@santinegrete Great reference! I thought the same thing when I first encountered the Pumping Station in GOW1... It's a beautiful combination of long-distance, closing that distance with cover (yet while preventing flanking), then up-close brutality with lots of paths to choose from. THAT was truly brilliant level design. Same goes for some of the Azura level designs in GoW3 -- lots of paths, and the mortar + distance to cover segment was BRUTAL yet fair.

@ssj2los Don't forget that this is literally the same shop that invented MP "bots" to begin with (Unreal Engine v1 / Unreal Tournament), including all the related "bothaviors". While that does indeed the Godlike "aimbot", who could hit you across the map while executing a jump, I'm expecting a lot more in terms of AI-team-based behaviors, flanking, etc. (...and yeah, hopefully not just "one hit = take cover" cheapness.)

Go cross-platform on all of these -- this level of gamecraft deserves to be enjoyed by everyone (and would even work on recent iOS & Android platforms), and the developer deserves the cash for it.

Hell yeah! While I typically start a game on Normal or Hardcore the first time through on solo so I can take time with all the extras & collectible-searching, on quality titles I always go back through on their Insane/Nightmare-equivalent setting later (often with friends). As long as this new Gears is actually finish-able on the "new Insane" setting with a friend or two, I'm totally on board with this!

(Ah the days when games were actually hard... anyone else ever play the old Wizardy games, particularly 6/Bane & 7/Crusaders?)

Wow. It continuously impresses me that Pachter GETS PAID for this. Ugh.

As history clearly shows us, Galileo clearly invented the click-able tech upgrade tree. ;) < bought mine! >

I fundamentally agree with him -- in the end, the game experience isn't that dependent upon the hardware. That just adds sizzle. But COUNTLESS games are incredibly memorable, exciting, and otherwise rewarding without anything special in the graphics/audio department, and it's ALWAYS been that way.

The "steep learning curve" as they call it was one of the best parts about the game! It's mature material for mature gamers, as opposed to the "click through the conversations" garbage seen in most RPGs these days. In fact, I just started reading the novels (the two available in English, starting with Last Wish), and I've been utterly delighted that they have EXACTLY the same depth as the games. ...oh, and they do indeed simultaneously start you right in the middle of TWO stories in Geralt's previous life, so that same excellent "learning curve" is there too. ;)

Want to boost sales/subs? RELEASE IT ON 360. Bundle in everything released thus far into one $50 pack with the first month free, and the game will be immediately profitable again. Granted, that would require separate sets of realm servers, but there seem to be PLENTY not in use at this point...

PLEASE find someone who actually knows WTF they're doing... This is a pretty BAD promo for the game at this point.