Pre-ordered Gears of War 2 with the Lancer!

Woohoo, I've pre-ordered Gears of War 2 with the limited-edition full-scale Lancer!  Oh yeah.

Thanks Amazon.  (And I wonder how many of these bundles they've sold?)

The Lancer by itself is $140.  The normal edition of the game is another $60.  But if you buy the Lancer, you get the normal edition for free.  (I decided against getting the limited edition of the game, since I already got the limited edition version of the original Gears of War, and barely used anything outside the game).

To be even cheaper, I took the free shipping option (adds 5 - 7 days).  So sure, I will get my game around Nov 12 - 16,  but the entire thing only cost me $140!

Game Preview - Fracture

Fracture, from Lucas Arts, is looking good.  The character models seem like Quake-lites, (where, of course, Quake copied from Gears of War).  Ok, so they look A LOT like the Gears guys, with red armor with the same blue lighting.

It looks quite good, and the main idea of the game, terrain deformation, looks quite cool.  Essentially, its 2090 and you have weird new guns that can help you deform the terrain, and attack enemies in different and weird ways.

Looks like a solid buy; after I finish with Gears of War 2, play GoW again for the umpteenth time, Fracture can help me get a little more of the juju.  I'm hoping I can get away with just normal gun-play once in a while.

Gave Preview - Gears of War 2 (contd.)

Just saw a live demo on E3.... OMFG OMFG OMFG!!!!!!!!

November 7th, I can't wait!

Meat-shields, oh my!

Faster pacing, goodness gracious!

Better and more detailed graphics... wha..? how...?

Newer weapons, smarter and new enemies, ooh yeah!  (Like the priests, with their new ink grenades, the tickers - explosive little buggers, drones with grappling hooks - you can shoot the hooks off walls so the drones plunge to their splattery deaths... and on and on!)

Newer, gorier kill-moves - flip me over and curb stomp me, why don't you??

The brumaks! Damn!

November 7th, I really can't wait!!!!!

In the meantime, here's an older video, revealed by Mr. Mousse, Cliffy B.  Around the 2 minute mark, you can see an example of using a meat-shield.  And of course, the Brumak is there, and the locust have chainsaws too.  Woohoo!

Game Preview - Gears of War 2 (Part 2)

Gears of War 2 is coming out in November, and I am starting to get as amped up as I was for the first version! Check out the viscerally pleasing video, and download wallpapers.

(Seems the locust have chainsaws too.. Nice!)

I was blown away by the visuals. Given the early stage, I'm sure they will get another face lift soon, but as far as I'm concerned they're ready to go. I saw a sneak peak, comparing the graphics between GoW and GoW 2, and the upgrade is impressive. With GoW, Epic Games had strived for a look they called "Destroyed Beauty", which while inducing chuckles, did actually work. GoW 2 amps that up by adding heavier atmospherics, 'dust' particles, and what seems like improved shading.

Oh, and Gears of War 2 is still an XBox exclusive, so I would recommend buying one!

GAme Preview - Gears of War 2!!

Gears of War 2 is coming out soon!! Saw an in-game demo, that looked better than the original game. Cliffy B might suck menthol, but looks like he'll deliver again.

I can't wait!