Gears of War has been around since early on in the life cycle of the Xbox 360. The first game was released in 2006, introducing the world to Marcus, Dom, and the glorious Lancer weapon. A smash hit, the original was followed up by two sequels, one in 2008 and another late last year. Each of these games took what made the first great, cranked it up a notch or three, and added in glorious features like Horde and Beast mode. Throughout the series, co-op options have been solid, culminating in four-player online campaign support in Gears of War 3. To say that it has been a successful series would be an understatement.

Bad news, everyone? Gears of War: Exile, an unannounced game lacking any details other than this header image, has been struck down by the Hammer of Dawn. It's been chainsawed to bits. It has ceased to be. Dry your tears. We first brought this "game" to your attention back in January of last year. Many speculated that the title would be an on-rails shooter utilizing the 360's Kinect peripheral.

That's one good looking board game

Gears of War 3 won’t make its way to our Xboxes particularly soon, so maybe you’re thinking about revisiting the first two games? Or perhaps you’ve just discovered the glory of Dom and Marcus co-op and you’re wanting to play these for the first time. You just happen to have great timing if either of these cases are true, as the boxed set of Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2 loaded with extra content will be arriving before too long.

In a recent stroke of brilliant viral campaigning, Old Spice has taken the Old Spice Guy, played by actor Isaiah Mustafa, and made a lot of unique YouTube videos. These personalized videos have been directed at Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook accounts, responding to questions and comments in reaction to the previous Old Spice commercials. One such response is to Cliff Bleszinksi, lead designer of the Gears of War series.

He's taken down hundreds of wretches.  He's slain wave after wave of drones.  Boomers, Berserkers?  No problem.  Reavers?  He yawns at them.  But there was one enemy, so terrible, so powerful, that even Marcus Fenix couldn't stop it...

Oh DRM - How we loathe thee.  Let me count the ways.  One - You don't really do anything to stop pirates.  Two - You only end up hurting the real customers.  Three - You are a royal PITA.  Four - You do nothing to stop pirates. 

As you might be noticing, you are reading an article…by me…on a Monday. Well, today marks the debut of “Great Moments in Co-Op,” a sort of bite-sized article that will be featured every Monday. This article will not be as long as other articles, partially because like most of you, I don’t function well on Mondays. So, we have a nice little article that will make your case of the Mondays hopefully go away. Also, take note, there will be spoilers in most of these articles, but normally they are from the first half of games. So read on at your own risk.

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow, December 9th, is our very first Games for Windows Co-Op Night!   Our game of choice will be Gears of War.

Just a reminder that tonight is our monthly Xbox Live Co-Op night.  This month's featured game is Gears of War.  With Gears 2 right around the corner, and the hype train going full speed ahead it's time to revisit this truly excellent cooperative title.  Perhaps you never got around to finishing the game, or perhaps...you never even played it in co-op.  Blasphemy!

It's October 1st, and that means a brand new month.  And with a new month comes a new Xbox 360 Co-Op Game night.  In an effort to hype up the sequel to one of the best co-op games ever, we are having another Gears of War Co-Op Night.

We know you're probably looking forward to the release of Gears of War 2 this November.  However, it looks like you may want to pop in the original for a bit and make sure you've got all those achievements.  Joystiq gives us some information from the recent Comic-Con, straight from Cliff Bleszinski.  He announced that earning achievements from Gears 1 will unlock certain features in Gears 2, like extra playable characters, for example.  At this time, it is unknown which achievements he is referring to.  You may just want to get as many as possible in the meantime.  Personally, I think this is a pretty neat little bonus for those who have played the first game, though I certainly hope there's an alternate way to get these same features unlocked.