The latest Games with Gold titles have been revealed and there are two co-op titles among them: Sacred Citadel and Gears of War 2. Both are the Xbox 360 versions of the game, but they will work with the Xbox One thanks to the Backwards Compatibility program.
The Xbox 360 only Gears of War series will probably never know a life on any other consoles, as Microsoft paid Epic Games an undisclosed amount for exclusive rights to the franchise. While Gears of War 3 wrapped the story of Broody "Muscles" McDo-rag and my main man Dom pretty thoroughly, Black Tusk Studios is in development on the next installment to the highly influential series. Heading the new unnamed Gears of War project is Rod Fergueson, former Epic Games employee who acted as executive producer of the first three Gears games.
The trend with most AAA titles nowadays is that they’ll more than likely produce a Season Pass of some kind, the Gears of War series being no different. Epic’s upcoming title, Gears of War: Judgment, will be offering its own Season Pass deal, but with a new twist: a permanent, double XP bonus to those who choose to purchase it.
In case you were looking for a way to fill up your entire XBox 360 hard drive with downloadable co-op content, Xbox Live Marketplace's summer deals have you covered. Mission packs for older games? Check. New Arcade releases? Check. There's only one caveat - some of these will expire soon, so don't twiddle your thumbsticks. Well...do twiddle your thumbsticks, but only after you've browsed the below list.
Canadian gamers who enjoy co-op gaming but for some reason don’t own an Xbox 360 (or maybe they need a second console!) are in for a treat. A limited-edition 250 GB Xbox 360 bundle which comes with a whopping five 360-exclusive games has just debuted in the land of maple syrup for the low price of $299.99 CDN.
Even though Epic Games' slick idea to unlock items in Gears of War 3 for players who have attained certain Achievements in Bulletstorm, Unreal Tournament III, and Shadow Complex failed miserably...they have re-confirmed that certain Gears of War and Gears of War 2 Achievements will still garner some cool unlocks. In a nice touch, Gears 3 will even recognize Games for Windows Live Achievements from the PC version of Gears.
Deals of the Week, One Day Sales, Special Offers, Gold Membership pricing, the list goes on. There is a ton of content for sale over at the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and much of it supports co-op. Lists get awfully boring, unless their designed to save you money. Check out these sale items.
When looking at game design, a few things are necessary in order for co-op to work properly. Most of these things gamers don’t think about on a day to day basis - and it’s not covered in our Co-Op Terminology guide. It’s the core principles for getting players to work together, which Ubisoft designer Patrick Redding disclosed at GDC. He talks about moments where he is very satisfied with during the co-op test phase, and things that every developer (should) think about during co-op development.
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.
Over the years Co-optimus has seen the co-op gaming industry expand to include some unlikely sequels (Dead Rising 2) some new takes on old co-op (Gears of War 2's Horde mode) and all kinds of unique ways to bring gamers together. We know it's the co-op that gives these creations life, but what is it about the co-op that really makes it something that developers look forward to sharing with us? IGN chatted the co-op topic up with developer Jason Rohrer (of Sleep is Death) to discuss what makes co-op continue to bring us together.
Continuing the ongoing trend of "now you see it, now you don't" marketing, a newly bundled edition of Gears of War 1 and 2 briefly appeared on the Gamestop website over the holidays. Titled "Gears of War Ultimate," the bundle features Gears 1 and 2 for $29.99. A digital copy of Gears 2 alone was priced at $29.99 on Xbox LIVE Games on Demand just a few months ago. If you bought it then, sorry, suckers.
Another holiday is around the corner, and you know what that means. Lots of food, friends, family, and of course a special event in Gears of War 2. This time around, you can get your holiday cheer on during the '12 Days of Gearsmas", starting December 22 and running through January 2. To begin, a 12x experience multiplier will allow you to earn those levels that much faster, and every day, the multiplier increases by one, topping off at 23x on January 2. In addition, each day has a special modifier, such as "9 Boomers Booming" or "7 Sires a Storming". We've got the full list of ho-ho-Horde friendly fun ready for your perusal, so grab an egg nog and relax.
