Microsoft have revealed that Gears of War 2 has surpassed five million copies sold worldwide, bringing the overall Gears of War franchise unit sales to over eleven million.

To commemorate these milestones, Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games will release the Gears of War 2: Dark Corners multiplayer and campaign DLC.

Gears of War 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster Gears of War, hit retail shelves today in New Zealand.

Players continue as Marcus Fenix, a reluctant war hero and leader of Delta Squad, six months after the events of Gears of War. The last cities on Sera are sinking, swallowed by a new Locust threat from below. A massive counterattack is humanity’s last hope for survival.

You can check out our review here - Gears of War 2 is available exclusively on the Xbox 360 platform.

Microsoft are giving away over two million Microsoft points before November 7th to 22 lucky Gears of War fans who take part in Xbox 360’s ‘22 Days of Mayhem’ Campaign.

From the 17th October till the launch of Gears of War 2, an Xbox 360 Live promotion will reward one Gears of War multi-player gamer each day with 100,000 Microsoft points and a signed poster from Gears 2 design director Cliff Bleszinski.

Fans that play 22 games of Gears of War multi-player prior to November 7th will be able to enter the draw for the major prize, which is an Xbox 360-themed UTE along with some Gears of War 2 art images from Epic Games.

 

With the enormous success of Gears of War, a sequel was always inevitable, and this is where it normally gets tricky for an IP.

Should the developers approach the new game from the same angle, appealing to fans who have invested hundreds of hours in the original game, or should they redesign the franchise to appeal to a newer generation? Is it a case of fixing a multitude of balance problems that the community has identified, or should you cut your losses and start from scratch?

Happily, with Gears of War, there's no need for massive changes as Epic got it pretty much right the first time. Our hands-on session with the good people from Xbox New Zealand consisted of a complete play though of the first campaign, and what the developers have managed to include this time around simply builds on what was already a solid foundation.

Microsoft and Epic Games announced today that Gears of War 2, the blockbuster action sequel to the five million unit selling original, has gone gold.

“After two years of pouring our heart and passion into Gears of War 2, the team is immensely happy with what we’ve created,” said Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski. "This is Epic’s best work yet, and we can’t wait to see the response from fans and newcomers to the series alike.”

Gears of War 2 tells the story of humanity's last stand against the nightmarish, underground Locust Horde, and is the follow-up to one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. Gears of War 2 will be available exclusively on Xbox 360 for $99.95 for the Standard Edition and $119.95 for the Limited Edition.

 

Microsoft New Zealand have issued the following press release detailing the new Xbox 360 wireless controller due to go on sale soon:

Get ready to smoke your opponents on Xbox with the new fiery red Wireless Controller with added ‘go-faster’ black strip. This hot little number will be winging its ways into stores just in time for the Kiwi sizzling summer.

Microsoft have released the third developers diary for Gears of War 2, the upcoming sequel set to be released in November for the Xbox 360.

In Gears of War 2, players continue as Marcus Fenix, a reluctant war hero and leader of Delta Squad, six months after the events of Gears of War. The last cities on Sera are sinking, swallowed by a new Locust threat from below. A massive counterattack is humanity’s last hope for survival.

Check out the video at GP Downloads (274MB).

Microsoft have released the first developers diary for Gears of War 2, the sequel to the immensely popular Gears of War released in 2006 for the Xbox 360, and earlier this year for PC.

Players continue as Marcus Fenix, a reluctant war hero and leader of Delta Squad, six months after the events of Gears of War. The last cities on Sera are sinking, swallowed by a new Locust threat from below. A massive counterattack is humanity’s last hope for survival.

Check out the video at GP Downloads (286MB).

 

GP: From E3 we know Gears of War 2 will be released worldwide on 7th November. Is Xbox NZ planning anything special? Do you think NZ will be the first to get their hands on it due to our advantage over GMT?

Hunt: Yes we get it first which is pretty cool – little advantage for Kiwis online. For the GoW fan boys there’s a Limited Edition copy of the game available for pre-order and at launch we might also do something at the RvB gaming lounge.

GP: Please tell us more about Xbox’s new content delivery – how and when will this benefit Kiwis?

Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books, have announced a trilogy of tie-in novels based on Epic's acclaimed 3rd person action game series, Gears of War.

The first novel, entitled 'Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields' (written by Karen Traviss), is scheduled for release on the 28th of October 2008 in the USA.

"In Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields, the last human stronghold on Sera braces itself for another onslaught from the Locust Horde, as ghosts come back to haunt Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. For Marcus - decorated war hero, convicted traitor - the return of an old comrade threatens to dredge up an agonizing secret he's sworn to keep. As the beleaguered soldiers of the Coalition of Ordered Governments take a last stand to save humankind from extermination, the harrowing decisions made at Aspho Fields have to be relived and made again. Marcus and Dom can take anything the Locust Horde throws at them - but will their friendship survive the truth about Dom’s brother Carlos?"