Gears of War Starts to Hits Stores

By Geoff Duncan Updated November 7, 2006

Gears of War Starts to Hits Stores

Epic Games’ much-anticipated action shooting game Gears of War reaches its first retail outlets today, launching what Microsoft hopes will become the fastest-selling game to-date for its Xbox 360 console game system. Gears of War has been whetting the appetites of gamers for over half a year, and Microsoft and Epic are pumping up the excitement television ad placements, Microsoft’s recent “Match Made in Hell” promotion, and pre-release events throughout October.

Gears of War is a third-person shooter; players take on the role of Marcus Fenix as he leads a team of soldiers against the Locust Horde, a race of big, pale, an unquestionably nasty humanoid critters who’ve crawled up from the depths of the earth. Gears of War offers visceral, cinematic action, and both single- and multi-player online play via Xbox Live.

“Gears of War is a title we know will deliver on all of its promise, and we expect the game to reach 1 million copies faster than any new titles for Xbox,” said Jeff Bell, VP of global marketing for Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, in a release. “This holiday is an extremely important one for the entire industry, and Xbox 360 will offer the world unparalleled experiences available only on this console. We’ve put an enormous emphasis on bringing new and exciting titles to market, and Gears of War is a key example of Microsoft’s commitment to developing original and immersive titles for gamers everywhere.”

“The reception that ‘Gears of War’ has received has been tremendous,” said Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer for Gears of War at Epic Games. “Designing Gears of War has been a labor of love, and we’ve poured everything we have into the title. We expect this game to be huge, and it’s exhilarating to see that people are as excited about Gears of War as we are.”

Gears of War is available exclusively for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform, and is available now at select retailers and will be widely available November 12, 2006. Gears of War carries at suggested retail price of $59.99, with a limited collector’s edition (featuring a hardboard art book, bonus DVD, and other material) is priced at $69.99. Gears of War is rated M for “Mature” by the ESRB.

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Action Games

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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Get Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for free with this Xbox Series S deal

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Why You Should Buy the Xbox Series S and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Bundle
The Xbox Series S is the digital-only version of the console, making it the smallest, and sleekest model ever. You no longer have to load physical discs into the system, as everything is kept on the 512GB solid-state drive with blazing-fast load times and excellent performance. In fact, the Series S offers a framerate of up to 120 frames per second, well beyond the standard 60. You might not know this, but the Xbox is now carbon aware thanks to a new update. It reduces its power consumption to cut down on environmental impact, which is a welcome addition. That also saves you a bunch of money on your power bill.

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Cal fighting the Ninth Sister in Jedi Fallen Order.

Star Wars has been a cultural touchstone since the original film debuted in theaters more than 45 years ago. Today, the Star Wars brand is still led by the ongoing movie series. Each Star Wars movie release stirs frantic buzz across the world, and with Disney+, that even extends to television now with series like The Mandalorian.

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