Gizmodo: gears of war

Half of Next-Gen Console Owners Are Playing on Standard-Def TVs

Adam Frucci — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:40:00 EDT

It's easy for those of us with HDTVs to forget that not everyone has them yet. And Epic's Mark Rein's stat that slightly over half of Gears of War 2 players played it on an SDTV really brings that home.

If you're wondering why Microsoft and Sony are going to drag this current generation of consoles out for as long as possible, look no further than this:

Over half the users who played Gears of War 2 so far do not have HDTVs…My point is, of the systems that are out there now, the majority of them aren't plugged into HDTVs. So there's no way we're ready for the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox Whatever.

More than half. That's a pretty wild statistic. And of course Microsoft and Sony won't want to invest in a whole new console until everyone has an HDTV, because without that, there's really not much more for them to upgrade. People need to upgrade themselves first.

That being said, I'm still annoyed that the Wii is only in standard def. Sony and Microsoft may be catering to less than half of their user base with HD graphics, but at least they're offering the best experience possible to their entire audience. [Eurogamer via Kotaku]

Xbox 360 Played on Dallas Cowboys' 11,200 Square Foot Screen

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The current largest video screen in the world, in the Dallas Cowboys stadium, measures an insane 159x71 feet. Feet! And what better way to show that immensity off than by playing a little Gears of War?

Apparently the gamer who masterminded this hedonistic joyride was Steve Fatone, brother of *NSYNC's Joey and music video director for luminaries like, um, the Jonas Brothers. So maybe his taste in music is suspect, but we think we just might get along with him anyway, after this indulgence. [Engadget]

It Is a Good Day to Die a Robot Death

Brian Lam — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:40:00 EDT

Joel@BoingBoing has put together a gallery of robots and humans cooperating to extinguish opposing force—human, cyborg or otherwise. This photo shows the towing capacity of a ~~packbot~~ QinetiQ TALON Robot, apparently capable of towing meatbags back to the hive to feed its young. [Army.mil Flickr via BBG]

Toy Fair Action Figure Gallery: Start Your Salival Glands

matt buchanan — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:40:00 EST

Some of these action figures are really exquisite. There's a ton of Watchmen. Also making appearances: Street Fighters, classic Arnold Terminators and every other 'roided out superhero you love.

Gears of War 2 Zune Gets Us Excited For Alien Homicide

Jason Chen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:20:00 EST

Microsoft's other popular Xbox 360 shooter is Gears of War 2, which hits stores tomorrow. We already got hands-on coverage of the custom-painted, custom-content Zune that accompanies this global marketing push, but here are some more shots of the exterior and some more details about what you get when you buy one.

The Zune has the full Gears of War 1 soundtrack, nine Gears of War videos (trailers and such), and 244 images such as concept art and photos of people who worked on the game. If you're a Gears fan that's on the fence about buying a Zune, this is a pretty viable option considering all the GoW extras you get. $279 gets you the 120GB version (which will be outdated in two years when Gears of War 3 debuts).

[Zune]

Hands On Gears of War 2 Zune, Better Xbox 360 Integration Coming "Within a Year"

matt buchanan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:29:00 EDT

Here's the special edition Gears of War 2 Zune coming out next month, in the flesh. It's total sex if you're into dripping blood and skulls and boxy media players. (You sick bastard.) Oh, and good news for Zune Guy: Marketing director for Zune Jason Reindorp told us that a serious "step up" in Zune and Xbox 360 integration will happen "within a year." Finally, though they're taking their sweet time getting to where they should've been a long time ago.

Also on hand were the next round of Zune Originals coming out later this month, the Zodiac series, with Spanish artist Catalina Estrada designing ones around the Western signs, and Iosefatu Sua doing up the Eastern set for a total of 24—both lines are requisitely trippy.

Gears of War 2 Zune Coming on Nov 7, Preorders Start in the Morning

Elaine Chow — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:07:09 EDT

Killing two marketing birds with one stone, Microsoft's bundling some of its Zunes with various Gears of War 2 (launching soon!) paraphernalia. Each 120GB Zune will sport a laser-etched “Crimson Omen” and come pre-loaded with 244 pieces of media, including the soundtrack, behind-the-scene videos and concept art. The entire package will cost you $280 and will start shipping on November 7th. Pre-orders on Amazon.com and Walmart.com will begin at 6AM EST. Looks like M'soft's stopped going after babies and chosen to focus on teenage boys instead. [Engadget]

Someone's Dragon Collection Melted on this Gears of War Xbox 360

Mark Wilson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:30:00 EDT

Sure, we like the design, but we love that despite the muddy, spontaneous pewter finish of this homemade Gears of War Xbox 360, the creator very carefully negotiated all of the Xbox's machined ventilation holes. All-in-all, it's a pretty decent-looking mod, and those red lights are actually pretty quite when they're not signaling a melted 360. [Llama's]

Special Edition DC Xbox 360s Are Hot In the Non-RROD Sense

Jack Loftus — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Check out these four horsemen of the Xbox 360 apocalypse from ComicCon: one Watchmen, one DC Comics, one Gears of War, and one Terminator Salvation, all up for grabs as part of a contest from Warner Bros. These aren't just new cases, either, they're full-fledged Xbox 360 consoles. There's only limited info to go on right now concerning these custom consoles, so we have no idea whether or not the superheros and super powers splayed across the fronts of these Xbox 360s will be enough to combat the RROD that surely awaits each of them in the future. [Film School Rejects]

How to do a Nerf Gears of War Lancer

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:12:01 EST

These guys got an assault rifle, a mechanic chainsaw and a bunch of LEDs to create a Gears of War Lancer gun. Fortunately for everyone, or maybe just Jack Thompson, only the LEDs are real. But even while they used a toy chainsaw and a Nerf N-Strike Longshot CS-6, the final result looks great in motion.

[HacknMod]

The Gear Clock

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:30:29 EDT

If your clock's going to be made out of gears, why not just expose all the gears and make it part of the design? That's exactly what these folks did, which makes for a quite sexy clock design that gives your bedroom that much more of an industrial look. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Contemporary Heaven via Coolest Gadgets via Oh Gizmo via Boing Boing]

Xbox 360 Gears of War Faceplate Hands-On

Jason Chen — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 19:07:03 EST

Remember all the accessories MadCatz was making for Gears of War? Here's a shot of one of them. It goes on pretty smoothly—like most 360 faceplates—and isn't garish at all. Quite nice, and definitely matches the game Gears of War better than my old FIFA 06 faceplate.

One bonus pic after the jump.

– Jason Chen

Product Page [MadCatz]

MadCatz Offering Xbox 360 Gears of War Accessories

Jason Chen — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:10:25 EST

Gears of War, is about to launch (November 7), and Mad Catz is getting in on the action with a few interesting console accessories. The first is the faceplate plus "Console Skinz", which are graphic coverings for the side of your 360 shown above. This is $29.99.

Then there's four limited-edition faceplates that you can swap in and out, each of which are $19.99. You can see what they look like after the jump. Apparently Best Buy, Circuit City and GameStop are all getting a unique faceplate. That's a pretty cool Pokemon-ish idea.

The third item is a "Console Crate", which is essentially a cushioned box for your 360 in case you wanted to take it to your grandparents place and show them what a gory next-gen shooter looks like. This is $59.99, and you can check that after the jump as well.

All of these officially go on sale today.

Best Buy:

Circuit City:

GameStop:

Crate:

– Jason Chen