Gears of War 3

[zerosum]

In the words of the Great Peter Griffin:

A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we wanted one of those!

Pre-Order will have to wait ...

[Failed]

I hope it's a Mystery Box

[ASYLUM NINJA]

Would guess its a replica Lancer

[GamerMan316]

Bleszinksi: Gears 3 lives and dies by its multiplayer
Epic "can't afford" to repeat Gears 2 launch fiasco

Speaking to IGN, Epic's design director Cliff Bleszinksi has said that the Gears of War series faces extinction if the third instalment's multiplayer mode isn't up to snuff.

As fans may recall, Gears of War 2 didn't get off to the brightest of starts with its multiplayer, and Epic is eager to avoid a second black eye.

Asked why the third game was being treated to a beta, Bleszinksi was frank: "Because if we release Gears 3 and it has the same launch as Gears 2 online then the franchise is dead.

"So you can't afford to make that mistake twice, right? And to be fair over the course of the six title updates, we got Gears 2 in a very good position. And we need to take it to great. And that's what this will help do."

If OXM Jonty's thoughts are worth anything, Gears of War 3 is well on its way to "great" already.

The beta, which is open to preordering players only, begins on 25th April. Bulletstorm buyers will get a chance to sample the goods the week before.

[GamerMan316]

Couple of videos from PAX   

[Handshakes]

I like how the guns now have recoil and spread. Thumbs up for that.

Also, that double barrel looks useless.

[GamerMan316]

I like how the guns now have recoil and spread. Thumbs up for that.

Also, that double barrel looks useless.

The double barrel will be pretty good in Annex and King of the Hill as it's lethal up close or is if you believe all the talk about it! Would be handy for clearing capture points, i'll be sticking with my trusty Gnasher.   

[GamerMan316]

Gears of War 3 beta unlocks fuel "egos"

Epic has described the exclusive items unlocked by playing the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta as "carrots" designed to entice gamers to play it long enough for the development team to gain proper feedback.

Players will receive unlockables including a Beta Tester Medal, Thrasball Cole playable character and a Gold-Plater Retro Lancer by playing many matches in the beta.

The medal is awarded for completing one match in the beta. You get Thrasball Cole character variant for playing 50 matches, but to unlock him for use in the main game you need to play 10 matches as him during the beta. And the exclusive Gold-Plated Retro Lancer skin, which Epic says allows gamers to show their "ultimate Gears of War fandom", is unlocked after completion of 90 matches in the beta. To unlock it in the full game, you need to score 100 kills with it.

These items appeal to a player's ego, executive producer of the Gears of War franchise Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer.

"There are different ways you can deal with sustainability and getting people to play through longer," Fergusson said. "But you have to look at what knobs we have to turn and what tools we have.

"We found with the Golden Lancer and the Golden Hammerburst from Gears 2, these were prestige items people wanted to show off, like, oh I got the LC, or I was at the midnight launch.

"So trying to tie into that ego pride aspect of that prestige and saying, look, don't you want to show off you were part of the beta, that you got an early and exclusive look? Hey, he's Cole Train, WOW, he played 50 matches in the beta, that's awesome. That kind of stuff we're hoping will drive people to play more."

Epic Games hopes the beta unlocks will make players stick around long enough for the team to get meaningful feedback.

"Really what we need to make the most of the beta is data," Fergusson said. "We need to know how hard it is to Active Reload or whether the maps are balanced. The only way we're going to get that is just having people play.

"To play two matches and quit doesn't help us make a better game. It's an incentive."

The beta concludes on 15th May – just four months before Gears of War 3 launches. But Epic said that's plenty of time for the team to make significant gameplay changes based on data received.

"We'll be able to change almost anything," explained Fergusson, "from map layouts to weapon powers, based on what we've seen. It's both a technological beta, and we want to test the servers and the data centres around the world, but also we just want to know, does this gun feel good? Does this map feel good?"

The multiplayer beta contains four maps: Thrashball, Checkout, Old Town and Trenches. To get in, you'll need to pre-order Limited or Epic editions at GAME or Gamestation.

Or you could have bought Epic's Bulletstorm.

Owners of Bulletstorm: Epic Edition get a one-week beta preview period featuring the new Team Deathmatch mode on the four maps beginning 18th April. The full public beta runs from 25th April to 15th May.

[GamerMan316]

[GamerMan316]

[Failed]

Got my Beta code today, wil lhopefully get a few more before 20th April.

[GamerMan316]

My beta code is still in my bag from the other week, might give it away as i'm nowhere near finished on Bulletstorm so i'll use that for my Gears 3 fix!

[HurricanE 184]

Gears of War 3 beta
Check out the link for lots of videos.

http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=768081

My opinion from watching is that your probably better off still using the gnasher shotgun(for the amount of ammo and rate of fire) and the retro lancer with the knife in front(because of the bayonet charge execution + you can also melee with it). Its not very accurate so if you like to shoot from long distances may not be your weapon of choice.

[GamerMan316]

[GamerMan316]

I think this is the vid Dave mentioned the other night!