In a move that makes total sense, Microsoft is bringing Gears of War to the PC during the holiday season of 2007.  This is going to be a great move for PC gamers.  Gears is a high profile game and it was only released for the XBOX 360 in late 2006. This game is still fresh.

It is going to wear the “Games for Windows” badge and come with a host of exclusive features not available on the XBOX 360 version of this game.  The game will support five new campaign chapters.  Campaign was the “killer” feature for Gears of War.  Adding five new chapters is going to sell a lot of copies.  Gamers were not only into the story that Gears presented, they were into the characters that we played and assisted us throughout the campaign.  That’s when you know you’ve built a good campaign – when fans bond with the characters. 

Another feature that PC gamers will be excited about is the game editor that will allow users to can create and publish new multiplayer content.  They will be using the Unreal Editor – one of the most popular editors available.  Players can now import custom artwork into the engine, create particle systems, scripted encounters, cinematics, and more.  While I’ve never been a fan of games that did this, it’s still a great option to include that will add to replayability. 

Gears PC will also ship with new multiplayer maps, one new multiplayer game mode and new achievements.

The game supports the Games for Windows – Live online service.  Many people have read my takes on the shortcomings for Games for Windows – Live.  In short, it needs a lot of help and could be more crippled than the XBOX Live beta from 2002.  A high profile game like Gears of War will surely bring some changes to the GfWL service.  While HALO 2 was a high profile game (understatement?), it was released in 2004 and launched the GfWL service.  HALO 2 (PC) game got mediocre reviews and had a quite launch with crippling online connection errors.  Gears should change that.  Gears PC will be in your face and heavily marketed.  Here’s hoping that MORE users on the GfWL will give Micrsoft the data and feedback it needs to make the service better.  If for nothing else, a hugely popular title like Gears PC will at least assure us that support forums and message boards will fill up with requests and threads for support.  More feedback, even about technical issues, will eventually lead to a better service.

Gears of War PC will also run on DirectX 10.  This is going to help usher in the DX10 era.  Unfortunately, DX10 hardware hasn’t penetrated the market yet.  Still, more and more gamers are updating their rigs to the latest cards from ATi and nVidia.  DirectX10 will ensure that this game looks better than the XBOX 360 version while playing at higher resolutions.  However, it will come at a price.  Since DirectX10 is new, most PC gamers will have to buy new hardware.

This game will most likely NOT support cross-platform play allowing PC gamers and XBOX 360 gamers to play together in the same game. While it works well with Shadowrun, there’s no sign of that happening in Gears.

There’s also no mention of dedicated servers being released for Gears. Being able to play Gears on a super highspeed network connection would have ensured lagless games and possibly more than 8 players in a game.

Gears PC will be the biggest Games for Windows title to date.  It’s going to drive the community and technology which will lead to even better games later in 2008.

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currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
Shadowrun rocks!

Dean Takahashi has an blog entry up about Microsoft’s E3 after party which is well worth reading for its notes about the Xbox 360’s technical problems, but it also reveals a few choice tidbits about Ensemble’s RTS, Halo Wars:

This game won’t ship this year. But it looks great. It takes place in the year 2531. You see all of the characters in the Halo universe, from the Elites to the marines. You can use the analog and four buttons to control the squads and vehicles, up t o about 20 at a time. The analog stick is used to navigate a circle with menu options, kind of like the iPod scroll circle interface. The characters are small but you can make out their individual movements. The Elites yell and behave like they do in Halo. It’s like a set of miniatures.

Takahashi is still skeptical about RTS games on a console but it does sound like the game is coming together. That the game is not due out this year may explain why it didn’t get headliner treatment during the press event, since Microsoft at this year’s E3 Lite vowed to focus on games to be released in 2007, with very few exceptions.

Ok, this time it is for real, because it’s from the horse’s mouth, which is certainly the most trustworthy orifice on a horse. Bungie.net says that Marathon: Durandal is being brought to XBLA by none other than Mac game developer Freeverse. They have a page on Marathon: Durandal at their site.

It will include single player, eight player cooperative play, and multiplayer.

Eight player coop? Zang!

Gamasutra has prodded Wideload Games’ Alex “The Man” Seropian into admitting that the company he founded has a second team working on an Xbox Live Arcade title. The author suggests this may be the object of the cryptic reference, “Coming Soon: Project: Hot Sauce and the Rainbow Space Car” that appears on the company’s recently-revamped website. The alt text for that graphic, however, says “coming soon to a website near you” so perhaps that is referring to a web-based game? Or perhaps there is a single project that has both web-based and XBLA versions.

So last week we had JACK STUFF to talk about. This week… wow. Just wow. We could fill like 5 shows worth of stuff just from this week’s info. In fact if it turns out too long, we may just split it up in to multiple shows so you can take potty breaks between all the Halo 3 excitement. But we need your help at the last minute! We’re recording tonight at 7pm Eastern and we need your input about:

• The new Halo 3 campaign trailer and the secret stuff found in there
• The Video analysis of the trailer from joystiq.com

• The new Halo short live action film – Halo: Arms Race
• Future films in that series coming regularly between now and Halo 3

• The 30 second Halo Wars footage
• The new Halo wars details

• The new campaign stills from Bungie.net

• The Halo 3 themed Xbox360 coming out this year
• Marathon: Durandal coming to Xbox Live Arcade

That’s a lot, and you only have a few hours to write us about what you think! If you find anything we missed, please write us about that too. Except for the first level run-through that TeamXbox did. We don’t want to know about it. LALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING! That’s like going to gamefaqs and reading without even playing. So send in your opinions, insights, newfound epiphanies and eurekas, and general excitement by clicking Submit News & Tips on the right side of the page. Be sure to send us your gamertag so we can give you credit. If it’s good, we’ll read it on the podcast! Hurry, deadline is 7pm eastern tonight!

One reason why Uno had a lot of replay value was because it had XBOX Live Vision support.  Getting into a game of Uno on XBOX Live Arcade was first like being in a video chat room and second like playing a simple card game.Texas Hold ‘Em FINALLY has added Vision Camera support to the popular game.  By the nature of the game, Texas Hold ‘Em is a social experience.  The game is mostly played off of the table.  Adding Vision support is feature that has been missed for many many months.  To note, bankrolls will not be reset with this update as they have in the past.  Other features included in the update are:

• Improved usability such as the addition of Custom Match Lists,
  which allows gamers to view and select which available Custom Match
  game they would like to join.
• Improved rich presence in the game, allowing players to not only
  see what their friends are up to, but also if they just won that big
  pot!
• Improved matchmaking and user results.
• Scoring and screens are more readable than before.
• Multi-language support including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
• New premium downloadable content allows players to customize the in-game environment, and access new gamerpics and themes.

Is it too little too late?I can say that I do want to play Texas Hold ‘Em with Vision Camera support with my friends.  However, Microsoft just announced the biggest gaming roll out in history.  I’m going to be spending my time playing the new shooters that are coming out or already out (Shadowrun, GoW PC, HALO 3).I won’t be playing Texas Hold ‘Em unless a handful of my friends are playing the game.  I’m afraid they will be busy playing the junk out of the new hit titles launching soon.And if only I could wager my Microsoft points…
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currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
Shadowrun rocks!