Is it true GOWJ actually crosses into the GOW3 timeline?

Yes, it's true. Judgement has an unlockable campaign chapter called Aftermath that cuts into the GOW3 time line. 

Maybe People Can Fly realised that having a prequel was not exactly the coolest thing to do for a franchise 3 games in. They mixed up the Judgement campaign with optional missions, flash backs to give the campaign a bit of novelty. One thing they kept secret until the game’s release was that having completed the campaign, a second campaign called 'Aftermath' is playable if the player has done enough diligence during the first campaign.

That’s a nice way of mixing it up.

Aftermath takes place the end of GoW 3 when Baird, Cole, and Carmine set out to track down reinforcements before the COG invade Azura. Aftermath is set at a two game play length.

Aftermath can be unlocked by completing each level of Judgement with style and panache. More head shots or fancier execution finishers will grant players ‘stars’ and the more stars you get, the more of Aftermath becomes available.

Gears of War: Judgment’s lead level designer Jim Brown said “We wanted to do something that added context to the game, so you had that beginning part, but then this ties everything together with the main trilogy as well.”

“So you’ll see when you go in there some people you recognize, some places, maybe even some enemies and then see how the two storylines weave together in the context of the whole. Obviously we don’t want to give away too many spoilers in how it’s going to end or what you’re going to see.

“But the basic gist of it is that when they’re at the fort, Marcus sends Barrett and Cole off to find supplies and reinforcements, and then he goes off to Azura. Then at the very end they show up with helicopters. This is where they went and what they did on that mission.”

I gotta admit, I was fairly worried about GOWJ being a prequel but it looks like a lot of work has gone into making it a great game.

Can’t wait to get my hands on it. 

James Hawkin's GOW3 concept artwork

You might have seen me take the piss out of this 'Savage Grenadier' but if you'd had followed the link you might have found this website by concept artist James Hawkins where he's put up some pretty cool images of the concept design work he did for the Gears of War 3 game. You've heard of it right?

Here's some of the images, full set is here.

The shotgun

Silverback design.

Shane Pierce's Gears of War 3 Concept Art

Artist Shane Pierce has put up some of the concept artwork he did for the Gears of War 3 game - mostly the images posted are of landscapes and buildings. Pretty awesome design work for the world of Sera!

Check out more of Pierce's artwork here.

Did you hear about the Kantus and the Hammer of Dawn?

Did you hear about the Kantus and the Hammer of Dawn?

How you played Gears of War 3 on Insane mode and got completely rooted by those Armoured Kantus soldiers you come across in Act 4?

Those guys are tough as titanium encrusted titanium. They make Skorge look like General Raam. And then there’s that electric worm that zaps you to contend with. What’s the best way of dealing with these Kantus Clowns?

I was doing an Insane mode run through and I came across a Hammer of Dawn at the point where Marcus and Co are trying to manoeuvre the crane to get fuel for the submarine – and I thought to myself, I won’t use it for this next salvo of Repears, I’ll save it for the Kantus guards.

And sure enough, the Hammer of Dawn works on the Kantus. They need to take a fair whack from it though, a quick douse with it is not enough, you need to laser the shit out of them. The Hammer of Dawn is generally good for about two Kantus kills. It only works in the spots where there's enough sunlight.

A good trick is to try and take that first Kantus out asap – hide behind a block until he is distracted by your squad mates and then let him have it as he moves to the right (if he starts the set piece coming straight for you, you're probably fucked).

You can then pick off the other bugs that escort the 2^ndKantas or take him out from a distance. That’s the easy part. The next round involve another Kantus, some offsiders and the electrical eel / cerepod / worm thing – work on the eel as much as you can but don’t let him get to close or you’re a dead man. Shoot their tail off from the back and remember they move real damn quick and quietly....

A hint is to try and take him out away from the Kantus so you don’t get any fire from then. Easier said than done too. 

Using the Hammer of Dawn will only get you so far however so here's some other tricks to taking down and defeating the Kantus:

For a start, lets hope you followed my guide on arming your squad with the boomshot. Explosives trip up the Prickly Priests so the boom shot comes in handy. Indeed, there's one laying about on the opposite side from where the frag grenade and well placed ammo supply are. So when your Hammer juice is all used up, switch weapons to the Boomshot to take them down. Consider aiming at their feet so you don't miss them but do not fire from close range or you will likely kill yourself.

A well placed torque bow will down a Kantus as well.

When a Kantus gets up after a boomshot, bow strike or frag grenade explosion, they begin to scream blue murder and also glow yellow with rage. That's your chance to put some lancer bullets in their face to wear them down for the kill - or put a bow in their face. Do try it...

Word on the street for the fearless player is you can also tag a Kantus with a frag grenade for an instant kill. I haven't tried that one myself yet... that's only for the brave (or stupid - Ed.)

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Tip: How to use the Boomshot on Gears of War 3

The Boomshot

Boooooom! say the Boomers on Gears of War 3 - it's their signal to you that a massive bomb blast is headed in your direction - time to duck into some cover and return fire with your lancer right?

If you are playing Gears of War on its notoriously difficult Insane Mode you may not be so keen to take on a Boomer or Drudge with simply a lancer rifle. You might want to soften them up with a grenade first - or you could get one of you squad members to do your dirty work for you!

The trick is to arm your squad member with some heavy firepower - that way you can utilise their special ability of unlimited ammo - so for instance if you load all three squad members up with the boom-shot there's a good chance during a fire fight at least one of them will chose to use the boomshot and increase the damage dealt out to the lambent horde!

I'd recommend that everytime you get a chance to pick up the boomshot during a campaign session you should do so and then immediately give it to an A.I. team mate. So every time you fell a Boomer, take their weapon and do the weapon swap. Also there's plenty of times you come across a handy weapons cache so stock up then too - you can kit out your entire squad at the times!

How to give you team mates the boomshot:

1. To exchange weapons or share ammo in any mode, move within close range of a squad mate.

2. Aim at said squadmate with the Left Trigger button and press [Y] to share ammo

3. [X] to swap your primary weapon or [A] to swap your secondary weapon.

4. Pistols and grenades may not be swapped...

Obviously you can swap any weapons you like, it doesn't have to be the boomshot - however on insane mode I think having your A.I. driven squad mates of having the option to use it increases you own chance of survival - some of the set pieces in GOW3 can be absolutely brutal so why not up your odds of making it through?

Using the boomshot effectively is also an art in itself. While you can use the reticle turning red as a rough guide that you have an accurate shot lined up, for further distances you may need to lead the shot a bit, or estimate  the angle you'll fire at - the boomshot's projectiles fall over time so you may need to aim higher than you think. 

Be wary of using the boomshot at very close quarters - you're likely to blow yourself up!

Want more? Here's a tip on taking down the Armoured Kantus with the Hammer of Dawn.

Tips about using ammo in Gears of War 3

Tips about using ammo in Gears of War 3



So like I got horribly stuck somewhere on Act III of Gears this weekend. It's just before you to get the cable car / gondala tower and a giant stalk comes up of the ground with a whole lot of lambents and drudges and the those fucking little dog / wretch like things that sneak up on you like no one business. Insane Mode, it's a bitch.


I kept dying as I ran out of ammunition. So low on ammo and with no hope of getting through solely by chainsawing (what is the best oil for a chain bar?) the guts out of my foes alone, I finally remembered to use the 'weapon swap' feature with my comrades Anya, Jace and that really annoying one. It worked a treat - I had that extra few bullets that I needed to hold out againt the bastards and finally got past after some trial and error.



Some hints about using ammo

• Try and stock up on ammo before you get to the next check point
• Use the Weapon Swap function as need be
• You can swap like with like (they may have more ammo in the same weapon)
• You can hand over an empty weapon too
• In a tight spot, you still should pick up ammo - pick you moment though!
• In a tight spot, if you can do it without dying, weapon swap - but be wise in your selection, don't take the sawn off shot gun for example if you're in a long range gun fight. 

A good tactical trick is to arm your Gears squad mates with Boomshots as well, especially on Insane Mode. It's a trick I learnt in Halo - arm your soldiers with the rockets and they had unlimited ammo - it stands to reason this should work in Gears of War 3. Every so often you come across a weapons cache - that's your chance to load up the boom shots....

In case you don't know how to swap weapons in Gears 3 here's the official way:



1. To exchange weapons or share ammo in any mode, move within close range of a squad mate.

2. Aim at that squadmate with [Left Trigger] and press [Y] to share ammo

3. [X] to swap your primary weapon or [A] to swap your secondary weapon. 

4. Pistols and grenades may not be swapped...

Meagan Marie will Curb Stomp your ass to Sierra

Eat this grub!

I came across this shot of some Anya Stroud cos play action by Megan Marie and just had to share it - you may have seen Megan's Gears cosplay before - she's pretty popular!

Quit bitching about paying for DLC you already have....

Seems some people are grumpy about having to pay for DLC content that's tecnhically already on the game disk they have paid for and Gears of War's Horde Pack is the lastest example to stir up the masses.

Kotaku has some words on the subject from Gears producer Rod Fergusson. He stated the move was "in an attempt to unify a game’s online community, game developers want all players to have access to new DLC content whether they pay for it or not. This makes DLC a trick proposition. The solution is that many developers provide new DLC to all players, but only allow those who paid for it to use the DLC weapon skins or host a new DLC map."

"One of the concerns was we would have to have people download compatibility packs,” explains Fergusson. However, since Gears of War was delayed from its original released date, earlier this Spring, Epic felt it had the option to include it’s first DLC pack on the disc, so that everyone wouldn’t have to download the new content. "We felt it was a win/win, because no one is going to have to download anything huge when the DLC comes out."

Indeed the decision to included the DLC makes some real sense when one realises the DLC will be visible in game to other players who haven't paid for it - we're talking weaponry here - persons who bought the pack get to use differing versions of guns - so everyone needs to see THAT - the DLC got put all on the game disks.

Paying for extras is the way of the world. You want extra sauce on your chips, you gotta pay for it. You want that suit tailored? You gotta pay for it. You want a new Halo map? You gotta pay for it. You wanna play the General Raam DLC? You gotta pay for it - it doesn't matter in this case that the Gears creators have put a bunch of code on a disk - that simply makes things easier so your game bloody works better.

So quit your bitching soldier - if you want DLC for your games, you gotta pay for it - don't matter the actual monetary exchange is simply a 'key'. People who make games make games not only because they like making games it's because they like making money. That's the bottom line. And hey, if you don't want to pay for DLC - you don't have to!

What's the secret achievement in Gears of War III?

On Act 4 Chapter 1, complete the Act 4, Level 1 without disturbing any of the Ash People - i.e. those killed by the Hammer of Dawn strikes. This will give you the secret Respect for the Dead achievement.

How to unlock the cluck shot Easter Egg from GOW3

How to unclock the cluck shot Easter Egg from GOW3. This is pretty damn random!

Does Adam Fenix die in Gears 3?

Here's an interesting snippet from an interview with Gears of War 3's Clif Blezsinski which talks of the game's ending - is Cliff telegraphing that Adam Fenix dies at the end of Gears? This is of course my own speculation...

"CB: Absolutely. Personally, when the project really started, I was 29 and 30 and going through a split, as far as my first marriage. If you're ever going through a rough time in your life and you're a creative person, the best thing you can do is pour that into your work. You hear about artists who are going through a tough time and it's cathartic; it's therapy for them. And some of the things that came out of Gears 1 were the result of that. Coming full circle to the end of Gears 3, let's just say the ending is very personal for me. I don't want to spoil a lot of it, but in regards to what happens--and the final shot--it's not only personal to me, but also Rod Fergusson and Lee Perry, who also lost their dads at a young age. My advice to developers often is make your products personal. Take things from real life, names of friends, locations you've gone to, and do that. That's what makes it not feel like a manufactured product; it makes it feel real and tangible."

Or maybe Marcus and Adam hug it out and walk off into the sunset......

Update: As suspected, Adam Fenix dies in a most noble fashion.

Check out my Gears of War 3 review or how I think Gears of War 4 could play out. 

Meagan Marie's Anya Stroud cosplay

I spied on Cliffy B's twitter account that he gave props to Meagan Marie's cosplay effort to capture the glory that is Anya Stroud - over the past few months the Gears of Wars producers have made it pretty clear that Anya is going to feature in Gears of War 3 in a big fashion, so why wouldn't Meagan want to get together a sweet costume for the Comic Con? More detail here.

More Anya Stroud cosplay at the link.

Also here's Meagan dressed as Poison Ivy. 

Anya Stroud Fan Art by Anjin Anhut

Anjin Anhut has whipped up a pretty cool piece of fan art of Anya from Gears of War 3. Nice work Anjin!