Microsoft gambles gamers will turn to Xbox 360 to buy 'Gears of War'

The Locust Horde has finally arrived.

"Gears of War," the long-awaited Xbox 360 title from Epic Games, ships Tuesday, meaning it will arrive in specialty video game shops either later Tuesday or Wednesday. The official kickoff, dubbed Emergence Day, is Sunday when all major retailers should have "Gears of War" in stock.

[joemutt]

Its more like a sure thing.

[Jay da 2KBalla]

WTH? Gears of war is $70?

[eques judicii]

i think its canadian...

[zypher]

eh, i'm not too sure about this one. i guess all the cards are in Microsoft's favor (considering the limited supply of PS3); but given a choice between the newest system and a fairly-new system with a proven game, most people will opt for the newer system, especially when that newer system bears the Playstation logo, and is sure to continue with all the franchises that made the Playstation legacy what it is.

however, PS3 notwithstanding, Microsoft's biggest advantage at this point is not GOW or Halo 3: it's Sony. Sony has allowed itself to be fraught with woe after woe. Sony chose to include Blu-ray in PS3, and Sony ultimately chose the PS3's price. considering the delays (due to Blu-ray), and that majority of PS3's cons center around its $600 asking price, you can see why Sony is Microsoft's biggest advantage.

[marionz]

anyone who does their homework will see that xbox is the best choice console, my brother will probably get a ps3 but hes a retard that buys things to try and impress his friends, to me xbox has better value, better and more games, first party games are allways cheaper, great online, controller design and console are perfect, and for all the people that keep screaming ps3 is more powerfull....PROVE IT
if you want new get ps3 but if you want quallity get 360 simple as

[DJ]

I don't know a single gamer (including 360 owners) that's actually interested in Gears. In fact, most of them started making fun of it once they saw the gameplay videos. And it wasn't the graphics that turned them off. =/

On the flipside, FEAR and Call of Duty seems to be hyping them up more. Yes, FEAR is old, but the pc requirements are ridiculously high so it makes sense that they would rather just get it on the 360 instead.

Marionz, TGS proved the PS3 is more powerful. The games showed superiority over the 360, and the majority of gaming journalists quickly pointed this out. You can see the difference a lot better in motion.

[marionz]

Call of Duty i can understand, but fear? man i played the demo thinking i was gonna love it but it just feels old, that whole been there doen that feeling sank in, its rubbish

[marionz]

and the ps3 more powerfull because tgs said so hmmm ok ill believe it when it actually comes from sony thankyou, see the difference in motion my ass ive seen ps3 games in motion, and if power is based on that alone then GOW is the winner, i mean resistance looks like poo in comparison, motorstorm looks good but textures ingame look bad, dont tell me ps3 is more powerfull till the specs are actually out, ill be more then happy to say sorry if im wrong

[eques judicii]

no one is interested in gears... that's why at my ebgames store i have over 150 reservations on it... that's as many as FFXII!!!! If you go to 1up.com it is the 2nd most popular game (just ever so slightly behind Zelda) and the fun part is that it is an original IP not a sequel!

[Aramis001]

Dude, DJ, what's going on with you lately? You used to give less biased replies with good facts to support them, but lately you've been leaning towards the fanboyish side. What's wrong, seriously?

[MoonDust]

I think everyone here agrees, you are a idiot.

[MoonDust]

Xbox.com, over 100 people on the GOW forums and the game is not even out yet.

[FadeToBlack]

DJ, that last comment was just perfect confirmation that you are a complete idiot. You come on here just spewing fanboy garbage.
Give it a rest, do you really need the attention that bad?

[TheMART]

"I don't know a single gamer (including 360 owners) that's actually interested in Gears. In fact, most of them started making fun of it once they saw the gameplay videos. "

Can't you make up anything worse and more lying than that? That's sad man! I am sorry for ya!

You don't know a single gamer that's interested in Gears? Then you don't know real gamers buddy! You know everyone overhere is into Gears. And with the 360 only in it's first year of life it's already 2nd place on the pre-order list behind Halo 2 (that came two years ago, when the XBOX 1 was in it's 3rd year already).

If you had watched all the MP video's you would know how great it is. If you read all the reviews you know there is nothing on the PS that can even stand in the shadow of Gears

TGS showed nothing more then rebooting PS3's. The day Sony releases the 'official' RSX spec's will show the 360 GPU is the strongest one around. If you have data to prove something is twice as strong, give it or otherwise shut your mouth and go play outside

[DJ]

They laugh at Gears. We've already seen the specs of the RSX, and it outshines the Xenos's power. Supposedly that power is in it's use of 128-bit HDR, shaders, dot products, etc. Technically we have all the information we need as consumers.

900 Gflops vs. 1.8 Teraflops

That's a big difference, and that information has been around since E3 05. Even ATI admitted that their GPU isn't as powerful as nVidia's, and tried to do damage control by saying there's is "more efficient".

Like I said before, the graphics in Gears is outstanding and easily on par with Epic's work on Unreal Tournament. (though, I wish they added those blood and dismemberment effects into Unreal 07) But it's the gameplay videos that turned them off (and only 4v4 battles didn't help).

I know you're secretly hoping that I'm lying but...

Maybe it's because I only know four 360 owners while everyone else (around 30) has current gen consoles and is waiting for the PS3 (and a few for Wii).

"If you read all the reviews you know there is nothing on the PS that can even stand in the shadow of Gears" I'm not sure which PS you're referring to, but there aren't any reviews of Gears yet. And the only reviews we have of PS3 titles is from one magazine in Japan, Famitsu.

[marionz]

give me a link to these current specs, im not talking about the old specs they gave ages ago that have been downgraded since, i admit im not the most educated person when it comes to console specs but i know when something smells like crap it usually is

[power of Green]

Let this guy vent he's FOS even the pro's on G4 (Attack of the show) dream about it Kevin just got through playing GoW live!, 45 minutes ago he and his co-host were getty like school girls even Adam S. dreampt about it. And you're wrong on that 360 outputting Digital, i called MS and the 360 does indeed outputs digital lol. It's not GoW you should be worried about it's Fable 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Huxely, Forza 2, Too Human and the slew of sleepers, yet to be anounced tittles and the sequels to many of these games, point is stop worrying about the unstopable line-up the 360 has.

[DJ]

Then we'll talk. The E3 slides can be found all over the web.

[TheMART]

We haven't seen the specs besides the ones that were comparable with the Nvidia 6800 cards, couldn't do 4 x AA and HDR at the same time.

That's the spec's we know from the RSX. But furthermore I know off Sony didn't release 'offical' specs DJ. Stop making things up.

And TFLOPS. Uhm... Didn't SOny put such a story out with the PS2 also? And what did we got? THe worst graphics of the last gen! For real. Get real.

"But it's the gameplay videos that turned them off (and only 4v4 battles didn't help)."

So we need 40 people in a space? It's about quality, not quantity. It's about teamwork that's with 4 x 4 instead of running around shooting like a madman on everything that moves. We know that already.

I don't hope you're lying, I know you're lying. In contrary, I don't know anyone who will be waiting for the PS3 anymore. Maybe it's also because Sony screwed Europe over again. People see Gears and say: "Hey it's Killzone 2/3 but than in realtime instead of CGI fake stuff" and jump in.

With reviews I forgot the 'p'. Multiple previews are on the net stating that. And you know it. Stop denying it.

Aw man whatever. You'll be silenced soon. Tomorrow Gears will be shipping to the shops in USA. 12th november it's 3m3rg3nc3 day in USA, 17th in november. Yeah Sony, Gears is launching five Days after the launch in USA overhere in Europe. Not five Months. Sony= always overpromissing&underdelive ring. Even you will have your eyes opened DJ, even you

And maybe you just hang out with the wrong friends man. The only brand-loyal playstation freaks I see are young brainwashed teenagers with spots on their face, blind for any content or games, too young and stupid to believe Sony marketinglies.

[eques judicii]

why are you comparing the xenos (the xbox 360 triple core cpu) to the RSX (the ps3's single core Gpu... key word: GPU) you are just showing how little you know by comparing a graphics card to the main processor.......

[power of Green]

Like i said it's a first gen game that landed superficailly in the 2nd gen window and only uses one core and only useing 60% of the console's resources.

[ASTAROTH]

Who said that?? Microsoft?? Epic?? ... you!!!!!!!! A fanatic as always. LOL!!!
Im stop messing with you. I hope you really enjoy Gears as Im hoping I will do. If the game rocks and I decide to pay for Xbox Live, I will tell everybody. It will be nice to kick your A$$!!!!

[power of Green]

That would be great, shooting you would make me feel alot better. Fanatic? more like police man. J/K

[MoonDust]

Lets try English now.

[ASTAROTH]

Por que no intentas tu hablar un poquito de español y dejas de hacerte el chico fanatico inteligente. MAMAO!!!!
Why dont you try to speak a little spanish and stop trying to make yourself a smart fanboy. SUCKER!!!

[MoonDust]

Yo hablo espanol, come pinga. Tu eres un pajaro, buela buela maricon. HA! No, estoy jugando(Just playing). :) Didn't mean to insult you, sorry.

[ASTAROTH]

Gears looks like a beffed up, graphycally amazing, not so amazing gameplay next gen version of KILLSWITH with aliens. Sorry guys, but I hope that trading Dead Rising and a couple of PSP games for it is the rigth choice for me. Given the amount of exageratedly overhyped games that the XBOX consoles have received in their lifespam, I will judge Gears until I, and I mean I, (not some stupid fanboy saying it was amazing) get my hands on it. I hope i could play it for more than an hour cause my 360 is really getting hot lately and Im afraid of using the INTERCOLER. Anyone can help?

[power of Green]

Hmmm, I just got through seeing the game being played for about 7 minutes live! and the folks that played it all last weekend said the gameplay was off the hook and simple to handle, it's a matter of taste(Sony fanboys will hate it).

[Aflac]

But I must fisrt inform u that this site puts spaces in random parts of any links we post, so, use ur brain and delete spaces once u copypaste this to ur address bar (cant believe u never figured this out wen I posted links in the past, lmao):
www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/rss/s ony-ps3-gpu-gets-downgraded-197 137.php

Now, here is the original claim by sony before the downgrade:
using Sony's claim, 7 dot products per cycle * 3.2 GHz = 22.4 billion dot products per second for the CPU. That leaves 51 - 22.4 = 28.6 billion dot products per second that are left over for the GPU. That leaves 28.6 billion dot products per second / 550 MHz = 52 GPU ALU ops per clock. The total programmable GPU floating point performance for the PS3 would be 52 ALU ops * 4 floats per op *2 (madd) * 550 MHz = 228.8GFLOPS

Now to update that equation:
52 ALU ops * 4 floats per op *2 (madd) * (updated speed-->)500 MHz = 208.0GFLOPS

Now, let's compare this to MS's GPU:
48 ALU ops * 5 floats per op * 2 (madd) * 500 MHz= 240 GFLOPS.

I could be wrong, but isn't 240 GFLOPS greater than 208 GFLOPS???

[DJ]

"IT LOOKS LIKE the PS3 is way too powerful for us mere humans, and because the value is so overwhelming, Sony is going to make it a little more palatable. The RSX, previously scheduled to run at 550/700 core/memory has been realigned with expectations and the value chain at 500/650.

We can't tell you why the GPU lost nearly 10% of it's clock, it could be an NVidia screwup, or it could be Sony/Cell. Either way, it just became much less of an overwhelming value, but you get a DRM infected drive for 'free' either way.

As a help to the fanbois who inevitably write in somewhat curious broken englishish every time their precious console gets re-specced in a downward manner, please cut and paste the following. It will save you at least an hour trying to figure out the parts of the keyboard that are not WASD:

You teh sux0r 2 sae teh PS3 is not going to teh r0x0r! Yew lie, yew 360 luvr. U teh sux! U maek thing up, go die!!!1111one!1!!!1 heheheheh

As for Sony, I know your reaction, you are going to start a whispering campaign on the forums like last time. Please give the PR genius who thought that one up a promotion and a raise. It worked so well to cower me that I got more inside sources disgusted with you third rate backstabbing attempts than I got in a year. Please do it again, I didn't take offense last time, and I promise not to this time."
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadg... http://www.theinquirer.net/...

He got it from Gizmondo, which got it from The Inquirer, so I posted both links. Neither page actually cites real information; it seems to have been created out of thin air. As for his math, he's actually doing a few things wrong. First off, he's made up how many pipelines are in the RSX. That information was never released. Also, he made one big mistake. The Xenos has ALUs, while the RSX doesn't, it has dedicated pixel and vertex pipelines. Thus, the PS3 ALU figures are made up.

I've actually seen his exact "ALU Claim" spec sheet on other forums pasted by 360 defenders so I don't blame him for thinking it was correct. At first glance it looks valid, until you analyze it of course.

[Aflac]

U r such a pathetic liar, I NEVER used what theinquirer said.
There are plenty of others that also have clarified this downgrade.
Here's a better one: dpad.gotfrag.com/portal/forums /thread/237189/
I do aologize I did not originally use this one, my mistake, lol. So yes, the downgrade was real, along with those calculations which were in fact also partially sony's claim (and I know u believe EVERYTHING sony says, along with watever other sony fanboys say).
"However, using Sony's claim, 7 dot products per cycle * 3.2 GHz = 22.4 billion dot products per second for the CPU. That leaves 51 - 22.4 = 28.6 billion dot products per second that are left over for the GPU. That leaves 28.6 billion dot products per second / 550 MHz = 52 GPU ALU ops per clock."
xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/ 617951p1.html

Did u see that at the beginning? USING SONY'S CLAIM. If sony really didnt make this claim, they most certainly would have taken legal action against MS, that is only fact. Obviously, ur definition of "analyzing" is denying anything that is actually fact--refusal to believe the truth, u only believe wat u want to believe, grow up, b a man and face the facts.
Epic recently mentioned that the ps3 is not capable of handling GOW, and Epic is a multiplatform developer--unbiased, just like Ubisoft who also have stated that only the 360 will be able to handle future splinter cell games. That just adds to the list of developers now revealing the 360's superiority over ps3.

[2tired2day2hate]

for anyone who doubts gears, find ONE bad review. no magazine has bashed this, no one has said "its ok, but...." everyone loves it. some more than others but i've never seen any writer/critic bad mouth this game.

[THE TRUTH]

As to why exactly MS and epic have yet to release a demo of GOW on XBL! I have bought Saints Row on hype alone and that game fell WAY short of what people had said of it! I just want to get a fair chance to play the game for myself before buying it based off hype alone! I will wait til next week to see for myself if the game lives up to the tremendous hype that surrounds its. But what I can say right now is that if GOW offers nothing more than pretty graphics than you can count me out, graphics get old great gameplay doesn't. All I'm saying us that epic and MS have given me nothing to say this game will live up to the hype! Give me the damn demo! 360 has been out for a year it would be so damn easy for them to give us gamers a taste of a game that they placed as the face of the 360! Its really a slap in the face for us real gamers that have enough sense to not fall into the hype machine, I mean you have this great online service a good quality console, a game that some gamers think will put the 360 over the hump and yet you give gamers nothing but a damn TV commercial, seriously be fair and give us gamers a demo to download so we can play enjoy and then buy!

[eques judicii]

did you get a halo demo first? or a god of war demo? how about a super mario 3 demo? since when are demos mandatory to get excited about a game... if you are worried, than don't buy it on launch day and wait for reviews... Personally I'm stoked about the game, but i have some reservations because of how hyped it has become... but that's what we do as consumers... we get excited and we vote with our money, so please don't demand demos... epic even said that developing a demo would have meant either delaying the game or diminishing the quality (they have been working 7 day weeks, 12 hours each day, screwing with their schedule to make a demo might have broken them... i know when I'm studying or at work I don't like someone coming in and adding to my workload.)

but then again.. if your only fault with the game right now is lack of a demo then I don't think that's a bad thing ;-)

[PS360PCROCKS]

Hey dj can you do me a favor and make ONE more comment so that your comment bubbles are gone and you can go back to PS3 stories, and I'm sorry NO ONE, NO ONE would laugh at GOW...why would you laugh at a realistic shooting game? You know it makes no sense, why make up such unrealistic lies? I mean come on, everyone knows you have no friends so than in reality it would be your imagination making this up correct? Dude get over it, Gears is and will always be a good game, and no matter how much crying, spamming, or any other thing you say or do will take away from that...Dude seriously, your friends laughed? Sorry but your dreaming, well maybe not, because dude we're all laughing at you...

[eques judicii]

http://www.xbox.com

check out the new look ;-)

[ApocalypseShadow]

decide if it is worth the purchase.people played the devil may cry demo with code veronica,halo was a demo,god of war was a great demo that people could see that it was going to be a good game,ffxii,king kong on 360,i could go on.right now it is just hype because of the graphics.but as the truth said and i said in a nother article,graphics only last for so long then the game had better back it up.so far it's killswitch with better graphics and 4vs4 online.splinter cell was good for that small amount.but that was LAST GEN(2vs2).a more powerful system and all you get is 4vs4?will halo 3 have appleseed graphics(great anime)but only 2vs2 multiplayer?or 1vs1?the game should do well,but come on.stranglehold has more background damage and it's going to be on 360.resistance has 40 multiplayer.which seems more next gen? a graphically impressive game with 8 possible players on screen or a great looking shooter with 20vs20 possible players?

[TheMART]

Let's forget about DJ he's a real retard living in it's own world. Please stay there and buy the overexpensive next gen Betamax please!

Back on topic:

"Microsoft gambles gamers will turn to Xbox 360 to buy 'Gears of War"

For sure. I heard so many people overhere (Europe for sure with the delaying of PS3), non-Sony fans and Sony fans, that stepped in or are stepping in because of Gears of War.

I spoke to a friend of mine that plays in a band. His lead singer has always been a Sony fan and had sworn he would stay it into his grave.

He saw Gears of War and Resistance. He bought a 360 instantly. Now he said he would buy a HD-DVD even sooner then a PS3 because Sony had let down in as well as content as in delivery

@ Shadowgamer: it's not about quantity, it's about quality. The number of online players doesn't make the next gen factor.

This 4x4 battle, is a well thought out teamfight. Do you actually care if you run into others constantly? Do you? I dare to say that playing a game you won't even notice. I never noticed for example in Halo 2 if there are 8, 16, 24 or 40 people in a game. You are just trying to win, to look for the shoot. Whoever it is you really don't care.

I'd rather have Gears, superior graphics like nothing out there and a very good gaming experience, then a game that is COD3 with aliens added but nothing more then that and a mediocore shooter

[power of Green]

Sony fans buy your PS3 "and be gone" if you don't have anything to say. GoW might be one of the most wanted games sence Halo and MS will profit from it, no need for winded rants about your feelings of haterizism.

[nellus]

I sold my Playstation 2, as did a friend of mine, on the strength of Halo for the Xbox. After playing it, we both went over to Microsofts side of the fence. Thing is, it was well after the launch of the Xbox. I remember I used to spend a lot of time defending the PS2, saying Xbox was "a suitcase that will fail, and will only appeal to a certain few". How wrong was I. The moral of the story is, games sell systems, its a simple fact. There is no right and wrong to which one you own, its all down to individual taste and what titles apear on the what system, enjoy it for what it is.

[Funky Town_TX]

That is it. I also found other great games in my wait.

[Weapon X]

It's sad that XBOX2 fanboys are clinging to this game as the end all be all. Give me a freakin' break. 8 players multi online ??????
Whooop- DEE- Frickin' - Doo!!!!!
What is this? Red Faction 2006 LOL? GMAFB
If this is what all the Gates Clones are hanging there hats on and if it's true (which looks more and more like it is) that this is the "best the 360 can do" graphically, then yeah, I guess you all had better be excited. With confirmation of no larger hard drive notwithstanding - the boys at MS seem like they are trying to buffer their limitiations by pitching overhyped ad campaigns and attacking the major competition while bringing "nothing" new or earth-shattering to the table in the interim -- after a YEARS time of playing leap frog. Oh well - it is an election year after all. C'mon MS - tell the truth. Where is your dynasty of games and exclusives?!!?? Instead of downplaying the competition and telling folks what they couldn't do -you all should've been developing deeper, richer, more innovative games - I mean you are the most POWERFUL software company in the world; are you not!!??? So why the infantile steps toward glory!!!! What gives!!???
Oh well, if players are satisfied with paying $70.00 for this half -baked, over-hyped polished turd with a WHOPPING 8 players online - then MS deserves to steal their money and sleep with their daughters too. Most believe that MS is banking or "gambling" or whatever the hell you wanna call "baiting" these days - - that this will be an "early" sony killer. Well they'd better be right, because anything less would be a downright embarassment quite honestly bub.

[borgome]

quit copy and pasting the same post on every gears of war story, ya looser!