There is a very silent grudge between Halo fans and Gears of War fans. The reason for this is simple. They both deliver a very solid, very unique gaming experience online. Both have amazing online abilities that you really can’t hate on. Yes, Gears of War’s multiplayer side is rather tiny compared to the monster of Halo 3. But, as Eat-sleep-game reader Youngteam pointed out to me, both games have some similar advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the Co-op side of things. So, which is better at Co-op? Gears of War or Halo 3? I will take you through some very interesting points of the argument, and deliver an answer that will be sure to cause people to rant and rave in the very streets! (more…)

Gears of War, the blockbuster 360 game that is now heading to PC, will require you to have a Live account in order to play online coop and multiplayer. However, before you go getting your pitchforks out, just know that it doesn’t require a Gold Live account. Players with a Silver account (the free one), can also play the game online.
Also, though currently Games for Windows Live only exists in a format that works with Windows Vista, it will also be releasing for Windows XP. According to CVG, the release for the XP GFW Live service will occur before the launch of Gears.
People will bitch about this and to them I say, you is stupid. No one complained vehemently about having to have a battlenet account to play StarCraft or Diablo online. Having those accounts at least gave the service provider access to stats on how many people were playing, allowing them to determine if future online content would be viable. The point is, while I am sure there are parts of the PC gamer’s anatomy that make him want to buck like a crazy bull at the thought of being forced into a service, this could be a good thing. Besides the possibility for future content, you don’t have to pay for the service.

Chufmoney

[via CVG]

Epic Games Vice-President Mark Rein likes to talk to people, and when he does, things often slip out. This was exactly the case during his recent appearance on Spike TV’s Game Head with Geoff Keighley. In speaking about the somewhat surprising announcement that Gears of War would be coming to Windows much faster than anyone expected (and to XP as well), Rein also slipped in an even bigger surprise: Gears is coming to Macs as well, and so is Unreal Tournament 3:

In the interview, after Keighley asked Rein if he had any misgivings about Epic’s decision to bring that game to Sony’s PlayStation 3, a competing platform, Rein emphasized Epic’s position as an independent developer of game technology. The company first showed Unreal Engine 3 running a PlayStation 3 development console in 2005, long before the console was available to the public.

Rein then added, “Don’t forget, we’re also doing Macintosh.”

“Gears of War is coming to the Mac?” asked Keighley.

“Yes, Gears is going to come to the Mac and so is UT,” said Rein, referring to Unreal Tournament 3.

This is interesting on a few levels. First, one of the sort of journalism memes going around since Gears was hinted at for PC is that though the game might not be solely on the 360, it was still “exclusive to Microsoft platforms”, which is pretty obviously not the case. Second, I think the migration of Gears to Mac could well speak to Epic’s battles with Microsoft about the right to give away content, as well as Live for Windows and its growing pains. Third, Microsoft’s hold on Gears as publisher and partial rights holder is not as tight as a lot of people thought. It does sort of add a bit of credence to the theories floating around about Gears of War side stories popping up on other consoles. Well Microsoft? What’s your move? I hope it involves the words “free content” and “open platform”.

-Aegies

I’ll let you marinade on this one for a bit. First, yes, it’s PC. Second, I have a PC that can run it, and I’m still going to be disappointed if it doesn’t appear on the 360. Third, shit, meet fan.

-Aegies