560°

Where Would We Be Without Gears of War?

It's easy to look back on Gears of War now and wonder what all the fuss was about. The story's fragmented at best, all the lead characters have the combined depth of a puddle, and in at times the movement was so clunky so as to be almost tank-like. At the time however, the game was as close to revolutionary as the game industry gets, and without it you'd be playing games very differently today.

kissmeimgreek5606d ago

its weird to think how much gears has inspired the gaming industry in such a short amount of time.

xTruthx5606d ago

inspired ? have you played ut99 or ut2004 ?

swiftshot935606d ago

Im very happy that it did. I cant even imagine what GTA, Uncharted, and all these other games would be like if it wasnt for Gears of War and Resident Evil 4.

Bnet3435606d ago

By inspired, he means every game after Gears of War implemented a cover system. Uncharted, Wanted: Weapons of Fate, GTA IV, etc.

we won5606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

3rd person cover based action hits of this generation might not be here and gaming would be a tad bit less evolved in general.

deadreckoning6665606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

Despite, the many problems alot of people have with Gears of War, we can't deny that it was the "first" truly next-gen game. The original Gears of War provided the base for the best cover system in a TPS and Uncharted refined it and improved upon it. Without GeOW, who knows how Uncharted's cover system would have turned out.

"I can deny that it was the first "truly next gen" game. I played quite a few "truly next gen" games before Gears came along."

Such as???

ReBurn5606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

I can deny that it was the first "truly next gen" game. I played quite a few "truly next gen" games before Gears came along.

Games I played that I enjoyed way, way more than Gears. Like Dead Rising, Saints Row, Dead or Alive 4, Oblivion. No intention of getting into listwars with anyone. But those games I liked way more than Gears, and they all came before it.

Traveler5606d ago

Gears of War is a great franchise and it undeniably has left its mark on the gaming world.

IHateYouFanboys5606d ago

you think that Uncharted refined and improved on Gears of Wars cover system? Uncharteds cover system is a clunky mess compared to the first gears of wars, let alone the seconds. even Uncharted 2s cover system is poor compared to gears of wars.

Saaking5606d ago

We'd still have Uncharted which, imo, is a FAR better game.

Hisiru5606d ago

Why the disagrees? Is it hard to accept that RE4 and Gears influenced the industry?

Beefstew4u5606d ago

I agree with deadreckoning666. Gear of War was the first game this generation that truly felt like something new. All other games that came out were just remakes of older ones with HD graphics. Gear showed that developers this gen really needed to come out with new, original content. And look at all of the amazing games we have now =D!

raztad5606d ago

I dont know about you but the third person cover system makes games slower and repetitive. Pop out shoot pop in rinse and repeat. It got me bored of GTA4, Gears 1 itself and UC1 to certain extent. Thankfully UC2 did a lot more than just shoot and cover so the game never felt repetitive.

I want a GTA with a more traditional and dynamic TPS run and gun system. Red Faction:G has it better. You can run and gun but at the same time cover can be used like in Gears,

STK0265606d ago

While Gears is not the only game responsible for that, it's largely responsible for the resurgence of the TPS genre, compared to the ever popular FPS one. And while its cover system was mostly the Kill.Switch one, Gears made it popular, and therefor influenced the way most TPS (and even FPS) games are made today.

Obviously, Gears did not invent everything, if anything really, they took things from other games and mixed them together while adding some touches. But in the end, Gears left its mark in the industry. Oh, and while I'll agree that both Uncharted games are amazing, who knows how they would have turned out had Gears never been created (I'm sure ND would have created something equally awesome, but would it be a TPS? would it feature a cover system? would the second one feature a co-op system somewhat similar to Gears2's horde mode? etc)

HighDefinition5606d ago

How much credit GEOW gets for a cover system it DIDN`T create, it did make it popular but by no means is it the "father" of the cover system.

Madness I tell you.

*Own Both Consoles*

RedPawn5606d ago

You talk about refined cover systems, how about we talk about story. Oh that's right their is no story, people talk about cinematic expression and presentation, and this game is completely devoid of it. Gears to me shows me exactly how to string together the most lamest of plot points to sell some B.S.

SilentNegotiator5606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

I like how people think that a game (Uncharted) that came out less than a year after Gears has everything to credit to it.

Nope, Uncharted would have been conceived with or without Gears of War. Sorry, fanboys, Gears of War is NOT the father of all great tps with cover systems.

Bathyj5606d ago

Gears is the reason I bought an Xbox at launch. And man am I so sick of it getting credit it doesnt deserve. Now that its common knowledge that Gears invented nothing, "popularised" is the new buzzword.

It didnt make 3rd person popular, nor did it make the cover system popular. I supposed the dozen or so games I enjoyed with those attributes before Gears were imaginary.

The only really clever thing Gears ever did is the one thing no one ever talks about or copies. The reload mechanism. Thats a great idea, one I think could be carried over to all sorts of situations, not just reloading a gun.

I have no problem with a game not being innovative, or original. I dont think every AAA has to invent a new genre, just so long as its good. But I really think this game has too much credit for stuff it only refined, not invented, or popularised.

imec5606d ago

I hate cover systems almost as much as I hate regenerative health. It's always fun to wait for your enemy to pop their head up for five minutes instead of actually moving through the level or using your environment (and no, I don't consider ducking behind a piece of debris for five minutes to be good use of the environment). Developers should have found a more creative take on gunplay, cover systems just aren't all that intuitive (hell, I even consider the "sword and shield" approach more interesting and demanding than a game with cover whenever I see it in an RPG or Adventure game; and it's been around since the inception of mainstream 3D gaming!).

ReservoirDog3165606d ago

Yeah, Gears was pretty sick at the time. It's one of those games I can only really look back on and never play it though (and I'm one of those people who still replay old SNES, PS1 and PS2 games). The lack of story just bores me really really badly.

But without it, huge games like GTA IV and Uncharted wouldn't have the cover system. So yay for Gears 1.

And also, you can argue that one PS2 game that had the same cover system. What's it called? Well that. But Gears is what made it all catch on. So yay for that game and yay for Gears.

LastDance5606d ago

Operation Winback had a cover system. That game was on N64.

Socrates5606d ago

Ok bathyj, by that standard virtually no games are innovative this generation. Name any game, say LittleBigPlanet, and I can show you that virtually every component of that game was found in some form in previous games.

Sometimes games leave their mark by refining earlier concepts and mixing them together in truly unique ways.

But if you are trying to be critical you can always tear something apart and show how the elements that comprise it have been done before in some form. As they say, there is nothing truly new under the sun.

What is undeniable is that the experience Gears of War gave you genuinely seemed like something kind of new. It had a big influence on many games that came after it.

5606d ago
Bathyj5606d ago

Socrates, I think you should read my last paragraph again.

And I'm not being critical of the game, I'm just not about to give it credit for every 3rd person game with a cover system that came after it.

Personally I enjoyed Rainbow 6's cover system much more, and that game came out the same week. I could just as easily say every cover system owes RB6 some credit, but in reality it goes back alot further than that.

FACTUAL evidence5606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

but, you mean; "Where would the 360 be without gears". Because I'm doing pretty fine without gears.

pixelsword5606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

but the cover system is a direct rip from kill.Switch 100%.

Yes, I know winback has a cover system, but you don't fire from cover, you don't blind-fire, and you don't move from cover to cover. Winback has a "police shooter" cover system, and kill.Switch has a full battle cover system, unique in every way.

Winback's cover system is nothing like kill.switch's cover system whereas the cover system from Gears is 100% like the cover system from kill.switch... if you don't agree, please name one thing different from Gears 1 cover system that's different than kill.switch's cover system.

Thought so.

Besides, if you want to talk about the first game where you fire from cover, that's Space Invaders; where you shoot through your shields, if you want to get stupid with it.

PopEmUp5606d ago

with game like uc or gta is inspire by Gear, but I am pretty sure MW2 is inspire by gear with their online

Hint: glitch

Shepherd 2145606d ago

People seem to forget that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion came out many months before Gears of War. Oblivion was probably the first mind blowing next gen game. Oblivion came out even before the PS3 and Wii had launched, and its still a beautiful, massive game today.

andron5605d ago (Edited 5605d ago )

It was a TPS with a one button cover system, blindfire and regenerating health. I remember playing it on my PS2, it was very smooth and revolutionary for it's time.

Sure GeoW refined it and made it popular with it's great success, but kill.switch was the original inspiration...

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

meepmoopmeep5605d ago (Edited 5605d ago )

testosterone overload, cursing, lack of story and overly fake muscles would plummet

+ Show (27) more repliesLast reply 5605d ago
edwineverready5606d ago

The unreal engine would not be so over hyped and over used.

Bnet3435606d ago

It's used a lot because it's cheap (financially) As far as "overhyped", I don't follow you there.

deadreckoning6665606d ago

"Gears of War is a great franchise and it undeniably has left its mark on the gaming world."

Yep. Its the most commercially successful TPS in the history of gaming. Thats a HUGE accomplishment.

Shadow Man5606d ago

Quantum former PS3 exclusive

AliTheBrit195606d ago (Edited 5606d ago )

Although the cover system gears introduced has been seen before in older games, it's quite obvious to see that it was the popularity of Gears of War which really brought forward cover systems in third person games.

So no, we wouldn't be in the same place

Is it really so hard for you vermin to give credit where credit is due? pfft and you call yourself gamers, HA.

Edit @baum

Meh fair enough

baum5606d ago

They don't call the open zone the fun zone for nothing. If you want mildly rational conversations with some stealth trolling here and there.....

Gamer Zone is that way

<<<<<<<& lt;<-------------

likedamaster5605d ago

Haters gonna hate.

Bring on Gears 3.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5605d ago
iPad5606d ago

The same place we are right now.

N4BmpS5606d ago

I was going to say that same exact thing, so serious.

theEnemy5606d ago

where still here playing awesome games.

Perjoss5606d ago

"The same place we are right now."

This line would have fit better if the article had been about Resistance.

pixelsword5606d ago

Resistance 2: 60 players online

MAG: 256 players online

Nope, progression is shown.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5606d ago
ReBurn5606d ago

I probably wouldn't be playing games any differently. The author of this article sure knows how to stretch to write the story.

Show all comments (153)
260°

Gears Of War Creator Urges Devs To Make Single-Player Games Amid EA's Live Service Focus

Gears of War's creator has spoken out against the trend of turning established franchises into live services, urging developers to focus on single-player experiences.

Relientk77137d ago

I agree with Cliff for once.

Single player games > GaaS

JEECE136d ago

Too bad he didn't have this opinion when he chased trends with Lawbreakers. Or when he chased trends with Radical Heights.

Popsicle136d ago (Edited 136d ago )

He learned from the mistake or he wouldn’t be advocating for more single player experiences. I find this refreshing in a world where we often see people so stubborn that they tend to double down on a mistake which results in making things even worse. Seriously, good for him!

JEECE136d ago

@Popsicle

Oh for sure, better late than never. And better to somewhat own up to your mistakes, rather than just blaming your release window, or advertising partners, or gamers lol.

anast136d ago

@Popsicle

Of course we will never know his intentions, but it's hard to believe he is just a naive agent that is learning from his mistakes.

-Foxtrot137d ago

He could have done one himself after Gears of War but he did Lawbreakers…look how that turned out.

RaidenBlack137d ago

Not converting Jawbreakers into F2P was the final nail in the CliffyB coffin.

Knushwood Butt136d ago

Jawbreakers would have been a better name! Heck, I might just go and trademark that right now.

BISHOP-BRASIL136d ago

@Knushwood

Aren't those a kind of candy already?

coolbeans137d ago

You're missing the point. His studio's short lifespan is what *inspired* him to make this comment in the first place.

-Foxtrot137d ago

Oh I know the point...I'm just stating the obvious and how stupid he was in the beginning to jump on a trend he had no real experience in. A first person hero shooter with heavy GaaS elements is a lot different than the multiplayer in Gears of War.

He'd have been better creating something like Gears of War again, a great single player story and a good online mode.

coolbeans136d ago

-"A first person hero shooter with heavy GaaS elements is a lot different than the multiplayer in Gears of War."

I mean... you're kinda muddying terms when Gears has always had a strong multiplayer component. Even if I grant you that, Cliffy B started cementing himself at Epic with Unreal Tournament, which was among the earliest shooter series to have "proto-GaaS elements" (downloadable maps, cosmetics, special editions that bundle stuff together). Lawbreakers and Radical Heights (were it finished) weren't major career shifts to him like they would be for, say, Fumito Ueda.

Regardless of that, it's still kinda useless to state the obvious when CliffyB himself made his comments with the benefit of hindsight already.

136d ago
CrimsonWing69136d ago (Edited 136d ago )

Look, these a-hole publishers can do this, in fact I want them to, so they can f*ck around and find out and fail hard scaring away everyone else from doing this live service push.

This industry is run by some of the dumbest corporate pieces of sh*t I’ve ever seen. They spend stupid amount of money with literally nothing that stands out from games from the previous generation (look at Arkham Knight to the $200 mill Suicide Squad comparison vids), you’re overpaying devs, and you focus on games as a service to milk consumers that a lot of them grew up off traditional games. We’re not idiots, we sniff this sh*t out and won’t touch it.

So, what’s your answer to not getting a ROI? Raise game prices and double down on GaaS so you can suck your consumers dry. That model only works for some games and even then how in hell do you expect it to work with multiple games!? They’re ruining the damn hobby with this corporate greed.

Cut back on dev budgets, cut back on how much your staff is getting paid, until sales for games bring in a profit. That’s the answer and make some games that feel like there’s passion behind them, not some cookie cut up game that feels like the entire existence behind it is to offer as little as it can with repetitive bullsh*t and selling off all this content throughout its life. It’s gross.

anast136d ago

I agree with every point here.

Redemption-64136d ago

Games do bring in a profit, it's the greed that is killing the industry. Here is a fact, live service games overall make more, significantly more money than single player games

What you should be asking is executives not wanting continuous growth or firing them. Saying devs should be fired when those who are fitting the bills and setting unrealistic expectations would make things worse. What do y9u think would happen if they released say, 30 single player games and over half of them fail? You are going after the wrong crowd.

DankSinatra136d ago

About time he learned. I guess he finally stopped blaming everyone else and took accountability for his mistakes and realized that people really don't care that much for trends or live service.

Show all comments (24)
850°

Report: Gears of War Trilogy Collection Will Be Multiplatform and Available on PS5 Day One

A new rumor suggests that the Gears of War Trilogy Collection is real, with it launching on the PS5 day one with Xbox and PC.

LG_Fox_Brazil142d ago

Yeah, I can totally see that happening. My only doubt is if they are going to announce that at the same time as the Hallo Collection or if they will try to distance both announcements to try to ease the pain

helicoptergirl142d ago

This same insider was correct about Forza Horizon 5. So this might be true. But I heard rumors are the Halo:MCC is the next big one to be announced. We'll see I guess

DefenderOfDoom2141d ago

I am hoping Halo:MCC comes to PlayStation .

Cacabunga141d ago

Someone check on Obscure Observer please

piroh142d ago

They should announce dedicated showcase for all Playstation ports, it would be less painful for their fanbase.

Anyway thank you Team Xbox and Phil i will support the games.

Profchaos142d ago

Phil should wear a crash t shirt to that

Profchaos142d ago

I see them being in the same year but halo coming alongside ns2 and if e day is early next year gears collection could come at Christmas time

The_Blue142d ago

Ease the pain? You do know these people won't even entertain us irl, ironic 😭

1Victor142d ago

NOOOOOOOOOOOO screamed an obscured observer from across the room the street.
Well I’ll check it out DAY 1 🤣 I hope the do a good job porting it and don’t have issues like MCC did when it first launched on s/x🤷🏿

Mr_cheese142d ago (Edited 142d ago )

This will be cool

TheEroica141d ago (Edited 141d ago )

Ease the pain? Pain for who? Lol. More games on more platforms is a gamer friendly approach. Locking games behind hardware is archaic and lame... Let's not turn into corporate stooges.

TheEroica141d ago

4 corporate suits voted me down. Shame. Pro gamer all the way.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 141d ago
Lightning77142d ago

I remember talking about this with someone on the forums and they made some good points. Like what exactly are these old games doing at the moment? They pushed the hardware and did everything they needed to do for that platform at the time. Now in MS case even their new games are gonna be day and date but if we're taking about old games. Those games are just sitting their not doing anything anymore. When you port the old stuff to another console, that game has life again and move few more units and a new audience.

As I said Xbox is different because their stuff is inching closer and closer to be day and date. Though both Xbox and PS have old games that are just sitting around when they could have new audiences and breathe new life into the older exclusives.

Terry_B142d ago

Just imagine how well collections of older Nintendo games would sell on pc, xbox and playstation...

NotoriousWhiz142d ago

I honestly don't expect Nintendo to gain much from releasing their games on 3rd party consoles. People are conditioned to buy Nintendo games on Nintendo hardware. Once that changes, Nintendo will probably lose out on revenue as people pass on their underpowered console to wait for their game to release on a superior console. Tons of people only have a Switch for exclusives, and those exclusives sell better than most games on the other platforms and Nintendo is able to pocket the bulk of that revenue since it is their game on their console.

Profchaos141d ago

Not very considering rom packs have been eaily accessible for years now it's only really GameCube and above you need to pick and choose because the game size is fairly large and the Wii IMO didn't emulate well considering the motion controls.

So as incredible as they are I doubt they would sell unless they are overhauling them somehow but then again I wouldn't want to see them overhauled but that's just me I still play the NES version of Mario 3 over the SNES all stars version as a example because I think it looks better.

141d ago
Sonic1881141d ago

All you had to say was Microsoft is a third party publisher now

Lightning77141d ago

Huh? They clearly are what are you trying to get at?

rlow1141d ago

That still makes and releases a console…..which knocks them out of the third party club…..nice try

Sonic1881141d ago

@rlow1

A third-party publisher that still releases a console? Sure, whatever makes you sleep at night. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're trying to do.

generic-user-name141d ago

The Series X/S backwards compatibility to their old classics was one of the last few selling points for those consoles.

RaidenBlack142d ago

Finally Gears 2 & 3 coming to PC !

neutralgamer1992142d ago (Edited 142d ago )

Exactly I also hope we get a fable collection since fable 2 never came to Pc

I hope we also get gears of war 4 on Pc too since only gears 5 is on steam along with tactics

ninjabutt13142d ago

Gears 4 is already on pc, maybe not in steam but its in xbox app

141d ago
isarai142d ago

Where's the goalposts gonna go now? 😀🫳🍿

helicoptergirl142d ago

Get an obscure person to bend over and then I'll show you :)

Chevalier142d ago

They're too busy crying in a corner and being served crow again though. Pretty sure everything is going to voicemail.

goken141d ago

@helicoptergirl
Normally with articles like this the person you mentioned is usually obscured from observation 🤣

Profchaos142d ago

Revenue same as always Microsoft don't care about community it's reputation and they've never been worried about losing loyal customers if you recall the Kinect era they abandoned the hardcore entirely to pursue the hardcore gamers grandma

Outside_ofthe_Box142d ago

"Where's the goalposts gonna go now?"

"It's just old games sitting around doing nothing! Might as well get money from it and a new audience you can use to potentially make it exclusive again for next gen for them to be enticed to jump ship!"

~New goalpost

142d ago
Outside_ofthe_Box142d ago (Edited 142d ago )

"Eventually Sony will likely be forced to do the same"

Is that you begging for games that you once bashed in the past? Too funny, things must be dry in your land.

Chevalier142d ago

"aren’t selling as much as Xbox - and the answer will be that they are on less platforms."

No they won't because Xbox doesn't announce sales numbers at all. So how would they compare these sales? What idiotic logic. These shareholders going to pull numbers out their backside?!

thorstein142d ago

Why doesn't he just use the one account. How many N4G tabs does he have open with different accounts?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 142d ago
neutralgamer1992142d ago

Why do you need goalposts? More gamers will get to play games. Phil said it few days ago again no game has any red line around it. Seriously man it's gaming and your choice of plastic box makes no difference

It's 2025 enjoy gaming on any platform. We should be celebrating how the Biggest gaming publisher is allowing their games to be played on all platforms but how can we get that when some people feel the need to take victory laps

142d ago
Chevalier142d ago

Well hate to say we told you so. But we called this happening as soon as we saw these big purchases and falling sales, but, a whole slew of people said this would NEVER happen. Goalpost keep moving too as if it's some weird flex.

thorstein141d ago (Edited 141d ago )

TBH, Forza, the Indiana Jones game, the next Elder Scrolls, and I hope Fable will make it over. I'm excited about those.

I don't think MS going the Sega route would be a bad thing. Nintendo and Sony are making good hardware. There's no reason to not make profit off of that.

But the goalposts moving is in reference to people who constantly approve and post disingenuous stories that they scream are true.

For instance, "you can build a comparable PC to a PS pro for $700," conveniently leaving off the OS. Or, "Sony delisted HD2 in 170 countries" when in reality, it was 170 regions of which SteamDB lists as having over 3000 regions.

neutralgamer1992141d ago

Chevalier

What is this with we. Yes most of us saw this coming and all I am saying is it's a great thing for gamers on all platforms. We should be celebrating the fact amazing games will be available to all of us instead of taking some victory lap because of a plastic box

Chevalier140d ago

"What is this with we. Yes most of us saw this coming and all I am saying is it's a great thing for gamers on all platforms. We should be celebrating the fact amazing games will be available to all of us instead of taking some victory lap because of a plastic box"

Cool and it should be celebrated. But this idiotic narrative is that it was done for us as consumers needs to die.

Lots of idiots trying to reframe this when they literally argued that this would NEVER happen when we said yes it will because Gamepass isn't profitable and sales losses all round and add in lower hardware sales and it was obvious

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 140d ago
1Victor142d ago

@isarai: “ Where's the goalposts gonna go now? 😀🫳🍿”
.
The goal post is going home crawl into the shower open the flow and start crying while rocking back and forward i obscured by the darkness of the room.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 140d ago
helicoptergirl142d ago

I haven't played any oif these games either. Will buy and go through the campgains for sure. They a co-op correct? Hope so

Yui_Suzumiya141d ago

They're amazing. If you ever played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine then you already have an idea how they play.

Show all comments (113)
90°

Rumored Gears of War Collection is at the top of my 2024 Xbox wishlist

As the long-rumored Gears of War Collection looks like it may finally materialize on Xbox, the timing could not be better as Gears 6 and movie news swirls.

Read Full Story >>
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1Victor524d ago (Edited 524d ago )

(Insert “It should be multi platform if Microsoft investors wants more money” JK here)
All jokes aside congratulations to all the gears fans it will be a blast I remember having fun on the first one on my 360 elite till got RROD and quit Xbox all together but that’s a story for another day.
Congratulations 🎊 🍾 🎉 🎈 🎉 🙏

Wyesvin524d ago

I'm excited for this just aslong is on the pc also cause I don't have the newest xbox console.

shinoff2183523d ago

I enjoyed the tactical one. I can't remember the actual name but it was fun.