Sign on Options
Theme:
To Dark

Gearbox confirms 'War Hero' IP

After trademarking "World War II Hero," "Brother In Arms War Hero," and "Modern War Hero," Texan studio confirms new project could arrive post-Borderlands and Colonial Marines.

Currently, most game titles ending in the word "hero" concern playing a plastic instrument. However, that may soon change, as Gearbox Software has trademarked a series of "Hero"-suffixed titles, which in all likelihood won't involve big rock finishes or five-finger hammer-downs.

The game-info amalgamator blog Superannuation has uncovered not one, but four titles Gearbox has registered with the US Trademark and Patent office: "World War II Hero," "War Hero," "Brothers In Arms War Hero," and "Modern War Hero." The quartet of titles were all filed on June 18, and cover use of the names in "computer game programs and computer game software."

Gearbox is already plenty busy putting the finishing touches on its sci-fi action role-playing game Borderlands (seen below) and still developing Aliens: Colonial Marines. However, the Texan studio's CEO, Randy Pitchford, took the time to plug the new project to GameSpot.

"The news of the Gearbox Software 'War Hero' related trademarks exposes a bit about our interests in the development of another original intellectual property. As people following gaming news know, Gearbox is really motivated right now to take some bold risks and do exciting new things that no one has ever seen before, such as Borderlands. War Hero is something down the road for us-- it's not signed with a publishing partner yet as we haven't even talked to any potential partners about it. So we’re certainly not ready to talk about it publicly at the moment."

54 Comments

  • panzergrandier

    Posted Oct 8, 2010 5:15 am GMT

    You said "To be continued", but i think you could do something about the german Fallschirmjagers. That would be original! (is there any game at all with "personality" where you play as german infantry?)

  • LtReviews

    Posted Jan 7, 2010 3:56 pm GMT

    WHERE IS THE BROTHERS AND ARMS SEQUEL?!
    You can't end a game with "To be continued" and then leave us hanging!!!

  • tattooedpain29

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 5:34 pm GMT

    Come on Brothers in arms Bastogne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Norseking

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 12:29 am GMT

    Well I'm no trademark expert but maybe they are reserving these names to stop another idiot studio from releasing another WW2 game. I mean looking at the titles I think they covered all possible angles :-) or it's just a publicity stunt so people can start talking about Gearbox.

  • Melty123

    Posted Jun 27, 2009 8:07 am GMT

    Sounds good.

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:29 pm GMT

    yay!

  • BlackBaldwin

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:29 pm GMT

    Another world war two ip... Gearbox I love you I think you guys are the bees knees and everything but WHY another ww2 game... Oh well good luck guys I'll be watching...

  • drumbreak1

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:24 pm GMT

    lol it seems like you have to go completely out of your way to come with an original title these days lol

  • wswedin

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 10:25 am GMT

    To all those saying it sounds like a rip-off you have to think about it, there are a lot of games out there and the good names have mostly been used... "Commander, general..." etc. So of course it has to be re-used, same things happen with movies.

  • nhatnheo

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 9:54 am GMT

    Hey! What about "can you take the snow" from BIA:HH ?? I thought that there is going to be BIA: Bastonge !! But it's ok! But it seems that Everybody are leaving the WW2 era!

  • necronaux

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 9:14 am GMT

    Saw the title to this article "War Hero" and thought it was another addition to the Guitar Hero series. Imagine, instead of a FPS, you just have a M16-type perepheral with colored buttons, watch a video of someone else play'n/killin, and press the corresponding colored buttons (ala GH) for points. Whew.

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 8:20 am GMT

    Terrible names! And they sound like total CoD ripoffs... I reckon budged-priced Wii games designed to cash in on CoD...

  • Kristophski

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 8:18 am GMT

    Seems I'm not the only one who noticed these names aren't exactly original. "Brothers in Arms War Hero" in particular sounds like its been done before, not that long ago, by another famous company.
    Hopefully the game content won't be exactly the same as the names suggest - pressing multicoloured buttons down the side of a WWII rifle to rhythmically kill the Nazis who pop up on screen in the new, oh-so-unique, gearbox production.

  • OverlordEX

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 6:52 am GMT

    @Chrysus

    There'll a lawsuit if it's a light gun shooter. xD

  • Chrysus

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 4:12 am GMT

    'Modern War'? 'Hero'?
    I can smell an Activision law suit being brewed up.

  • Kman8909

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 3:34 am GMT

    El-Oh-EL

  • -Pred-Alien-

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 2:12 am GMT

    Just keeps getting worse. = S

  • XanderKage

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 12:16 am GMT

    War Hero? It's like Guitar Hero, only with plastic guns?

  • Malaphisis

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 11:26 pm GMT

    HEY GAMESPOT, THE MUSIC IS A LITTLE TOO LOUD IN THIS VIDEO! Anyway, the game looks fabulous and becuase of this interview I am going to put this game on reserve the next time I visit the gamestore. Nice clip

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 11:14 pm GMT

    ok...

  • SlashDementia3

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 6:45 pm GMT

    War Hero: Bolt Thrower

    I like that title. I'd buy it if it were a music game. I usually hate music games.

  • mrklorox

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 6:03 pm GMT

    "War Hero"? Isn't that essentially Call of Duty?

  • Tr5978

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 5:57 pm GMT

    I wonder if they'll get accidental sales from people who think "War Hero" is a music rhythm game featuring the band War.

  • Gabriel5000

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 5:17 pm GMT

    Wonder if they are gonna rename this game as Borderland of Heroes

  • allotheabove123

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 5:09 pm GMT

    Looks like they have potential. in the mean time i will be playing Borderlands on day 1. Oh yeah and to everyone that calls them bad titles, just think how long it will be untill they are realeased so they will probobly be name changes.

    So wait "Modern War Hero" will be modern times. WW2 Hero and BIA Hero will be WW2 games. So what will War Hero be?

  • KillErmarinE15

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 4:49 pm GMT

    Wow, Borderlands is looking amazing. Haven't really looked into it that much since the graphics change. It is looking awesome!

  • biggest_loser

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 4:37 pm GMT

    First Michael Jackson and now a new BIA Hello Gearbox? Randy Pitchfork? Are you listening? We've moved on from the flanking maneuver/cover stuff! Leave Fritz alone! 3 games and they couldn't get it right! No more!

  • okassar

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 4:10 pm GMT

    Lol,just don't try to trademark Guitar Hero,that's taken x)

  • jrabbit99

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 4:03 pm GMT

    And this comes just days after saying they want to see Activision drop CoD in favor of originality.

  • Dante2710

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:56 pm GMT

    so many games......quality will be bad

  • faceman420

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:39 pm GMT

    woo hoo.. the first hasn't even come out yet and I'm already lookin forward to War Hero: Van Halen

  • paullywog

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:26 pm GMT

    does it use a corpse peripheral?

  • pigman239

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:26 pm GMT

    can you play it with the guitar hero peripherals? melt nazis' faces off with epic solos plz?

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:02 pm GMT

    Those titles just don't sound right.

  • borgmaster

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 2:59 pm GMT

    how about ya'll just make another brothers in arms game instead, it would just be better for everyone involved....and I want to play the next BIA game, but that's not the point.

  • D4NZEL-709

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 2:53 pm GMT

    What next Macs Pain or Platinum Gear Solid or Minor Theft Auto Sam and Rea.

  • ZeerusX

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 2:26 pm GMT

    @ Robfield

    Except that those are just placeholder names.

    Do you really think Gearbox is going to release a game with the title Modern War Hero? lol

    Talk about reading into an article a little to much lol

  • robfield

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 2:11 pm GMT

    "War Hero" and "Modern War Hero" sound like blatant attempts to tap the "Hero" and "Modern Warfare" franchises. Didn't a Gearbox rep just the other day complain that CoD and Halo developers were not innovating? And Gearbox follows up with another war game?

  • Merex760

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:54 pm GMT

    Mocking Activision ftw.

  • konradak

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:52 pm GMT

    Sweet. Lol.

  • gnbfd

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:50 pm GMT

    I could totally see Activision doing a War Hero
    A mix of GH and CoD.
    Oh **** I just gave them an idea

  • Ashmasaki

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:50 pm GMT

    Hero Heroes 3: The Hero of Heroes

  • KerryKing34

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:22 pm GMT

    If they release a game called Brothers in Arms Hero I'm going to be very upset.

    Come on Gearbox, show some imagination.

  • ellez

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:21 pm GMT

    war hero? i honestly thought this was activision's new ip, maybe a battle axe controller?

  • bschroth

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:17 pm GMT

    seriously?? so when does tony hawk's hero or world of warheroes come out?? or maybe diablo hero?

  • Cicatraz_ESP

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 1:14 pm GMT

    Dumb names, hopefully knowing gearbox the games will be good.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:55 pm GMT

    Eh, I have faith and should everyone else once their two upcoming games come out.

  • MajinDante

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:53 pm GMT

    is that whats hot right now? adding HERO to titles?

  • Suicide-Panda

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:52 pm GMT

    @taylormadederek, play Brothers In Arms Hells Highway, that was an amazing WW2 Game Made By Gearbox

  • Superdude475

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:52 pm GMT

    Oh wow, from the title I assumed there would be a gun controller with colored buttons that we have to push at the right times to destroy tanks.

Subscribe to GameSpot's YouTube Channel

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Borderlands

Borderlands Boxshot
Follow:
  1. Not Following
    Xbox 360: Follow
  2. Not Following
    PC: Follow
  3. Not Following
    PlayStation 3: Follow
Add to List
  1. Xbox 360
  2. PC
  3. PlayStation 3

Follow for the latest news, videos, & tips from experts & insiders

GameSpot Fuse
    Platforms:

    Related Games

    Site Blogs