethality. Karn rides his mount, Shibboleth, and has a

number of weapons available in his arsenal in addition to being able to both burrow and climb.

 Q. Can you reveal any details of other new enemies in Judgment?

A. The Rager is a new locust enemy who at first sight, appears to be a locust foot soldier, but

damage him and get him mad, and he’ll drop his weapon and transform into melee rage mode.

Take him out with a headshot before he rages, or be prepared for some close quarters combat.

Q. Why did you introduce Declassified Testimony? What will this add to the Gears experience?

A. Those came about as a way for us to add replayability. We wanted people to be able to go “Oh, I played through this one this way, how can I play through it a little bit differently?” We actually tried several different things and settled on this as being the most fun. You can try it with different weapons, environmental conditions and time limits – just different variances that make it a little bit more challenging for you.

The important thing is, it’s your choice. You don’t

have to do it if you don’t think it sounds like fun. However, if you want that extra challenge then

go for it and we’ll even give you some benefits for doing so, you’ll earn stars faster which in-turn

unlocks stuff. We also tied it into the fiction with the marshal’s testimony. People never tell the full story

when they’re in court and testifying, so thought wouldn’t it actually be cool if you could play

through the things they didn’t say?

 Q. Can you provide further detail on any new weapons?

A. One of the new characters we talked about earlier, Paduk is a UIR soldier so that gave us the

opportunity to create some UIR-based weaponry. The two that you will see the most are the

Markza and the Booshka. The Markza is a long range precision weapon, comes with a scope and

features a single-shot, semi-automatic rate of fire. It’s very useful for targets that are a little

farther away. The Booshka is a grenade launcher, it fires a projectile that is almost like a pipe

bomb that will bounce around the environment until its timed fuse runs out and it explodes.

Q. Can you tell me a little more about the Smart Spawn System?

A. Our AI has been improved even further for Gears of War Judgment, and specifically tuned to

support all our new game modes. The AI knows how to use all the new weapons, and the tactics

necessary to defeat the new Locust enemies. Our new Smart Spawn System (S3) responds to

the way you play, and readjusts the number, types, and tactics of enemies you encounter to

ensure that every replay is a unique experience.

 MULTIPLAYER

Q. What aspects of Judgment multiplayer make it the most exciting version over any previous

Gears title?

A. When you look at the trilogy and take what was there, it was a little too clunky. We simplified

that down and a lot through a new control scheme, which made things more streamlined.

Changing the control scheme was probably the biggest, boldest move we’ve made while

developing this game.

At its core, Gears has always been a game about co-operative gameplay. You rely on your squad

mates in the campaign, and your teammates in multiplayer. And with Judgment’s new Overrun

game mode, co-operation is even more important as the entire gametype is built around class

based systems. Everyone (on both the COG and Locust teams) will need to work together and

find the right combinations of weapons and abilities to tackle the unique situations that evolve

through the course of the game and from session to session. Our goals were to simplify things

and make them fast paced.

Q. What key changes were made to multiplayer following feedback from fans and why?

A. The multiplayer in Judgment has been given a real overhaul: it’s faster, sleeker, and more

approachable than ever before. We pulled back the curtain and went to the fans to see what

improvements they wanted and really took feedback to heart. We’ve streamlined the controls,

and opened up freedom of movement across all modes so players have more exciting and

interesting options in every encounter. We’ve added some fan requested game types, like our

new Free-for-all mode, and an all new class-based mode called Overrun which takes the best of

both Beast and Horde and pits the COG army (soldiers, medics, scouts, and engineers) against

the full brunt of the Locust Horde in objective-based gameplay. The response so far has been

overwhelmingly positive and we can’t wait to play online with our fans!

Q. What new multiplayer modes are there?

A. OverRun is brand new to Gears. It started off with us saying “how do we make a Horde vs. Beast

mode?” That was something the fans wanted in Gears of War 3 and something that we would

have loved to have done, we just didn’t have the resources at the time. Judgment gave us the

opportunity to explore it. In OverRun, you have two teams that compete against each

other. You start out with one team playing as the human COG, and one playing as the

Locust.

The COG’s goal is to defend a series of objectives, each time they lose an objective, they

fall back to defend the next one. The Locust role is to attack those objectives and destroy them

as quickly as possible. Once the Locust have destroyed all three objectives, they switch sides and

do it all over again. The team that destroys the objectives the fastest wins the match.

We’ve added in some additional layers of depth; the COG side is all class-based. You have an

Engineer who repairs and deploys sentries, a Soldier who can feed ammo to teammates, a

Medic who can heal, and a Scout who can deploy a beacon that spots the enemies for their

team. Each one of these classes has a unique setup and ability to use against the Locust. When

you are on the Locust side, there are eight different Locust to choose from, each one with their

own unique abilities. All the way from the Ticker, who is the size of a medium dog, up to a

massive Corpser. It takes a lot of teamwork to figure out the right combinations of COG and

Locust to take into battle. It sounds really simple, but ends up with a ton of depth and it’s

definitely a ton of fun to play.

Q. Can you tell us a little more about Free-For-All?

A. Classically, Gears has always been a team-based game and we always liked that aspect of it. You

can get tied to doing certain things when you’re dealing with a trilogy, like certain ideals and you

want to stay true to that. When Gears 3 was over, we wanted to do something new with Gears

Judgment, we were like let’s really dig down deep and look at what can we do to make it cooler

– what can we do to provide something that the fans would want.

Free-for-All is something that fans have always asked for and with Judgment being a totally

different game, we thought it made sense to introduce it and created some maps that would

work for free-for-all. People no longer have to worry about finding teams to go up against and

they just go in all by themselves and hold their own. Free-for-All wasn’t something we were

used to and the old control scheme was just slow and clunky, so changing it helped to give this

mode the right feeling too.

Q. How many maps will there be for multiplayer? How do they differ in size and style?

We have eight multiplayer maps in Judgment at launch: four maps that are shared between

Team Deathmatch, Free for All, and Domination. An additional four maps are unique to OverRun

and Survival, our class-based multiplayer modes. The maps have a wide variety of sizes and

styles, but all share a fast pace, increased density, focus on verticality and the ability to climb

and drop down, and many have interactive elements for you to discover.

Q. How do you go about creating a multiplayer map?

A. Epic uses a very iterative design process: we start with a basic gameplay idea and build it in

rough form to test (or fail!) as quickly as possible. These rough designs or “gameplay shells” are

never pretty or meant to be final in any way, they are meant to be flexible and easily

updated. We test them thoroughly, running through test after test, and gather feedback and

opinions on the gameplay after every trial. Once we’ve repeated the process enough times so

that we feel the gameplay design is as fun as it can possibly be, we begin the process of adding

the layers of visual detail and polish. When the visuals are as strong as the gameplay, we make more gameplay passes to ensure that everything is still fun and engaging. A final pass is made to ensure that the map meets all memory, performance, and gameplay requirements, and then it goes off for yet another round of testing. At this point, if people are generally having more fun than “working” while testing, then we’re confident the map is nearing completion.

Q. What are some of the best weapons for multiplayer?

A. Gears of War: Judgment introduces some great new weapons as part of the player’s standard

load-out. They can choose to play a more aggressive short-ranged game with the all new Sawn-

off Shotgun, or focus their skills with the longer ranged and more accurate Markza scoped

rifle. More powerful weapons, like the Booshka grenade launcher have to be earned on the

battlefield, and their locations are sure to be hotly contested points in combat. The tried and

tested Lancer assault rifle still comes equipped with a chainsaw bayonet, of course, and it just

doesn’t get much better than that.

Q. How have you made each environment different? How interactive are they? I hear you can

climb buildings?

A. Each individual multiplayer map represents a different environment, ranging through different

times of day, multiple weather conditions, and unique locales. Some, like the Library, take place

indoors, while the Estate map sends you running through a muddy riverbed while the tide is

out. Each map also features its own special form of interactivity: ride a Raven helicopter in Rig,

crush enemies in a giant trash compactor in Junkyard, and kick out windows to create all new

paths (or jump off of buildings) in Streets. Every map has a special surprise to keep things fresh

and encourage some player-driven emergent gameplay.