I’m really tired and my feet hurt. As an excuse to sit down for a few minutes, I’ve agreed to Live Blog the Gears of War panel, because there’s a chance that they might take the opportunity to announce a new Map Pack, or something. Alas, the walls of the Jacob Javitz Center are made of lead, so unless a beam of wi-fi descends from the heavens this is going to be slightly later than “Live.” Not dead, but not what anyone might consider 100% fresh by any means.

7:45 - Time for signings! The internet held up, horray! Thanks for following the liveblog, and stay tuned for more NYCC information!

7:43-  "Maria was the locust queen" + "Macrus's mom is the locust queen" are their two favorite crazy theories that aren't true.

7:43 - Berzerker level was cut. Somewhere in Epic's office are all of the cut levels. Gears 2 directors cut, anyone?

7:40 - Talking the movie: Wanted writer is writing Gears, Legendary is producing, director of Die Hard 4 is directing. Eric mentions that Die Hard 4 is essentially Gears of War the movie. They can talk more soon. Someone says Batista should play Marcus, and Josh sounds interested.

7:38 - Carlos thinks that voice acting will soon be as respected as traditional acting. He mentions needing to know how to record a dozen different ways to sound being shot.

7:32 - Someone just asked a very long question about cut scenes, where they are, and where they are going. Eric talks about how cut scenes can ruin immersion, which is why they take camera control from the character instead of fully cutting to a cut scene.

7:30 - Single-player DLC for Gears is a possibility. "Keep watching, you won't be dissapointed."

7:29 - Someone makes a red shirts reference. Carmine is a color of red. There are four Carmine brothers. Carlos says that he was on Star Trek and wore a red shirt. And died.

7:27 - Q&A session begins. Q: Are you considering a prequel to E-Day? A: Yes. I can't say more. Gears isn't going away, you won't be dissapointed.

7:26 - "MY WIFE!"

7:25 - Characters are motion-captured, and they use different actors than the voices. Carlos insisted on doing it himself for the "Maria Scene."

7:23 - They are talking about why Dom is really the main character, in terms of story, in Gears 2. They can't make Marcus the emotional type because he's the player.

7:18 - Eric tells a story about when Terry came in to record Cole's voice. He was so loud he destroyed the booth.

7:16 - At one point we were kicking around an idea with Cole and Baird having their own level. 

7:14 - Eric: "It's not a bad story, just a scarce story."

7:11 - They are plugging some Youtube video that made fun of Gears of War 2. "Cogs of War 2." Carlos keeps quoting the parody, "MY WIFE!"

7:08 - Joshua: "Cliffy B is a bonafide genius."

7:05 - The COG symbol, apparently, is called "The Crimson Omen." I didn't know that.

7:03 - Hey! Free posters! Score.

7:01 – Ben hates public speaking. He asked if anyone knows Jim Lee. Jim' working on a Gears of War comic book cover. Awesome. The comics bridge the gap in-between the two games, and Jim’s cover will feature some new characters.

6:58 – Eric was about to say something, checked if there was media in the room, and then stopped. Boo.

6:57 – Eric mentioned that Epic originally wanted to go with Hollywood types. “They wanted to bring in David Franzoni to write Gears of War. He came out with The Gladiator, and Cliff was like ‘I love this movie!’ Then he came out with King Arthur.”

6:56 – Carlos was asked how Epic approached him. “For the first time in a VO gig they handed me a phonebook of stuff… They stayed away from stereotypes, which is right up my alley… I think he’s a cool superhero.”

6:54 – The voice of Dom just yelled “Sup bitches?!”

6:53 – Hey, people on stage. We are warned that there will be spoilers. Here are the speakers:

• Carlos Ferro: Voice of Dom
• Joshua Ortega: Writer
• Eric Nylund: Consultant/Writer
• Ben Abernathy: DC Comics

6:50 – No Lancers so far. No speakers either.

6:45 – It’s supposed to start as of…now, but there’s no one on stage. I’m expecting a Lancer to tear through the wall to unveil the speakers. 

 

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