During Microsoft’s Xbox E3 2018 press conference earlier this month, Gears of War franchise developer The Coalition announced the latest entry in the series, Gears 5. We assumed this was a shortened marketing name made for social media sharing, but according to studio head Rod Fergusson, that isn’t the case.
Responding to IGN editor Ryan McCaffrey on Twitter, Fergusson clarified that the full title of the game will be Gears 5.
“That is what’s going to be on the box,” Fergusson added.
All previous Gears of War games, including prequel Judgment, used the franchise’s full name instead of just “Gears.” Fergusson emphasized that the name of the series as a whole is still “Gears of War,” but with the upcoming launch of Gears Pop for mobile and Gears Tactics for PC, it made more sense to shorten the next main entry, as well.
We’re not really sure two extra words would matter that much in the scheme of things, but the name change shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. In 2015, Gears of War 4 was initially introduced as Gears 4, and players often shorten the full title, anyway. Perhaps whoever makes these decisions over at Microsoft can talk to the folks behind Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor — Martyr on trimming some of the fat from their game’s name.
Gears 5 is the first numbered entry in the series to not star a Fenix as the playable character. Instead, you will play as Kait Diaz this time around, who appeared as a supporting character in the previous game. In addition to fighting the Swarm, she must deal with visions she believes to be messages — possibly from the enemy — and J.D. Fenix, who doesn’t trust her any longer. Other returning characters include Del and J.D.’s father Marcus, and you’ll be able to play the whole campaign in either local or online cooperative modes. On Xbox One X, all modes support 4K resolution with HDR and 60 frames per second.
Gears 5 is scheduled to launch for Xbox One and PC in 2019. Also on the way is the mobile Gears Pop, which replaces the gritty visuals with Funko Pop figures, and Gears Tactics, which is the first PC-exclusive game in the series.
Remember when transparent gadgets were the coolest things you could own? Sony is bringing that late '90s aesthetic back with its new PS5 Prism Collection. The gorgeous lineup gives your DualSense controller and PS5 console a glossy, see-through makeover in three eye-catching colors.
https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/2115459064981512662?s=19
For years, Call of Duty’s campaign mode has used big, scripted set pieces to tell the overarching story amid all the adrenaline-pumping action. The 2023 Modern Warfare 3 tried to shake up the established formula by introducing a handful of short open combat missions, and I genuinely liked the idea, but the game's overall negative reception seeped into how those missions were received.
I feared the next iteration might abandon the idea because of the backlash, but I am glad it didn't. MW4’s “Stranded” mission uses the same approach, but instead of fragmenting it across the campaign, it puts it all in a single large-scale open-world mission.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.