Tag: gears of war

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Gears of War Ultimate Edition PC port specs are unacceptable

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Before I start my rant, I was and still am among the ones that buy Microsoft products and will continue doping so in the near future. With that been said, Gears of War PC port’s leaked specs should not be near anything that we saw. I know these are the leaked version but something tells me the end result will look the same. Before going any further, let’s take a look at the current specs:

Recommended for 1920X1080P

  • OS: 64 bit Windows 10 – version 1511
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 @3.5GHz+ or AMD FX 8-core
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM (4 GB VRAM)
  • Graphics: GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon R9 290X
  • Hard Drive: 60 GB available space
  • DirectX 12

Recommended for 4K

  • OS: 64 bit Windows 10 – version 1511
  • Processor: Intel Core i7 @ 4Ghz or AMD FX 8-core
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM (6+ GB VRAM)
  • Graphics: Geforce GTX 980 Ti or Radeon R9 390X
  • Hard Drive: SSD + 60 GB available space
  • DirectX 12

Minimum Requirements

  • OS: 64 bit Windows 10 – version 1511
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 2.7Ghz or AMD FX 6-core
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM (2 GB VRAM)
  • Graphics: Geforce GTX 650 Ti or Radeon R7 260x
  • Hard Drive: 60 GB available space
  • DirectX 12

Starting right off the bat, the game is Windows 10 only with Direct X 12 as the main reason forcing you to upgrade. This is no secret, Microsoft is doing everything they can to make people upgrade and it makes sense since Windows 10 is considered a service. Spying and disabling pirated software aside, Windows 10 is a good OS but greatly exaggerated. The Windows store is nothing to write home about and forces all apps to run with Vsync on and full screen which in turn affects people with Gsync monitors like myself.

Windows store is no Steam or even Origin so forcing players to use it while it’s still maturing is dumb considering Steam has the majority of PC gaming market share. I have a strong feeling this will end up Games for Windows 2.0. Forcing me to buy the game from Windows store is the first red flag.

Moving on to the CPU. I am no expert in the processors department but having an i5 is somehow reasonable although the clock speed of 3.5 is still higher than normal, at least, that’s how it looks to me.

Now comes the surprising part, 8 GB of Ram is the minimum amount required to run the game with 16 GB as recommended for both 1080p and 4K gaming? This is a Xbox 360 game running at higher resolution with a few tweaks here and there not to mention that it runs smoothly on Xbox One so why 16 GB?

I can understand the 4K requirement but even that is too much for an old 360 port. Smells bad optimization all over this.

Surprisingly enough, GTX 970 for recommended seems reasonable but again, this is just a remastered 360 game so yeah. Note that GB of VRAM is required but judging from previously released games, a normal 750 would handle the game on low just fine.

And lastly, 60 GB of hard disk space is kinda standard and with the game having 4K textures (I assume) its not so unusual to require.

. . .

In conclusion, requiring Windows 10 as well as 16 GB of Ram for recommended for a 360 remastered port is not acceptable. Forcing people to use your store (when it’s not ready and have problems) is not the smartest move. Not after Microsoft admitting that Games for Windows was a mistake and promised to treat PC gamers better as well as working with Valve. I will hold out till more information is available and the game hits the shelves on march.

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Gears of War 3 on Xbox One first impression

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Xbox 360 backwards compatibility is finally live. Unfortunately, the Gears of War collection will go live for the ones bought Gears of War ultimate edition on December 1st unless you have the original DVD like me. Upon inserting the disk into the drive, the install option appeared. Upon clicking it, I was greeted with an 8 GB download patch. Apparently, the disk inside is just for verification purposes as it downloads the whole game to your drive yet you cant play it without the original disk.

Since I always leave my Xbox One on standby mode for it to download updates while I’m away, the download and install was done in the background ready for me to fire it up once I relaunched the console. Clicking start on the game found in my apps brought down the manage menu with all the DLCs waiting for my command. I clicked download all and finally started the game.

The game loaded fine with a sudden message that the system is trying to get my Xbox 360 information. The message disappeared within 3 minutes and the classic signed into Xbox Live appeared. My progress got downloaded from the server and I’m right where I left off. I tried getting into an online match, but the game informed me that I needed to download some DLC. As I was about to exit, one of the DLCs downloaded and the online play was now available.

I joined a quick match and the game started. Man, and I thought Gears of War ultimate edition was not an improvement. Don’t get me wrong, thew gameplay and mechanics in Gears 3 eats the ultimate edition alive but the graphics were not what I remembered. Rest assure, after about 5 minutes you wont notice a thing. The game is the best in the series so far and for a good reason. The community is still strong and joining games takes seconds.

The gameplay was fine with no noticeable glitches. Sometimes the game would slow down, but that’s not the backwards compatibility issue. I will be testing the game further along with the rest soon. Apart from me wishing that Microsoft would at least increased the Anti-aliasing, the game looks and plays good. Go Xbox.

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Forza Horizon 2 is coming to PC [Rumor]

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Rumors can be a tricky business, they can be started by anyone and fade away even quicker but once in awhile turn true. This may be the case with Forza Horizon 2 rumored to be coming to Windows 7 and 8 soon. It all started with Amazon listing Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon, and although both were pulled later this can only mean one thing: The rummer is true.

Why would Amazon suddenly make a listing by itself? The above makes sense with Xbox One not selling as anticipating it makes sense for Microsoft to port these tittles to a growing platform, aka PC gaming. I been saying this for sometime; Forza on the PC will be great. Downloadable cars and tracks by the mod community along with other extras, whats not to like?

Some will argue that it may hurt Xbox One sales as the struggling system needs exclusive for which I can simple reply with: It wont matter. PC gaming is not directly competing with consoles. Back at the day SEGA used to release and port games to the PC despite having a console.

My only concern is how will they market it? Games for Windows Live is dead so the way I see it they can release it on Steam or Windows Store. Steam is by far the best and the biggest PC gaming online store there is so releasing the game on valve’s tool is the best thing for business. The problem is, Microsoft store will be competing with Steam and the achievements thing handled by  non Microsoft software could be a problem.

If only Microsoft made Games for Windows Live more stable, easy to use and overall consumer acceptable like Origin is trying, things would have changed for the better. Never the less its not too late, as they say: Better Late than Never.

I’m looking forward to playing this on my PC with improved graphics and community created content and hope it seals well so that Microsoft can then start porting Halo and Gears of War collection in 4K.

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Whats next for Gears of War?

Gears_of_War_logoGears of War is my favorite shooter and adventure of all time, followed by Resident Evil, there I said it! XBOX FANBOY EXPOSED! Any way, I enjoyed and still do the horde mode in Gears of War 3 and  play it online with friends and while the ending was disappointing and the whole queen and the live fuel thing made little to zero sense the game play and graphics made up for its short comings.

Now that the story is over and Microsoft bought the franchise, whats next? Well, Microsoft said very little about the future but unconfirmed reports say that the next gears is already in development. Seeing as how the story ended Microsoft should plan very carefully or this could become the next Resident Evil. Going forward with “But not all the monster died” is lazy but at the same time I don’t want it to be a prequel as I hate prequels more than stepping on a LEGO.

What can be done is make it both a sequel and a prequel at the same time. What do I mean? The first few missions show us the events before Emergency Day explaining how Marcus ended up in jail. Next we have missions set during ?Gears of War 1,2 and 3 but with different characters and stories. And finally missions after Gears of War 3. This in my opinion will satisfy most of the fans assuming they pull a great story.

I enjoyed Judgment especially the missions thing where the game jumps to another location after each mission as opposite to just walk forward in the same settings. Same thing can be applied to the new game with better horde and possible a new mode altogether. Speaking of horde mode, please add a great multiplayer. Gears of War is a rare game where story and multiplayer are both equally fun, something many games failed to capture.

I don’t know what the future will bring but I’m excited for the next Gears tittle, and lets not forget that it will most probably lead to more Xbox One seals something Microsoft desperately needs. The next Gen is here and this is the perfect time and game to take advantage of the technology. Cant wait.