M$ buys the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games

[BORTZ]

I figure this news is not only 24 hours old, as well as probably not all that surprising either. Either way, I should probably let the percentage of you that play the glorified tech demo of a game that it is now owned by Microsoft.

"It all comes back to our commitment to Xbox fans," Microsoft Studios President Phil Spencer said in a statement. "The Gears of War franchise has a very strong, passionate, and valued fan base on Xbox... This franchise, and these fans, are part of the soul of Xbox."

...Uh huh. I feel its probably more about protecting microsoft's precious few exclusives...

The newer games will be developed by the fledgling studio Black Tusk Studios, which used to be Microsoft, Vancouver. Whatever happens, bring on more Horde mode!

Source A

Spoiler: Also, in completely unrelated news

Apparently the NSA is looking for "leaky" apps with data capabilities to collect data... Angry birds needs network access, but why? Details at 11.

 

[Dork]

Good, now Epic Games can focus on Unreal Tournament 4.

 

[Bladexdsl]

no surprise that was going to happen

 

[Gahars]

Good, now Epic Games can focus on Unreal Tournament 4.

And Fortnite, r-right?

Honestly, at this point, it's looking like Epic is more invested in their engines than in games. As someone who hasn't really cared for their game output recently, I can't say I'm terribly distressed or anything.

 

[FAST6191]

I will have to look further into the deal, I am drawn to wonder what it entailed as far as source code and the like.

I can see what Gahars said as well, this is quite amusing as they seem to be doing the exact same thing ID did that allowed unreal/epic to stomp all over them. Granted that is somewhat superficial and the landscape has changed dramatically since then but I will note it.

 

[Hells Malice]

I wonder if this new studio will make GoW not suck total balls.

I doubt it, but we'll see.

 

[chavosaur]

I've never been a big Fan of Gears of War. The series is just a lot of fun to make fun of for all it's raw testosterone and ridiculous glitches.
I remember playing co-op with my buddy online recently when the first title was available for games with gold, and the entire map just despawned.
I was running around in a black abyss while all the character models were still running around trying to kill me.

 

[Dork]

And Fortnite, r-right?

Honestly, at this point, it's looking like Epic is more invested in their engines than in games. As someone who hasn't really cared for their game output recently, I can't say I'm terribly distressed or anything.

I just want a new Unreal. UT3 died before Epic could even fix it. The only ones worth playing are 2004 and 1999.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

inb4TheyReleaseAShitVersionLikeTheyDidWithHalo

 

[BORTZ]

And Fortnite, r-right
Honestly, at this point, it's looking like Epic is more invested in their engines than in games. As someone who hasn't really cared for their game output recently, I can't say I'm terribly distressed or anything.

To be perfectly honest, we could probably use some better engines in the gaming world anyways.

I've never been a big Fan of Gears of War. The series is just a lot of fun to make fun of for all it's raw testosterone and ridiculous glitches.
I remember playing co-op with my buddy online recently when the first title was available for games with gold, and the entire map just despawned.
I was running around in a black abyss while all the character models were still running around trying to kill me.

I remember having fond memories of horde mode with my freshmen college roommate after this chick dumped me, we would go on murder rampages and it made me feel much much better.

inb4TheyReleaseAShitVersionLikeTheyDidWithHalo

Not that im going to defend halo or 343, but I feel like they did a pretty good job with the newest installment.

...Or was that the joke...

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Not that im going to defend halo or 343, but I feel like they did a pretty good job with the newest installment.

...Or was that the joke...

I liked Halo 4 (and I definitely like where they're trying to take Halo now), it was definitely a better game than 3/ODST (Which, IIRC were the last games Bungie made), but it sort of lost the Halo feel. If it kept the same gameplay/weapon types but was branded a different series it would've been great. It's sort of like with Dead Space 3. For a Dead Space game it's absolute trash; it lost a majority of it's horror aspects and the combat went from "shooting some necromorphs sometimes and solving puzzles like a badass" to "shootouts every 5 seconds with an army of people and shit and sometimes you go do stuff"...but if it were rebranded to any other series it would've been a great game.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

inb4TheyReleaseAShitVersionLikeTheyDidWithHalo

Epic already did that for them with Judgement.

The game is a bit over the top, but the first few were fun enough with friends, in the multiplayer modes anyways. Judgement felt too watered down, though; never really could get into it.

 

[shakirmoledina]

but i doubt MS is going to be calling the gaming shots. maybe they will do the back-end publicity and financial matters and likewise.

 

[WiiUBricker]

While we are at it, Nintendo should buy off the Ace Attorney franchise from Capcom. That way there won't be any more iOS ports.

 

[Taleweaver]

I just want a new Unreal. UT3 died before Epic could even fix it. The only ones worth playing are 2004 and 1999.

They could have fixed it but they didn't. The black edition just made things "less bad", and it came way too late. And even then...starting a game was fighting your way through way too many menus and options, and multiplayer was stripped since former versions (I couldn't even find my own clan mates online!).

It could be that the unreal series is like windows in that they alternate between bad and good products (with unreal 2, UT2003 and UT3 being like millenium, vista and 8), but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[p1ngpong]

Gears of war is great and if you don't like it you have no testicles.

Don't make me slap you all ffs.

 

[BORTZ]

I liked Halo 4 (and I definitely like where they're trying to take Halo now), it was definitely a better game than 3/ODST (Which, IIRC were the last games Bungie made), but it sort of lost the Halo feel. If it kept the same gameplay/weapon types but was branded a different series it would've been great. It's sort of like with Dead Space 3. For a Dead Space game it's absolute trash; it lost a majority of it's horror aspects and the combat went from "shooting some necromorphs sometimes and solving puzzles like a badass" to "shootouts every 5 seconds with an army of people and shit and sometimes you go do stuff"...but if it were rebranded to any other series it would've been a great game.

To all of that... yeah I agree. I see what you are saying.

 

[DSGamer64]

After how bad Judgment was, if Epic isn't making it then it might not be as good as the earlier games. Oh well, the few Xbone owners can enjoy another average duck and cover rehash.

 

[Qtis]

I actually liked Gears of War, though I haven't played the newest one yet. The reason I liked it was the co-op. Story wasn't that interesting, but worked nevertheless. I wonder how Microsoft will end up using the IP..

 

[BORTZ]

I actually liked Gears of War, though I haven't played the newest one yet. The reason I liked it was the co-op. Story wasn't that interesting, but worked nevertheless. I wonder how Microsoft will end up using the IP..

I watched my friend play a lot of Gears 3 from the horde mode game type, it was like a 3rd person tower defense game, quite good and entertaining. I wish there were more games like it.