Gearbox confirms 'War Hero' IP

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jun 25, 2009 12:09 pm PT

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."

52 Comments

  • Norseking

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 12:29 am PT

    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 PT

    Sounds good.

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:29 pm PT

    yay!

  • BlackBaldwin

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 5:29 pm PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    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 PT

    @Chrysus

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

  • Chrysus

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 4:12 am PT

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

  • Kman8909

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 3:34 am PT

    El-Oh-EL

  • -Pred-Alien-

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 2:12 am PT

    Just keeps getting worse. = S

  • XanderKage

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 12:16 am PT

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

  • Malaphisis

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 11:26 pm PT

    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 PT

    ok...

  • SlashDementia3

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 6:45 pm PT

    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 PT

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

  • Tr5978

    Posted Jun 25, 2009 5:57 pm PT

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

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