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tag:,2018:blogdestructoidhttp://bulk2.destructoid.com/ele2/images/destructoid/favicon.ico2018-06-10T16:38:00Ztag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=507181Dan Roemerhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Dan+RoemerGears Pop! is a thing from Funko and Microsoft2018-06-10T16:38:00Z2018-06-10T16:38:00Z
Are you a fan of Funko Pops and Gears of War? Well, have I got some news for you. Fair warning, this could even be life-altering news for many, your concept of reality may never be the same...

...Because Microsoft and Funko have a new thing for you to see on all the shelves of your favorite gaming stores in the form of "Gears Pop!" Wait, those already exist. This is an Android and iOS game.

It's not April Fools folks!

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=507182Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+CarterMicrosoft reveals 'Gears Tactics,' a strategy-based Gears of War joint2018-06-10T16:33:00Z2018-06-10T16:33:00Z
Not one, but three Gears of War games were confirmed today during Microsoft's E3 conference -- Gears Pop, Gears of War 5, and Gears Tactics.

Putting that IP to good use, Microsoft explains that the latter is a full-on strategy game thrusting the series into a "genre it's never seen before." They promise big boss battles as well as normal skirmishes; and it'll come to PC eventually.

Okay, I'm tentatively interested if they can make it remotely as fun as the new XCOM incarnation.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=504124Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiNeon Giant is a new studio comprised of ex-Wolfenstein and Bulletstorm devs2018-05-22T13:30:00Z2018-05-22T13:30:00Z
While unknown to most people, developers Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Erik Gloersen and Jonathan Heckley have been making some great games over the last decade. Their combined portfolio includes the likes of Bulletstorm, Far Cry 3, Gears of War, Wolfenstein: The New Order and even DOOM. Taking all of that expertise with them (a combined 70 years worth), the four have left their respective studios and formed a new super-studio called "Neon Giant."

"At Neon Giant," reads their official website, "every team member is a key player, empowered to help us fulfill our bold vision: to create world-class action games that will stand proud and tall with the giants." With funding from the firm Goodbye Kansas Game Invest, the studio is looking to take Swedish game development into the big leagues.

Goodbye Kansas Game Invest's CEO, Per-Arne Luundberg, said, "Neon Giant consists of a real dream team that not only has enormous experience, they also have an incredibly efficient working process...they coincidentally also have something great in the works—I'm convinced that their first release will be a milestone in Swedish game development." I'm eager to see what they could be cooking up, considering every title mentioned has been quality.

Former Wolfenstein, Bulletstorm devs set up new studio Neon Giant [PC Gamer]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=501977Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War head wants the Brumak in Monster Hunter2018-05-07T15:15:00Z2018-05-07T15:15:00Z
Here's a softball story that will almost certainly never develop into anything beyond "Gee, that'd be neat!" Regardless, it's a weird and interesting crossover idea.

Rod Fergusson, the head of studio The Coalition and the lead on Gears of War, would like to see a beloved Gears monstrosity in Monster Hunter:

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=498118Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War 2 is getting Xbox One X enhancements, and all its DLC is free2018-04-10T18:10:00Z2018-04-10T18:10:00Z
There have been rumors in recent days that Gears of War 2 would be getting a remaster a la the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. That's not quite the case, but it's not too far removed. Gears of War 2 will be looking better than it ever has before.

As a part of its Inside Xbox livestream, Xbox has revealed that it's enhancing Gears of War 2 on Xbox One X. Other Xbox 360 games that have gotten this treatment mostly took advantage of a visual overhaul. As Microsoft has said in the past, this allows for: nine times the pixels as the original games had, a 10-bit color depth rather than 8-bit, increased texture details and anti-aliasing. Performance is optimized to some degree too with framerate smoothing.

However, the enhancements likely mean the idea of Gears of War 2: Ultimate Edition is dead -- at least for now. Anyone who wants to play Gears 2 at its best needs to buy an Xbox One X, which is a much more significant investment than plopping down $60 for a remaster. But, anyone who already has an X stands to benefit.

Gears of War 2 (and all the other Gears) has been a part of the Xbox One backward compatibility program for a long time now, so the opportunity to play it is still there. Accompanying the announcement, Microsoft revealed that it's making all of Gears 2's DLC free. That should help bolster the game's multiplayer map count.

The Xbox One X enhancements went live today for Gears of War 2. Its upgrades aren't launching alone, though. Alongside Gears 2, five more titles are getting the same treatment: Red Dead Redemption, Sonic Generations, Portal 2, Darksiders, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=492719Charlotte Cuttshttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Charlotte+CuttsHere are some of the most memorable adverts for games2018-03-04T10:00:00Z2018-03-04T10:00:00Z
We've all seen the Angry Video Game Nerd episode where he compares the SNES with the Sega Genesis and mocks the "blast processing" thrust of the Genesis' marketing campaign. It seems silly now to think that slapping a vague buzzword on technical specs could push people to buy the console, but hey, enough of us played Streets of Rage and Sonic 3 that it must have worked.

Flashy adverts have been a mainstay of the video game industry for a couple of decades, now. Some of them bore into our brains because they are fun, or exciting, or perhaps even make the soft-hearted among us cry. Sniff. So what are some adverts, i.e. TV ads or YouTube trailers, that I dug up during my research? Ones that I remember from back in the day, perhaps, and that struck a chord with me? Get your box of Kleenex at the ready while I show you my faves.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=483422Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+CarterExclusive: Here's a first look at the Gears of War General RAAM origin story comic2018-01-19T13:30:00Z2018-01-19T13:30:00Z
Gears of War is still a powerhouse of a series. The latest iteration, Gears of War 4, was released not too long ago in 2016, and just got a massive 4K overhaul for the Xbox One X. It's also spawned a board game from Fantasy Flight, novels, a potential film, and comic books.

The latter set of merch is particularly interesting, as they've been exploring various facets of the universe that the game hasn't touched, which includes a brand new series focusing on the origin story of General RAAM -- arguably the biggest villain in Gears of War's 12 year history. This new series is set to debut next week with its first issue, penned by Kurtis Wiebe of Rat Queens fame and illustrated by Max Dunbar, who has worked on some incredible Transformers art.

It'll run for several issues, and culminate in June with a trade paperback containing the entire tale. Like most of the work dedicated to the Gears universe it's on-brand so far with plenty of ultra-violence. Although the over-arching COG narrative kind of waxes and wanes for me, I'm always interested to delve more into the story of the Locust Horde. Over the years they've developed a highly detailed backstory, chronicling their religious hierarchy, society, and their transition into the new enemy of the series, the Swarm.

Feel free to peruse the gallery below for a sample of the first few pages and the cover art.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=481555Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiIt seems like the Gears of War studio is making a game that isn't Gears of War2018-01-08T12:15:00Z2018-01-08T12:15:00Z
As 343 Industries is to Halo, The Coalition is to Gears of War. That is to say: These are the developers who are trusted to be the primary gatekeepers to Xbox's most important properties. Those franchises are so ingrained in the studio's reason for existence that each is actually named for something from their respective in-game universe -- 343 Industries for 343 Guilty Spark and The Coalition for The Coalition of Ordered Governments.

That's why it strikes as somewhat noteworthy that The Coalition is apparently involving itself in some sort of new property, which we've learned from an entirely different company. An entry on StoryLab Productions' Projects page lists "New IP with The Coalition Studios" as one of the games it's working on. There are no other details, just that it's something new and that it's with the Gears of War team.

A quick look at StoryLab's completed projects paints the picture that it's also a Gears of War team. Apart from creating a couple of films, StoryLab's games-related work is restricted to acting as support on Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and Gears of War 4.

These are the kind of things that get announced on their own timelines, so we're not expecting to learn much more until an official reveal. But, it is important to remember that The Coalition is a subsidiary of Microsoft, so this is almost certainly going to be considered Xbox first-party and published by Microsoft Studios.

Also, there's no real guessing as to how big or small this new property might be. The Gears of War studio is almost definitely staying mainly focused on Gears of War stuff. The Coalition's involvement could be super tangential with just a few folks dedicating their attention toward it. However, hearing that The Coalition is involved with a new property immediately brings back memories of the developer's time as Black Tusk when it was working on a new game. That was shelved and Black Tusk was renamed something more Gears-y. Maybe, fingers crossed here, this is a revival.

Projects [StoryLab Productions via reddit]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=469710Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiWill gaming have another defining moment?2017-10-29T13:00:00Z2017-10-29T13:00:00Z
Playing through Super Mario Odyssey, a strange thought comes to my mind; is this game as good as Super Mario 64? I don't mean in the sense of quality or direction or anything that a review might cover. What I'm talking about is, will Super Mario Odyssey be remembered the same way as Super Mario 64? For as rough around the edges as Mario's first foray into 3D game worlds might be, that game release might be the single most significant moment in the entire industry.

Few games define how other developers and publishers set out to make their own works. I can list off the games I've seen in my lifetime that have fundamentally changed gaming as a whole, but when was the last time that truly happened? After a long discussion with a bunch of the staff here, I've accepted that Minecraft is a pretty damn big deal, but what else in recent memory has truly defined a generation of games?

A lot of you may point to Dark Souls, but that is basically iterating on Ocarina of Time. Some people may even say Gears of War, but that was a riff on Resident Evil 4 (another game that might be just as influential as Super Mario 64). Hell, even Rockstar Games hasn't really done anything wildly different since Grand Theft Auto III, a game that spawned a bazillion clones and practically created another genre. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds just might be the newest title to really shake up the industry, but even that is following in the footsteps of other "Battle Royale" games (one of which PlayerUnknown actually worked on!).

So my question to the community is this; will there ever be another game that is so wholly unique and sets so many trends that, despite its rough edges, we'll still be talking about it decades later? For what it's worth, I'm optimistic someone will make something, but I don't think it will happen until a console manufacturer radically alters the way we interact with a game (i.e. VR or something along those lines).

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=462043Vadictahttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/VadictaSchooled: Video games taught me how to love (NSFW)2017-09-24T19:00:00Z2017-09-24T19:00:00Z
[Video games have that rare, magical power to bring folks together. Sometimes, it's with people in the same room as you via couch co-op. Sometimes, it's with a bunch of random strangers on the internet. Whatever the case, I love hearing about this kind of stuff. You see it quite often over in the Quickposts here on Destructoid.

Vadicta has a much sexier tale to tell. This blog certainly isn't about bonding with family over a playful game of Mario Kart. It's about learning! Yes, Vadz threw his hat in the ring for this month's Bloggers Wanted, and he's now on the Front Page as a result. There's still one week left to get in on the action before September is over, people! We've had a huge influx of entries over the past couple weeks, and we've already got a few more lined up for promotion! - Kevin]

For the first time in my life, a naked girl lies beneath me. She's stiff as a board, arms straight, fingers locked to the edges of the mattress. "Don't cum. Don't cum. Please, don't cum," she begs. I slap around, writhing the way fish probably fuck. I'm going for it. I'm doing it. I'm fucking so hard right now. I'm losing my virginity, and it's all thanks to video games.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=455476Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4 is getting a shorter Horde mode variant2017-08-17T19:30:00Z2017-08-17T19:30:00Z
Tomorrow, The Coalition is coming out with a shorter, more "intense" version of Horde mode in Gears of War 4. Dubbed Horde Frenzy, the new variant is 25 waves long (half the normal length) with bosses appearing every 5 waves. It's still a time commitment -- the developers are clocking Frenzy runs at 60 to 90 minutes -- but it's much more approachable than the standard version, to be sure.

Horde Frenzy will be playable on Avalanche, Dawn, and Forge Blitz to start, with Normal Ironman and Insane difficulty options available. First-week players will also earn 50 percent bonus XP.

This is a good step, but I feel like they can (and probably should) go even shorter. To that end, The Coalition says it'll be "listening to your thoughts and feedback on this mode as we look to the future."

Gears of War 4 - Horde Frenzy [Gears of War]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=439468Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4 is getting a Horde update and a 10-hour trial soon2017-06-02T20:30:00Z2017-06-02T20:30:00Z
Heading into E3 2017, The Coalition is prepping its "biggest ever update" for Gears of War 4.

For current players, it's a Horde-centric call to action on June 6, with 15 new skills (3 for every class), the ability to push skills up to Level 6, new loot drops from bosses, increasingly absurd difficulties called Inconceivable and Ironman (also accessible for the campaign), and 20 new achievements.

For would-be players, a 10-hour trial for Xbox One and Windows 10 is coming with access to Act 1 of the story and all of Horde and Versus. That'll be downloadable from Friday, June 9 to Thursday, June 15 (though you don't have to put your time in during that window). What's more, "Everything you earn in the Trial is yours forever – including achievements, Cards, and Campaign progression."

Aside from cosmetics and Windows/Xbox cross-play in Ranked, the game is also adding two maps: the appropriately named Avalanche from Gears 3, and the close-quarters Rust Lung from Gears 3.

Amusingly, I bought Gears of War 4 in large part for Horde mode but, plot twist, I've yet to try it. Like, not even once! I intended to go through the campaign first to get my bearings, except instead of doing that, I put in no more than half an hour and proceeded to somehow never boot up the game again.

How's your year in video games going? Clearly, mine has been ridiculous.

Rise of the Horde [Gears of War]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=434646Nick Valdezhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Nick+ValdezThe Gears of War movie will be written by the guy writing four Avatar sequels2017-05-05T07:00:00Z2017-05-05T07:00:00Z
If there's one upcoming video game adaptation that actually makes sense, it's Gears of War. Its visuals are pretty much perfect for adaptation, and Hollywood sure loves stories where big beefy men and women shoot a bunch of aliens. I know Gears of War has some emotion in there somewhere too, so it's an adaptation served on a silver platter.

According to Deadline, Universal and Microsoft Studios have hired Shane Selarno to write the adaptation's script, which will be an all new story set in the Gears universe. Selarno is currently writing James Cameron's Avatar saga (handling parts two through five, jesus) and his past credits include...uh...Savages, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Shaft, oh and Armageddeon!

But what stands out to me the most is that Selarno wrote a few episodes of New York Undercover, one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Malik Yoba is the G.O.A.T.

[via Deadline]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=430753Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War is going to start mixing PC and Xbox players for ranked matches2017-04-11T15:30:00Z2017-04-11T15:30:00Z
Cross-platform play is a tricky prospect for any competitive multiplayer game. Different platforms have their inherent advantages, and that's hard to reconcile while maintaining a level playing field. For instance, mouse and keyboard is widely considered to be better for shooters than a gamepad controller.

Despite any disparity, Gears of War 4 is introducing cross-platform play between PC and Xbox One in ranked competitive matches. Gears developer The Coalition explains the decision in a post on the game's site. It seems like a move made out of necessity, as PC players currently experience long waits to get into games.

Gears 4 has featured cross-play for a few months now, but only in social playlists. The Coalition says that its testing found closely-matched results in PC and Xbox players of similar skill levels. It's seemingly enough for the developer to feel comfortable co-mingling the two platforms.

However, Xbox players can remain platform-independent if they choose. There will be a toggle on Xbox One that disables cross-play. That's an easy way to shut down any perceived disadvantage. PC players won't have that option, likely because of the relatively small active user base.

Permanent cross-platform competitive play isn't ready yet. The Coalition hasn't confirmed a date but says the feature will be implemented "in the months to come." In the meantime, PC is getting a shakeup to its modes, as competitive warm-up is cross-play. That seems like an aptly titled playlist given the direction this is headed in the near future.

Windows 10 Ranked Play [Gears of War]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=417373Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War 4's going to get a lot harder2017-02-07T16:00:00Z2017-02-07T16:00:00Z
Gears of War 4 is the kind of game that's built to have a long tail. There are frequent tweaks to refine multiplayer, a constant rotation of maps, a steady stream of themed events -- all efforts to keep people playing. This summer, there's a big change coming for people who think Gears 4 just isn't hard enough.

In a post on Xbox Wire, Gears of War developer The Coalition outlined the short- and long-term future of the game. Maybe most notable is that an update will buck the long-reigning Insane difficulty and make "Inconceivable" the toughest challenge Gears has to offer. Inconceivable will be a new difficulty in both the campaign and Horde mode. Other changes that are planned for a summer update are an IronMan mode for campaign and Horde (although there's no explanation as to what this is), level six class skills, and more skills for existing classes.

More immediately, there's going to be a Valentine's event in Gears 4. Torque Bow Tag, themed bounties, new Gears Packs, and a craftable character are all being added on February 10. The event is said to last "over a week."

Also, two familiar maps are getting remixed. Impact has been reworked as Impact Dark. The Coalition says that smoke reduces visibility and forces players to fight at closer range than before. Here's a fly-by video:

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=415171Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War 4 adds cross-play in competitive multiplayer2017-01-27T18:30:00Z2017-01-27T18:30:00Z
At last year's E3, Microsoft's big focus was Play Anywhere gaming. That's the initiative that's rooted in the mindset that people can play first-party Microsoft games on both their Xbox or PC; the transition should be seamless. But, an interview with 343 Industries revealed a key detail: Play Anywhere doesn't necessarily mean play with anyone.

Cross-play isn't something that Microsoft promised as a part of Play Anywhere, but one of its studios is trying it anyway. After a successful trial weekend in late December, Gears of War 4 is introducing a cross-play playlist in competitive multiplayer. If all goes smoothly for a couple months, it'll be added as a permanent feature.

The change was revealed in a post on Xbox Wire. The test run seems to have assuaged any concerns that platform-specific nuance would give one side a significant advantage. According to The Coalition's findings "Windows 10 and Xbox players had closely-matched results when comparing Average (kill to death ratio), score, and kills per match based on skill ratings." The sample size was more than 750,000 matches, and the breakdown of players was 91 percent on Xbox One to just 9 percent on Windows 10 PC.

Although cross-play is coming to Gears 4's competitive multiplayer, things will stay more traditional where they really matter. The cross-play playlist is in social quickly only. Core and competitive play will remain platform independent. The Coalition commented on this by saying "Despite the closely matched performance between users on both platforms seen in our cross-play test weekend, we always want to ensure our ranked experiences are as closely matched and competitive as possible."

Gears of War 4 has actually had cross-play implementation since launch, but it was confined to cooperative ventures in the campaign and in Horde mode. Adding it to competitive multiplayer is a big step forward for Microsoft and Play Anywhere. But, we still probably shouldn't expect other developers to follow suit anytime soon.

Gears of War 4 Introduces Versus Social Cross-play Between Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs! [Xbox Wire]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=405332Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4 celebrates the holidays the only way it knows how2016-12-16T15:00:00Z2016-12-16T15:00:00Z

Garish character and weapon skins in Gears of War multiplayer? Why I never!

For the holidays, Gears of War 4 has added a bunch of "festive" customization items to earn in 400-Credit packs. Aside from the actually very good Gingerbread weaponry (including that Lancer shown prominently in this video), most everything else is a bit much at best and eye-melting at worst.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=402036Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4 is trying out PC vs. Xbox One crossplay this weekend2016-12-01T13:00:00Z2016-12-01T13:00:00Z
The Coalition is running a multiplayer experiment for Gears of War 4 this weekend, and you're invited to play and help the studio see if crossplay is viable for the game's competitive modes.

PC players will be able to directly compete against Xbox One players in Versus (outside of private matches) with a temporary playlist. It'll run from Friday, December 2 to Monday, December 5.

Playlist Type: Social

Modes: Team Deathmatch, Dodgeball, King of the Hill

Maps: All (including Checkout and Dry Dock)

Win XP: 1500 (up from 600)

Loss XP: 750 (up from 100)

Maximum Squad Size: 5

It's unclear what'll happen next, and The Coalition is entirely up front about that fact.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=397516Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiGears of War 4 is getting a 10th anniversary update2016-11-04T19:00:00Z2016-11-04T19:00:00Z
I can remember the first time I played Gears of War. I was a freshman at Florida Southern College and my friend and I were a bit self-important. We thought we knew everything about everything and we were amazed to find out that Epic Games made a good single-player campaign. We had been waiting for Rainbow Six: Vegas, but we needed to try Gears just to see if the hype was justified.

While it turns out (for us) it wasn't, there aren't many games that can claim they've had a massive impact on the industry. Even if Gears of War borrowed liberally from Resident Evil 4, a lot of the mechanics that Epic brought to the table have been copied ad nauseum to the point where I don't even care for cover-based shooters anymore. What happened to trying new things?

Regardless, November 7 will mark the 10th anniversary for the series (to the date) and The Coalition will be updating Gears of War 4 with some new DLC to mark the occasion. Thankfully, this isn't going to be $20 like the Run the Jewels pack.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=396895Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiRun with some jewels in Gears of War 4's new DLC2016-11-01T18:00:00Z2016-11-01T18:00:00Z
This is going to come off as an old-man moment, but I have no idea who Run the Jewels are. These two rappers, EL-P and Killer Mike, are now available as playable characters in Gears of War 4. This comes alongside some converted maps from Gears of War 3 and an air drop pack.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=396253Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiThe first Gears of War 4 add-ons are a couple of Gears 3 favorites2016-10-28T15:00:00Z2016-10-28T15:00:00Z
Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition is wasting no time drawing from the legacy content well. Approximately a month after the game launched, the first two additional multiplayer maps will release -- and they're both fan favorites from Gears of War 3.

On November 8, maps Checkout and Drydock (videos below) will be added to the game's free public playlists, available for all versus multiplayer and Horde mode. Anyone with the season pass can access them on November 1; the season pass also allows for these maps to be permanently played in private matches.

We can expect plenty more Gears of War 4 maps to be revealed over time. The Coalition has already said that there will be two free maps every month for a year. It'll feel good to blast our way through a grocery store again, but it'd be nice to see something original sooner rather than later.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=396192Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+CarterSeagate's 2TB Xbox One Gears of War drive is another great official accessory2016-10-28T14:00:00Z2016-10-28T14:00:00Z
Seagate is at it again with an officially licensed Xbox One hard drive solution, and this time it's Gears of War themed. As you can see the red drive with the black COG logo goes great with the red Gears Xbox One S model, and it comes with two Gear Packs ($1.99 microtransactions) if you're into that sort of thing. In other words, it's a niche within a niche, but since Gears still sells well, it's a safe bet some of you reading this are down for matching accessories.

As is the case with all of the official drives I've tested, it's a nice plug and play experience. I stuck it in the back of my console, plugged in the USB cable, and it instantly recognized it and added 2TB (read: 1800GB~ actual) to my console. I prefer this method over the PS4's HDD upgrade requirements for sure, and I used to tinker with PCs for a living.

Note, however, that most HDDs will work, so you don't need an official option like this. Another thing to take into account is the power situation -- this one, along with Seagate's other official drives, do not have a dedicated power source (something Nintendo also recommends for the Wii U), so it may run slower since it's just tethered by a single USB cable.

However, I've been using an external Seagate on my Xbox One for over a year now and haven't noticed any performance issues, and it still works perfectly with daily use. The market price for a 2TB external is roughly $80 at MSRP, and this Gears model retails for $100, so you're partially paying for the look and Microsoft's seal of approval. The choice is yours, and although Seagate reliability differs from user to user, I'm happy with their Xbox One line so far.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=395857Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiGears of War 4 gets all spooky and scary for Halloween2016-10-26T21:00:00Z2016-10-26T21:00:00Z
[Header courtesy of Reddit user Perrinho]

Unbeknownst to me, Gears of War has celebrated Halloween in the past. Apparently there was an event for 3 that featured pumpkin heads and it looks like The Coalition is set to follow suit with Gears of War 4. Announced through its official website, the special event, running from October 27 to November 1, will feature a remixed version of dodgeball that utilizes a pumpkin instead of a ball...

Along with having a special playlist that includes a pumpkin head and some XP bonuses, Pumpkin Ball will reduce respawn timers to one second along with reducing respawn protection. I guess spawn camping is all a part of the Halloween charm.

There will also be a Halloween gear pack up for purchase, with one card guaranteed to be an Epic or Elite version (and exclusive to the "Day of the Dead" collection). This reeks of money grubbing, but if Blizzard can do the same thing in Overwatch, why not Gears?

If you're interested, you can find the playlist under the "Events" category in the versus menu. That shouldn't be too hard to figure out, unless you get lost in the Xbox One's dashboard advertisements.

Halloween comes to Gears of War 4! [Gears of War]

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=390001Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiReview: Gears of War 42016-10-11T16:00:00Z2016-10-11T16:00:00Z
The plot of Gears of War 4 is the most low stakes the franchise has ever been. Ironic, kind of, because it's probably the highest stakes ever for Xbox. With Epic Games no longer serving as its guiding hand, Xbox is left to see if the series can thrive under new leadership with new characters and a new story arc.

The short of it is that the series can and will continue to thrive and that's because Gears of War still makes for one hell of an action game. But, developer The Coalition doesn't always handle the transition fluidly, often struggling to strike a balance between new Gears and the ghosts of its past.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=392384Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+CarterGears of War 4 economy altered due to fan feedback2016-10-11T10:30:00Z2016-10-11T10:30:00Z
Gears of War 4 is another highly rated entry in the series by gamers and critics alike (I'm digging the campaign so far), but early access players by way of the Ultimate Edition have had a few complaints.

Those issues are being addressed early yet surprisingly, as The Coalition has issued an update that not only reduces the in-game currency cost of the Elite Gear Pack (down to 3500 from 4000), but you also get more in-game credits by playing matches. The developer has reported a bug that notes that the UI denotes "zero credits earned," after a match, but you are getting them and they're addressing the problem for another patch.

Considering how stalwart most developers are about their stingy economies, this was a pretty welcome, swift fix. I don't think we should treat this as a massive favor given that the rewards were skewed in the first place, but it's better than WB, who made their Mortal Kombat X economy harsher after the review process.

Gears of War 4 [Gears of War Forums]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=391976CJ Andriessenhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/CJ+AndriessenBill Gates loved the Gears of War chainsaw gun2016-10-08T18:00:00Z2016-10-08T18:00:00Z
Gears of War 4 is out soon and getting rave reviews across the internet. I haven't played it yet, nor do I own a system that would allow me to do so, but I do have extremely fond memories of making my way through the first Gears of War back on the Xbox 360. My roommate in college had the system (I had the Wii) and over the course of two weeks between classes we conquered the shit out of that game.

Turns out, things could have ended up much differently, according to Did You Know Gaming's coverage of the groundbreaking title. If not for the developer fighting against it, we might have had a love story forced on us, and probably not the Dom/Marcus imaginary romance that inspired volumes of highly erotic and entirely unreadable fan fiction.

Good job Cliff and company for sticking to your guns. Specifically, your chainsaw guns!

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=391357Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreUniversal is taking a crack at a Gears of War movie2016-10-05T18:15:00Z2016-10-05T18:15:00Z
Just ahead of Gears of War 4's release on Tuesday, Microsoft Studios and Universal Pictures have announced plans for a Gears of War feature film "based on the Xbox video game series."

Aside from that quote and some initial production credits (producers Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark, who have worked on Ted and Planet of the Apes, respectively), that's all there is to report on -- the project's existence, and the fact that this isn't the first time the property has gone after the big screen. Clearly, Microsoft and The Coalition have great ambitions for this new line of Gears titles on Xbox One.

I'd like two things for this movie. One, keep it relatively limited in scope (so, probably no firefights inside of a gargantuan worm beast). Two, assuming this is going to be a Marcus Fenix story based on the original trilogy, there's only one man for the lead role, and that man is John Travolta.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=390911Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiThe Gears of War Xbox One S is a neat tribute to the series2016-10-04T08:00:00Z2016-10-04T08:00:00Z
I wasn't tasked with designing the machine, but I'm hard-pressed to think of a look for a Gears of War Xbox One S that better fits the franchise. This thing is unapologetically brash, ostentatious, and indiscreet -- all words that perfectly sum up Microsoft's other flagship shooter.

So, what we have is a crimson console with a Gears of War trademark crimson omen and a flurry of claw marks. (We had an in-depth conversation about whether these were supposed to represent chainsaw cuts or claw marks. A post on Xbox Wire calls them "laser-etched scratches." Our forensics team came to the conclusion that you probably couldn't cut like this with a chainsaw, so we're assuming the Gears of War 4 Swarm got a hold of this.)

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=390441Dennis Cardenhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Dennis+CardenThe Coalition is revoking some illegitimately obtained Gears of War 4 keys2016-10-01T09:00:00Z2016-10-01T09:00:00Z
Last month, Nvidia announced that anyone who purchased a new GeForce 1070 or 1080 graphics card would receive a free copy of Gears of War 4 for PC and Xbox One.

Unfortunately, it looks like a group of enterprising individuals had managed to find an exploit in this promotion that allowed them to obtain a key for Microsoft's upcoming shooter without having to drop any money of their own, yet alone the cost of an expensive new graphics card.

Essentially, Amazon would automatically send a game code for Gears of War 4 the moment an order was placed for one of Nvidia's new video cards. Customers could then cancel the order while still retaining the (at the time) valid game key, which they could redeem for themselves or sell off to other people.

It appears as if Microsoft and the development studio behind the game have taken notice, as a Director of Community for The Coalition has confirmed via NeoGAF that illegitimately obtained keys for Gears of War 4 have been revoked. They also mention that anyone who feels as if their license was invalidated unfairly should contact Nvidia with a proof of purchase in order to potentially get it reinstated.

While it does suck that those who purchased these game keys from a third-party may lose, or have already lost, their licenses for Gears of War 4, it should be noted that The Coalition is well within its rights to take this kind of action. After all, these keys were acquired through the abuse of a loophole and were essentially obtained for free.

Anyone who bought a key that has since been revoked should contact the seller for a refund, or attempt to obtain one through eBay, PayPal or whatever service the transaction took place on.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=390310Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreMicrosoft has even more Gears-centric Xbox One S bundles2016-09-30T15:30:00Z2016-09-30T15:30:00Z
To go along with that decked-out Gears of War-themed crimson Xbox One S, Microsoft has a couple of other, more affordable system bundles on the way.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=389714Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiActive pre-load Gears of War 4 right now2016-09-27T19:00:00Z2016-09-27T19:00:00Z
Digital pre-orders for Gears of War 4 on Xbox One are available for pre-loading right now! The official Gears of War Twitter account let the details loose around an hour ago along with some information on the file size.

Good news! #GearsofWar4 pre-load for XB1 digital pre-orders begins later today at 5pm PDT (12am UTC). Expected download size will be 54.6GB.
— Gears of War (@GearsofWar) September 27, 2016

The PC version is not up for pre-loading currently, but is scheduled to be ready before launch. At 80 GB on PC, I would definitely prefer the game files be ready on launch instead of waiting roughly two hours for a download. Some people might also be waiting about 12 hours (since the US has crappy internet).

Gears of War [Twitter]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=388227Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiBuy a GTX 1070 or 1080, get Gears of War 4 for free2016-09-20T20:00:00Z2016-09-20T20:00:00Z
Upgrading your PC for the latest games is something of a lost practice. Since a lot of games are based on console architecture, most newer toasters are able to run anything. Some games (Crysis) will push your system to the breaking point, but a lot of games don't really need super computers.

Regardless of that, Nvidia has teamed up with Microsoft and will be offering Gears of War 4 for free with the purchase of select GTX 1070s or 1080s. Its website has all of the details, including confirmation of 4K and 21:9 support. Sounds super fancy.

Since Gears of War 4 is an Xbox Play Anywhere title, this offer will also include an Xbox One version of the game. Xbox gamers wouldn't have any use for a fancy graphics card, but at least the offer doesn't exclude access.

Oddly, the recommend graphics card for solid 1080p gaming is a GTX 750 and for 1440p a GTX 1060. Those cards don't come with the game, but whatever. I guess if you're going to bust out some new hardware, you might as well go big or go home.

Gears of War 4 GeForce GTX Bundle Includes A Full-Game Download For PC [GeForce]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=387971Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiGears of War 4 will feature split-screen on PC2016-09-19T11:30:00Z2016-09-19T11:30:00Z
Fans of couch co-op will be happy to hear that Gears of War 4 will feature a split-screen option on PC. In an interview with PC Gamer, Mike Rayner, technical director for the Coalition, confirmed the option.

"We have to deal with multiple inputs, we have to deal with focus, we have to deal with UI placement. That extra work--especially when having to also consider all the resolutions and aspect ratios a PC can have--may be why most big games nowadays don't typically support split-screen co-op."

I don't know how true that is, considering I can think of plenty of PC games with the option, but at least Gears will have it. I've never been a fan of how consoles get poorly implemented split-screen whereas PC (which could run everything smoothly) gets left in the dust.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=386930Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiThese are the ridiculous requirements to nab Gears of War 4's 'Seriously' Achievement2016-09-14T20:00:00Z2016-09-14T20:00:00Z
The Gears of War games have always posed an intimidating challenge for its most dedicated players. These are the "Seriously..." Achievements, and they have gotten increasingly difficult with each installment. With Gears of War 4 on the horizon, we now know what's necessary for "Seriously 4.0."

In a developer blog on the Gears of War site, The Coalition outlines the seven tasks to nab this time-consuming Achievement. They are: Complete the campaign on Insane difficulty, get to Re-Up 10 (essentially "Prestige" 10 times), earn all ribbons at least once, earn a rank placement in each mode, get all five classes to level ten, level all five Horde skills to level five, and complete all ten Horde maps from wave one through fifty.

It's an arduous-sounding prospect, but it probably isn't the worst Gears has thrown at its players. Gears of War 3 required Re-Upping and getting every Onyx medal. That meant tasks like getting 6,000 kills with most weapons and playing 3,000 matches of every type. When compared to that, "Seriously 4.0" doesn't sound like such a time-sink. Although, getting to level 100 ten times won't be for the faint of heart.

Developer Blog 6: The Return of the Horde [Gears of War]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=386668Peter Glagowskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Peter+GlagowskiGears of War 4 season pass detailed2016-09-13T14:30:00Z2016-09-13T14:30:00Z
I've only been a staff writer for a little over a month and I'm already tired of season passes. Why does every game require one? When something like Lego Batman 3 gets a season pass, you know there are problems with the industry.

Tangent aside, Gears of War 4 is getting a season pass and it has content. Oh man does it have content! I forgot the multiplayer worked off of a card system similar to Halo 5's spartan REQ packs, but this DLC will certainly remind you of it.

Originally, a Gear Pack was intended to come with the pass. Now, it has been replaced with something called a "Starter Air Drop." This will hold boosters for Horde mode, Versus, Operations, and an Elite pack. It comes out to around 85 cards (what a deal!).

Along with all of this digital cards, the season pass also contains the VIP Vintage Pack. That comes with skins for weapons, a new character, and permanent access to all of the extra maps (of which there are 24 planned). You'll also have access to a developer playlist that will basically let you play test the new stuff before it releases.

All of that goodness for $50; how could one pass that up? Oh, I have a few good answers to that, but I'm tired of yelling. I'll just let Marcus explain it with this clip. My main question is how did Microsoft miss out on titling the games Gears of 4?

Gears of War 4 Season Pass Content Expanded [GameSpot]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=384333Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War's Horde mode is greatly enhanced by adding classes2016-09-02T20:30:00Z2016-09-02T20:30:00Z
When it comes to Gears of War, all the variation is in the weapons. Each character operates the exact same, it's just the armaments that change gameplay. Someone toting a Boomshot is going to maneuver very differently than someone sporting a Gnasher. This is pretty standard stuff for online shooters.

Gears of War's third take on Horde mode does away with that. Sort of. This is a class-based affair: Five types of soldiers, each with their own functions, but also all very much like the same characters the franchise has always put at the forefront. Still, it's an earnest enough attempt to differentiate.

The classes are Soldier, Scout, Sniper, Heavy, and Engineer. Soldiers are your standard-fare Gears of War warrior. Scouts move quickly but presumably have less health. Snipers snipe. Heavies come equipped with power weapons. Engineers, well, they make the other four classes worth having around.

The linchpin to Horde 3.0 is the Engineer. The entire mode is centered around a very important crate called the Fabricator and what the Engineer can do with it. The Fabricator is what the Engineer sticks near in order to build new items. Turrets and traps are the main go-tos, several of each seen in our short 10-round PAX West demo.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=384080Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4's Horde mode is class-based2016-09-01T11:45:00Z2016-09-01T11:45:00Z

Our second look at Horde mode in Gears of War 4 is much, much better than our first.

The co-op survival mode will have five players fortifying positions with a mobile Fabricator tool and fending off creatures and even robots across 50 waves. Interestingly, The Coalition has chosen to go class-based for Horde 3.0 -- you'll play as either Sniper, Engineer, Soldier, Scout, or Heavy. Reactions already seem torn on that detail, but I'm willing to give it a chance and hear the full story there.

As for the song in the trailer, it's "Panther Like A Panther (I'm the Shit)" off the upcoming Run the Jewels 3. And, what the? "Later this year, Killer Mike and El-P will forever become part of the Gears family by appearing as multiplayer characters in the game. The duo will bring their brutal intensity and 'can't nobody save us but us' attitude to Gears of War 4 multiplayer."

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=383656Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiThe first (albeit very brief) look at Gears of War 4's Horde mode2016-08-30T16:00:00Z2016-08-30T16:00:00Z

With fewer than two months before Gears of War 4 releases, we still don't know much about Horde mode. We know that the game has a Horde mode, and, well, that's about it. Now, we have our first clip of it, even if it doesn't give us a lot to run with.

The video, which seems to be exclusive to IGN, is about 10-seconds long but the dissection is stretched out to more than 3-minutes. The two biggest takeaways seem to be that there looks to be destructible cover and that there are some sort of crates that provide reinforcements. Those crates appear to play a big part in Horde, but we don't yet know any specifics of the systems.

And, that's it. Not a great first look at Horde, but a first look nonetheless. If that doesn't sate your appetite, the good news is there should be more in the near future. Hell, even if developer The Coalition never shows more, it's not that long until Gears 4's October 11 release.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=379828Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+CarterAre you looking forward to Gears of War 4?2016-08-11T10:30:00Z2016-08-11T10:30:00Z
I haven't really seen any major buzz (at least in the community itself) regarding Gears of War 4. I remember there being some excitement towards the initial reveal and the enhanced focus on horror, but not much since. This footage of the map "Impact" might change your mind, or it might not. I don't really know, and since I'm kind of in the middle on it myself, I want to hear your thoughts!

I reckon it'll appeal to people who may have skipped out on the series since the first or second game -- and the PC/Xbox One cross-compatibility doesn't hurt. After all, Gears is a popular series, but only had releases in 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2013.

The Coalition (and formerly Epic Games) at least take their time crafting each one, and even if they aren't all created equal, they're all serviceable and capable shooters.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=379704Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+Devore'Zombie Dom' is one of the Gears of War 4 pre-order bonuses2016-08-10T15:30:00Z2016-08-10T15:30:00Z
The pre-order bonuses for Gears of War 4 are mostly what you'd expect. Gold weapon skins. Some alternate outfits. The four Xbox 360 Gears titles for use on Xbox One via backward compatibility. Then there's Zombie Dom. Just what in the heck is going on with Zombie Dom?

"'Zombie Dom' proves there's no keeping a good solider down, at least in the form of this character skin created as tribute to Marcus' dearly departed best friend Dominic Santiago."

Gears multiplayer is its own thing with its own rules far removed from the story canon, sure, but for as seriously as the series has treated Dom as a character, this "tribute" is straight-up bizarre.

Even weirder? On Monday, in a staff conversation about the part in the original Prey where you have to kill your girlfriend-turned-abomination, I accidentally predicted this would happen.

Gears of War 4 Pre-Order Bonuses Detailed [Xbox]

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=376496Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War 4 doesn't have a locked frame rate on PC2016-07-22T15:30:00Z2016-07-22T15:30:00Z
While Gears of War 4 is coming to both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, the experiences across the two platforms won't be identical. With the Play Anywhere functionality, players will be able to hop between the two versions freely to make the most of their preference or convenience. However, it's on PC that people will find more options.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Gears of War 4's technical director Mike Rayner gives the mission statement for how developer The Coalition is tweaking the game for PC players. "Our focus on PC is to deliver a highly optimized, customizable experience first and foremost," he said.

One of the highlights is that the single-player campaign will have an unlocked frame rate. Crank it up as high as you can. Rayner explains "Support for v-sync tearing has recently come to UWP and we will be able to offer proper unlocked frame-rate support that gamers expect on day one. With Unreal Engine 4 and our own custom modifications, we can take much better advantage of multiple CPU cores, alleviating the game from being CPU-bound and allowing more room for the GPU to shine with enhanced visual quality or higher frame rates. Single-player will not be locked to 30fps on PC."

Other PC-only features in Gears of War 4 are: dynamic resolution support, increased texture resolution (up to 4K resolution for select texture groups), a benchmark mode, full keyboard/mouse input remapping, and far more comprehensive video settings.

By Rayner's omission, it seems as if multiplayer will be locked to 60fps, the same frame rate that it targets on Xbox One. And, it's unknown if cooperative campaign play will also be unlocked, or if it's a perk that's just for the lone wolves. Regardless, PC players now know that they have more options to make the most of their setup and that they won't be restricted to the exact same experience that's on Xbox One.

Gears of War 4's PC-exclusive features detailed [Eurogamer]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=376355Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiGears of War 4's protagonist is named after Marcus Fenix's BFF2016-07-21T18:00:00Z2016-07-21T18:00:00Z
Earlier this year, we were introduced to the lead role in Gears of War 4. This strapping young lad's name is JD Fenix, and he's the son of the star of the original Gears trilogy Marcus Fenix. Steven did an in-depth analysis of what we knew about JD at the time. The main takeaway was that Marcus apparently got himself some sex at some point. Good for you, Marcus.

With San Diego Comic-Con going on this weekend, we've learned another interesting fact about JD: His real name. According to reports out of an SDCC panel, Gears head Rod Fergusson was pressured into revealing that "JD" stands for James Dominic.

"Dommmm! Noooooo!"

That's right, Marcus honored his combat partner and best friend forever by naming his kid after him. We have to wait until October to see if JD has the same knack for heroics and the dramatic as his namesake did.

@RayCarsillo [Twitter]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=376145Jed Whitakerhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jed+WhitakerMarcus Fenix tags along in new Gears of War 4 gameplay2016-07-20T14:30:00Z2016-07-20T14:30:00Z

All new campaign gameplay for Gears of War 4 has been released and it is damned easy on the eyes. Sure, it looks like more of the same, gameplay-wise, but is that really a bad thing?

I've always dug the Gears series and even loved the heck out of Judgement, because at least it had a fresh take on the formula (plus the overrun multiplayer mode was a blast to play with my boyfriend).

For those who didn't enjoy Judgement as much as I did, this one looks like a return to form; slicing, dicing, and gnashing through enemies with that OP shotgun. October can't come soon enough.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=375071Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreThis limited-edition Xbox One S is a bit much2016-07-14T20:00:00Z2016-07-14T20:00:00Z
I have no desire to get an Xbox One S -- not as a current Xbox owner and especially not with Microsoft's Project Scorpio coming down the line -- but I can't deny how sharp the system looks in white.

This first limited-edition model themed after Gears of War 4, though? Uh, well, someone will dig it.

Those scratches are laser-etched, by the way. They're really going for it here.

Priced at $449, the bundle includes a 2TB Xbox One S, a Gears-themed Xbox One controller (not the Elite), a download code for Gears of War 4: Ultimate Edition (playable on Xbox One and Windows 10), a few days of early access to the game starting October 7, and the season pass. For the sake of comparison, the standard 500GB Xbox One S will be $299, while the 2TB equivalent will cost $399.

The bundled-in controller (and a gray-and-blue "JD Fenix" version) sport the new textured grip, Bluetooth support, and better wireless range. They'll be available standalone for $74.99 in September.

Introducing the Gears of War 4 Limited Edition 2TB Bundle, the First Custom Xbox One S [Xbox]

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=368625Steven Hansenhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Steven+HansenGrading Microsoft's E3 2016 conference2016-06-15T00:15:00Z2016-06-15T00:15:00Z

Microsoft delivered a solid outing at E3 this year. Most of the games where already known -- save for Forza Horizon 3 and zombie games State of Decay 2 and the new Dead Rising -- but the company (mostly) learned to zip up and show games. And so we got extended looks at a lot of what was announced at the conference last year: ReCore, Sea of Thieves, Gears 4 War. The show stealer was hardware, bookended by a a much slimmer Xbox One and a holiday 2017 release for "Project Scorpio," a 4K-capable Xbox One.

You can watch our impressions video for the final verdict, then tell us if we're spot-on critical mavens or out of touch, hopeless hacks!

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=368485Brett Makedonskihttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Brett+MakedonskiMy pacifist run of Gears of War 4 didn't go great2016-06-14T13:40:00Z2016-06-14T13:40:00Z
Gears of War 4 plays a lot like you'd expect a Gears of War game to play. Steven said as much when he previewed the multiplayer component a few months back. The series is so deeply entrenched in its own style that changes have to be mostly granular. "Hey, that was a cool execution. Hey, this new gun is neat." There's just as much duck-and-cover shooting as there has always been.

At a Microsoft event at E3, I had a chance to sit down and play a 25-minute slice of the campaign. The dark and spooky setting was evocative of some of Gears 1's finest moments, but it didn't take long to confirm that, yep, it plays just like a Gears game.

That got me thinking: What if I don't play a Gears game just like a Gears game? What if I take a game about shooting and refuse to shoot? I have teammates; surely they can be useful in the event that I insist on being un-useful.

Nope. No way. Gears of War 4 will kill you right dead if you don't shoot that gun.

It went okay at first. A few hopping white wretch-like creatures came at me. It was easy enough to dodge back and forth past them while hoping that my crew would lend a hand. I took a few bumps and bruises, but they handled the situation. No bullets (of my own) needed.

The next section had more of these monsters, and that's where I learned that Gears 4 wasn't having any of my hippie-dippie flower power bullshit. My squad couldn't keep up with a wave of low-level enemies, and I ended up down but not out. Each time they'd yell token phrases like "I got you!" or "I'm coming!" and, to their credit, they were usually reliable in fulfilling their promise. One time they weren't and I died. At least I died for a cause.

That's when I decided that maybe I should just play the game as I was supposed to. It was a cakewalk on the preset normal difficulty. All the Gears things happening as expected, including a final fight against a handful of these things.

The demo served as nothing more than confirmation, really. I always assumed Gears of War 4's gameplay would be just fine. Hell, there have been more than enough other games in the series to make me feel comfortable in that assumption. We all know what to expect going into its October release. And, just as expected, expect to have to shoot a gun.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=368405Chris Carterhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Chris+Carter(Update) The Xbox One S is allegedly going to be more powerful2016-06-14T09:30:00Z2016-06-14T09:30:00Z
[Update: Speaking to Eurogamer, Xbox planning lead Albert Penello stated that the upgrade will be "insignificant." They unlocked "a little more processing power to enable HDR," but "that's it."

When the Xbox One S was revealed yesterday, it was assumed that it was merely smaller and thus, more convenient. Rarely in console history does a new iteration come out that can outperform its predecessors. But according to Polygon, who spoke to The Coalition (Gears) head Rod Fergusson, it will be a slight upgrade.

Without going overboard, Fergusson allegedly told Polygon that because the Xbox One S has additional raw GPU and CPU power, it can ensure that the frame rate and the resolution is more consistent, cutting down on some of the penalties original Xbox One models may incur. We will see this in action for Gears of War 4 this October.

He also mused on Scorpio for a hot second, saying that games aren't necessarily going to take advantage of its 4K capabilities as a given. Since the team is "mastering at 4K," it's "not about the assets or the art." In other words, expect newer late 2017 games to take advantage of the tech. I think I'm going to pass on buying the Xbox One S, but I'm really curious about Scorpio, and how it will square off against the Neo.

Games can perform better on Xbox One S [Polygon]

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=368036Kyle MacGregor Burlesonhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Kyle+MacGregor+BurlesonGears of War's General Raam coming to Killer Instinct2016-06-13T11:53:00Z2016-06-13T11:53:00Z
The latest combatant to join the cast of Killer Instinct is Raam of Gears of War fame, Microsoft and Iron Galaxy Studios announced today as part of the Xbox E3 media presentation.

The imposing Locust general will be available via an update later today, which will allow all Killer Instinct players (yes, even those of you who don't own Season 3) to try Raam for free through Sunday night.

You can find more information on General Raam and Killer Instinct here.

 Read more...tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=368034Joe Parlockhttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Joe+ParlockXbox Play Anywhere will let you play and purchase games across Xbox One and PC2016-06-13T11:34:00Z2016-06-13T11:34:00Z
Gears of War co-creator Rod Fergusson took to the stage at Microsoft's E3 conference to announce that the Coalition's Gears of War 4 will be part of the new Xbox Play Anywhere initative, letting players seamlessly move between Xbox One and PC versions of the game.

Players will be given both versions of the game (a-la Quantum Break, but done properly this time), and progression will carry over on both systems. Not only that, but every co-operative mode will have cross-play support, meaning Xbox One and PC players can play the game together.

Right now, the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative has only been announced for Gears of War 4, but I won't be surprised at all if more games are announced for it very soon.

The Coalition also gave us some fancy new Gears of War 4 gameplay footage, which we will update to include here as soon as it becomes available.

Gears of War 4 will be available on October 11 for Xbox One and Windows 10. A special Gears-branded elite controller is available to pre-order now too.

 tag:https://www.destructoid.com/,2018:/post.phtml?pk=357545Jordan Devorehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Jordan+DevoreGears of War 4's Ultimate Edition offers four-day early access2016-04-25T15:00:00Z2016-04-25T15:00:00Z
If you're eager for Gears of War 4 and don't mind parting with a hundred bucks, you can play the game four whole days before its official launch. One of the perks of the Ultimate Edition is early access on Friday, October 7, in addition to the usual steel case and season pass inclusion.

The season pass is $49.99 if purchased standalone, and it's a weird one: "Includes exclusive Vintage VIP Pack featuring Vintage JD and two Vintage weapon skins, permanent access to 24 additional DLC maps (two per month for a year) for private play on dedicated servers, an exclusive Developer Playlist that grants access to new maps, modes, and features that can be tested prior to broad release and six Gear Packs (which unlock character and weapon skins, emblems, equipment and boosts)."

"Permanent access," huh? As you might have heard, Gears 4 will have its multiplayer maps playable on rotation. They're going to be free, but there's also the option to purchase them for unrestricted access (or you can just have a friend buy the maps and then host a private game for y'all).

Alternatively, you could skip the $99.99 Ultimate Edition, and go all out for the $249.99 Collector's Edition with a tasteful statue of JD Fenix on a bike. I dig the lil frag grenade keychain, admittedly.

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To request more information or to contact us send an e-mail to: firstname.lastname@example.com
Experience the delights of a Madeira Villa Holiday whilst staying at Casa Vista do Ledo, Calheta. Whether you want to just relax on a family holiday, lie on the beautiful golden sand beach, take a round or two of Golf or enjoy some of Madeira's fabulous Levada walks, during holidays in this lovely, airy Villa you will experience peace, tranquility and it's fabulous panoramic sea views. Views which stretch across the lush Banana groves to the beautiful blue sea in Calheta Bay, on the sunny South Coast of Madeira.
Casa Vista do Ledo has its own private, south facing, salt water swimming pool (9m x 4m) with patio bathing area facing the sea.
There are 2 separate but interconnected living areas which can accommodate up to 12 guests.
Each floor has 3 spacious double bedrooms — the master bedroom in the top floor is en-suite and has a private balcony with amazing sea views.
The first floor living area has double aspect windows with south facing balcony, complete with seating to best enjoy the magnificent sea views and the beautiful pretty evening views of the village lights below. The second floor has two living areas; one is a TV area and the second has double aspect windows and a large patio seating area to enjoy the magnificent mountain and sea views. The lounges on both floors also have flat screen TV with Cable access, DVD player and free broadband Wi-Fi.
There are two fully equipped large kitchens, one on each floor, which include; microwave, fridge/freezer, Oven, Gas hob, kettle, toaster, crockery and cutlery. An iron & ironing board are also provided. We also have an indoor and an outdoor BBQ and three outside seating areas.
Baby & Child facilities.
We have a Chicco cot (with bed linen) and Chicco high chair available on request for babies and provide colourful plastic plates, dishes and cutlery for young children. We also have a none-slip mat for inside the bath for babies/toddlers to sit on whilst bathing. The Nick Jnr and Nickelodeon TV channels are also available. There is an excellently maintained children's play area just 3mins walk from the Villa.
Arco da Calheta is just a short 10min walk away and here you will find bars, shops, a church, post office and a cash machine.
The Villa
The Madeira Holiday Villa for Families and Walkers alike!
Home | The Villa | Swimming Pool | Location | Availability | Reviews | Activities | Information | Gallery | Contact us

subset: commoncrawl


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I've noticed that a lot of adults, let alone children, have a terrible knowledge of political geography. Many have not even heard of some countries, let alone know their capital cities or where they are in the world. To help my class get one up on the world I've been running 'country of the week' where we have a small display and link each country, however I can, to the current topic. A lot of the work we put up is now done at home by choice and therefore doesn't take up any class time.
To start with I used my guided reading sessions and had one group focusing on sentence work using information books on that country. I still do this now but also offer team points for any work brought in from home which encourages the children to write at home.
We started with European countries during the Autumn term. This half term we are doing North America and after the half term holiday we will cover South America. For now I'm going to recap the links I made for some of the countries and after this post I will start writing a weekly, detailed post on each country we cover; this week is Mexico. Since the photos of my displays are on my phone I will also post a separate, photo only post to go alongside this one (apologies for this being text only, I always find them less enthusing).
Great Britain
For our first week back in September, we focused on our own country so the children could write about places they had visited within Great Britain over the summer holidays. We also recapped and discussed the Olympics.
France + Norway
The topic for Autumn term was 'Defending the Realm' with a starting focus on the Norman Conquest therefore it was ideal to have our 2nd and 3rd countries as France and Norway; this way there was an instant link with William the Conqueror and Harald Hardrada. We also did some French since this is the language our school uses for MFL.
One of our children is originally from Bulgaria, so this was an opportunity to explore their culture and it helped them overcome some reluctance to writing. This is a good idea for any classes with a large proportion of children with English as a second language.
Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland
We went through these Scandinavian countries towards the end of the term so there was a good link to descriptive writing and winter scenery. It was also possible to link Christmas activities to country of the week through reindeer in Lapland.
This term the science topic is space. To hook the children into this topic I used NASA as a link to country of the week. There will be a post shortly on some of the science lessons I've taught around the national curriculum 'Earth and beyond'.
Photo's to come soon 🙂


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Tuesday, 28 May 2013
New Additions
I don't usually post details of beauty products, but these two new additions to my make up bag are most definitely blog worthy...
I like to use a primer under my foundation, and have read lots of great reviews about the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer. But at £52 a pot, I've been reluctant to take the plunge without testing it out first - I've found that many primers can be quite drying on my skin and others seem to have no visible effect at all.
UK stockists of the Hourglass range are limited to Liberty and selected SpaceNK stores (not Tunbridge Wells), so getting hold of a sample (if they do such a thing) hasn't been easy. When I then discovered that they'd launched a £20 travel size, I thought I'd bite the bullet. It was definitely worth the investment...
A little goes a long way - I only need a single application - and the results are immediate and long lasting. The slight redness I have on my cheeks, and the pigmentation marks that I'm always trying to disguise, almost disappear under my foundation, and my skin looks flawless all day. I've certainly no qualms about buying the full size now.
My other great find is this By Terry Hyaluronic Blush. I'm a recent convert to cream blusher, as I find that it produces a more natural glow than powder. And this new product is a revelation.
It comes in two shades, one peach based and the other pink. I wanted to try the 'Blushberry' given my skin tone, and although it looks quite scarily bright, I'm delighted with the results.
Applying the tiniest bit with a traditional blusher blush gives me very natural but still visible glow. And rather than looking like I'm obviously wearing blusher, the finish mirrors my natural 'blush', which makes the blue of my eyes pop! A sure sign that the colour's just right.
I don't know about you, but I seem to find that many of the products out there just don't live up to my (high) expectations, and end up gathering dust at the back of the cupboard. It's so nice to find two that are worth shouting about!
PS I've since noticed that the blush is a Limited Edition. Time to stock up!
Posted by Julie Hurst at 07:50
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I pretty often get photo bombed by seagulls. Something I don't mind at all :))
Folder: Monochrome
Uploaded: Jul 18, 2016
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Tags: Brumest, OriginalContent, Edits, Monochome, River, Seagull, Boat, Sunset, Reflections
Thanks :)
►💙☼ (^_^) 👍Ⓛⓘⓚⓔ✿Y☆18
I see all your posts in feed too, and from all our friends too. I think we just don't see our own stuff.
And it's a bit annoying that we can not sort the pictures in feed by date added... at least I didn't find a way to do it yet... If I look for "guitars" for example, the posts are all mixed, some from few months already, and no option to change that.
Now that you brought it up, I only see one of mine in the feed too, the lady bug one.... wonder if it has something to do with the comments...
But yeaaa, it's a bit confusing.
I think it shows stuff from the people we follow... all the rest we need to look for using tags... at least it's how I am doing it for now.


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I thought it would be fun having a little living room photo shoot the last time these girls where over. Turns out, it was a blast!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
We did a fun little photo shoot with her sister and their friend last week. Isn't she the cutest little thing!
Posted by Stacy at 11:11 AM No comments:
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I want to write more. I want to proscrastinate less. I hate proofreading and predict I won't proofread this blog much.
Some History: (Never feel sorry for me. I don't want anyone wasting time on that)
It's been a long road. School, school, followed by more school and then bar exams and more bar exams and I was very tired. I love adverbs and I don't care what you think. I was tired of studying. I was tired of living in libraries. I love libraries. But I was tired of having to go to libraries to study. I read so much throughout law school and spent so much time studying for school and for the bars that I was burnt.
I was in a terrible terrible TERRIBLE job that was paying a lot less then I was making before law school, which wasn't much. Something clicked one day. I don't know what it was. I know I read about how there are only two kinds of lawyers. There are lawyers that work for themselves and lawyers that work for other lawyers. I was working for other lawyers. The experience wasn't worth it. I didn't want to do the kind of work I was doing. Bankruptcy law. Kill me now. You can't take experience in bankruptcy law and transition to family law you can only do more bankruptcy law so I was wasting time.
I always wanted to do family law. Stop laughing. I want to help people. I know it's the bottom of the bottom but that is what I wanted to do. Being a bankruptcy attorney is lower then that. I decided rather quickly to give notice. Giving notice didn't go well. They thought I was going to stay forever. Ha! I was there for just one week short of a year. I was there as an attorney only three months. I am glad I was only getting paid crap for three months.
So I quit. I had nothing on the horizon. Huge loans to pay off but I took a chance. I was making so little that it wouldn't be hard to find another job making so little. Within two weeks I had a job making double. It is the worst job for an attorney. Document review. But I loved it. 8 minute commute. Nice town. NO STRESS. I can't explain how important this is. No stress is awesome. I get paid well but with doc review there is no room to move up. It is what it is. If I did this for five years I would be getting paid the same for five years. I AM NOT COMPLAINING. Some people don't have jobs etc etc. This isn't a pity party it's just my story of how I got to today.
For well over ten years I have been thinking of those books and screenplays I would write. Years would roll on by and nothing down on paper. Before I quit my attorney job I took a week off for my birthday and went nowhere. I stayed home and I wrote. I didn't write much. But I wrote. I put my notice in a few weeks later and then I started the doc review job. I started making some money doing doc review. I paid bills. I got caught up with life. Things were going well. Things are going well. And then...nothing.
Not a thing. I was working. No stress. Just chillin. I get to surf at work inbetween clicking on documents and there was nothing. Excuses were gone. Bars were passed. Degrees were granted. School was over. Money was being made. NO EXCUSES. Nothing was there to hold me back. I spent a lot of my time on school. When I do something I do it full speed ahead. Life just sort of stopped. It was time to write.
And here I am. Writing. I am writing almost everyday. I am writing what I love. It took me a while to learn I could write what I love. I want to write nonerotica too. But this is my passion. They say do what you love. I love porn. I love writing. My English teacher yelled at me when she learned I was majoring in business for undergrad. She said: "YOU ARE A WRITER!" I printed that statement out and put it on my wall. That was a long time ago. But I never forgot it.
I am a writer. I may not be awesome. I may have a lot to learn, but I am a writer. It's in my heart and in the fabric of my being. I live to entertain. I live to tell stories. It's all I use my personal Facebook page for, to entertain and get my words out there. This is the beginning of another journey. A long journey. I didn't decide to write one day; I have been wanting to write for years. The storm is over. The waters are calm.
If you stumbled across my blog, thanks for coming by. I don't want to use this place as a billboard. There is enough of that out there. I want to use this blog to connect with people. I want to write what people want to read. I want to hear from readers and connect. The most important thing on my professional resume that sums up all my skills is that I build relationships. And I hope I can do that here.
Looking forward to kicking 2012 in the balls!


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Survey begins for Himachal dam to supply water to Delhi (Lead, Superseding earlier story)September 4th, 2008 - 7:14 pm ICT by IANS
Shimla, Sep 4 (IANS) Survey work has begun for setting up a multi-billion hydro-electricity project in Himachal Pradesh that will provide much-needed water to Delhi and also generate power for the hill state. Construction work on the dam is to begin by the end of next year.The Rs.22.13-billion 40 MW Renuka Dam project is to be constructed on the Yamuna river in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.
Pre-construction activities have already begun at the dam site, according to documents available with IANS.
Sirmaur deputy commissioner Pushpinder Rajput said a survey has been started to ascertain the area that would be submerged in the dam waters.
"Various surveys, including topographical, geological and geophysical, are in progress and likely to be completed by end of this year," he said.
The state government has also accelerated the work relating to forest and environment clearances.
"A case for diverting 642 hectares of forest land for constructing the dam is under progress. For acquisition of private land, the government has set up committees that will negotiate with villagers whose land is to be acquired. The government has plans to acquire 627 hectares of private land," officials here said.
According to the government's relief and rehabilitation plan, every affected family will get 100 units of electricity free of cost for a period of 10 years starting from the date of commissioning of the project.
As per the agreement between Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi, the hill state will bear the cost of installing the electrical mechanical equipment, including turbine generators, while the Delhi government will pay for the dam and other construction costs.
The Delhi Jal Board, in charge of the water supply to the national capital, has already agreed to initially provide Rs.3 billion to the hill state.
"The Delhi government is willing to pay Rs.3 billion so that we can start the construction work," said Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation director Tarun Kapoor.


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Vivek group romp home in HCA elections
Hyderabad: Former MP and advisor to Telangana Government G Vivekanandaa��s group swept the elections to Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Friday evening.
As per the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations, elections were held for one post of president, one vice-president, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and one executive committee member.
The Vivekananda group won all the four posts in the results announced by Returning Officer K Rajeev Reddy. However, the result of joint secretary post where Ajmal is facing Vanka Pratap was withheld.
It may be mentioned here that the Hyderabad High Court has given a green signal for counting of the votes on Friday. The counting started late in the evening. Shesh Narayan was unanimously elected as secretary. Vivekananda romped home with 136 votes while his opponent Vidyut Jaisimha, son of former Test cricketer ML Jaisimha, secured 69 votes.
In the election to vice-presidenta��s post, Anil Kumar defeated Imran Mehmood by 138 and 66 votes. Mahender polled the highest number of votes for treasurera��s post. He routed P Anuradha, wife of former Treasurer P Yadagiri by 150 and 58. Hanumantha Reddy was declared elected as Executive Committee member by securing 100 votes. (NSS)