Today at the Game Developers Conference a surprise announcement was made. We knew the game was coming, but Epic Games and Microsoft revealed that Gears of War 2 is set to be released this NOVEMBER! All I know right now that it is a true sequel, and not a prequel like some rumors have said before. More to come as we get it.

Until then, here is the bit of the Press Release that was just sent out by Microsoft:

Providing a dramatic close to Microsoft’s GDC keynote address, Epic Games Inc.’s lead designer Cliff Bleszinski announced that the epic saga of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad continues exclusively on the Xbox 360 this fall with “Gears of War 2.” This highly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million-selling blockbuster “Gears of War” delves deeper into humanity’s struggle for survival against the nightmarish Locust Horde, and promises to take high-definition visuals to a whole new level.

“To our team the original game was just a tease, the appetizer to the ‘Gears of War’ characters and new style of gameplay. We were so amped to get to the next chapter, and dig deeper into the universe of this franchise,” said Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer for Epic Games. “‘Gears of War 2’ is an even bigger, better, and more badass experience than the first game, and we can’t wait to get it in the hands of eager gamers this November.”

Update A kick-butt teaser trailer is now available for viewing. The website also has a few wallpapers as well to tide you over. I can’t wait for November.

Here’s a portion of the press release from Microsoft that details all the changes in the Windows port of the game.

In addition to retaining all of the content from its Xbox 360 counterpart and all previously released downloadable content (seven multiplayer maps and the Annex game mode), “Gears of War” for Windows will feature exciting original content, all-new Achievements to unlock and ultra-high resolution visuals, including support for DirectX 10. Five new campaign chapters expand upon the riveting story (including an epic battle with the fearsome Brumak), and the action-packed multiplayer offering is bolstered with three exclusive multiplayer maps, a “King of the Hill” game type and Games for Windows – LIVE support to deliver online matchmaking for LIVE members. A new game editor will allow users to develop an unlimited number of user-created levels with complete access to the Unreal® Engine 3 Editor.

Read on for Microsoft’s Official Press Release.
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Today we are going to focus on highest-playable settings. We will be testing not only the GeForce 8800 GT, but also the 320/640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS, GeForce 8800 GTX, and Radeon HD 2900 XT in Gears of War. We have set out to find the highest-playable settings in DirectX 10 and then in DirectX 9, compare performance between both and figure out what is the best mode to play this game in. We will provide image quality screenshots afterward to look at how DX9 and DX10 compares and if there are any differences between ATI and NVIDIA hardware.

For many people this will be new to them, so Epic put together this great overview of how the tools work. Below you can find an easy streaming Flash video, along with a downloadable Quicktime 720p HD format.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Downloadable Video Formats


(Right Click To Save File To Your Computer)

For those of you looking for someplace to get you started on Unreal Engine development. I would recommend the BeyondUnreal Wiki. There user Solid Snake has also begun to mess around with Unreal Engine 3 work using the Development Kit that came with Roboblitz.

I’m not sure yet if this includes the Mac version or not, but I’ll try to get that information.

Here is a quick recap of what was revealed at the keynote, more information to follow soon as we get it this week.

• Five new single player levels
• Game editor. (Mods here we come!)
• Co-Op is included for Windows.
• Brumak!!

At the end of the presentation Cliff Bleszinski confirmed that both Windows XP and Windows Vista will run Gears of War, while the Vista version will feature Games for Windows Live support.

The interesting thing is that when the video was live on the site, it was labeled with the title of “Gears of War PC Montage.” Does this mean there is actually a PC version of Gears of War that looks as polished as this? It’s looks like it. While the HUD still displays the Xbox button images, which could mean they were playing with the Xbox 360 Controllers or the game is still an early build. But the achievement unlocked looks more like Live for Windows.

So I’m pretty sure this is accurate leak just ahead of E3. Look for us to provide more Gears of War PC news first hand from us during E3.

Here is the video courtesy YouTube:

Here is the track listing:

1. Gears of War
2. 14 Years After E-Day
3. Jacinto Prison
4. Attack of the Drones
5. Embry Square
6. Fish In a Barrel
7. House of Sovereigns
8. Minh’s Death
9. Entering The Tombs
10. Tomb of the Unknowns
11. Ephyra Streets I
12. Ephyra Streets II
13. Miserable Wretches
14. Stay in the Light
15. Chap’s Gas Station
16. Fill ‘er Up at Chap’s
17. I Will Kryll You
18. Locust, Wretches & Kryll
19. Imulsion Mines
20. East Barracade Academy
21. The Fenix Estate
22. Locust Infestation
23. Hidden Lab
24. Running With Boomers
25. Oh the Horror
26. Train Wreck - Locust Theme
27. Train Ride To Hell
28. Gears of War Reprise

During two scenes you got to see our favorite game, Gears of War. Early in the film you see a soon-to-be deceased hacker’s roommate playing the game for about a minute. The game gets a lot of screen time and includes a few good bloody battle shots. Actually more bloody than most the movie is (due to PG-13 rating).

And then later in the film you see that Warlock has the game’s main menu on one of his basement “command center’s” many TVs. Warlock is a cyber-expert who lives in his mom’s basement. He is played perfectly by writer/director/comedic god Kevin Smith.

I say everyone should go out and see the movie, it exceeded my expectations. While different than the other Die Hards, it still fits in among them as one of the better ones.