When Microsoft bought out the Gears of War franchise, it was acquiring what was once a juggernaut in the gaming world. Now under Microsoft management, a brand new company, The Coalition, is tasked with reinvigorating the franchise and delivering on the promise of a modern Gears of War game. When the original classic was released ten years ago, it garnered much fan fare and with Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Microsoft wants to tap back into that passion.
In that vein, Microsoft is cranking up the excitement for the Aug. 25 release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition with a weekly video series on the making of the remastered game. The first video in the series was a behind the scenes look at Gears showing how the game is being brought to modern hardware. The Xbox One enables the new game to handle 1080p at 60fps. The second video in the series showed the process of updating the original opening cinematic where with modern tools; the performances are far more nuanced and intended achieve a higher level of drama.
The latest video documents the task of bringing the original Gears gameplay to a modern audience. The comparison was done to show how the original games have changed significantly in the last ten years while also acknowledging that gamers today expect more. The Coalition discovered the challenge was to update the original but not lose the familiarity of gameplay that gamers fell in love with. An example of The Coalition’s dance with the past and present can be seen in the gameplay mode: Team Deathmatch. Team Deathmatch is a very popular way to play subsequent Gears games, but that mode didn’t exist in the original.
Microsoft ran a popular beta for the new game during E3 this year. Now available for pre-order, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be released on the Xbox One first and then later on Windows 10 PCs. How much later will be of huge importance for sales of the Xbox One. With a game like Gears only playable on Microsoft’s latest console the company should see a nice bump in sales during the month of the games release, if not longer.