I’ve just walked out of an interview session with CliffyB, the lead designer of Christmas’ biggest gaming blockbuster, Gears of War 2. He was suitably enthusiastic and animated despite Sydney turning on crap weather for his first ever visit to the city. We spoke about many subjects relating to the game, Unreal Engine 3 and the general state of the industry and I will endeavour to get the full transcript up in time for the weekend. But we thought a snippet you may be interested in straight away involved the possible port of the game to other systems.
The original Gears of War released on ‘Emergence Day’, November 2006, on Xbox 360 alone, before doing the usual Xbox 360 ‘exclusive’ thing and turning up on PC a year later, albeit with some new material for fans to sink their teeth into. We assumed such a fate would also be in store for next month’s Xbox 360 sequel, with a PC version hitting sometime in late 2009 - I was hoping to get Cliff’s thoughts on the whole DRM situation and what fans might have to endure when that day arose. As it was, my line of questioning was cut dramatically short...
I asked, ‘Is it inevitable that the game will turn up on PC down the track?’
His response was swift and definite, “No, definitely not. This time we are just focused upon a console version of the game.’ And yes when pressed he of course confirmed that by ‘console’ he meant specifically the Xbox 360. Although he added “Gears of War could work on PS3, but we don’t think our publisher would be too happy with that.”
We don’t think that Microsoft Game Studios will be too happy about the game not coming to PC either. Games for Windows needs a software shot in the arm more than Michael Jackson needs a shrink and you can be sure that the flat-out assertion that Gears of War 2 will not make it to PC by CliffyB will become more ammo for geek-sadists hungry to sing about the demise of the mouse & keyboard gaming experience.
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For Further Reading:
Gears of War 2: Act 1 Review
The 50 Best Xbox Characters of All Time
When is an ‘exclusive’ and exclusive?
The 50 Best Video Game Buys of Christmas
Can Halo work without Master Chief?
