Epic Games, in many ways the inventors of modern AAA game development, with their Unreal Engine, and their Gears of War franchise, have made a marked move away from that this generation, moving to smaller titles, such as the MOBA Paragon. The move was a very conscious one, that came about as a result of the escalating development budgets Epic saw with the Gears of War series.

“The very first Gears of War game cost $12 million to develop, and it made about $100 million in revenue,” Epic’s Tim Sweeney said in an extensive feature published on Polygon. “It was very profitable.”

However, the costs continued to rise- “By the end of the cycle, Gears of War 3 cost about four or five times more than the original to make,” he says. “The profit was shrinking and shrinking. We calculated that, if we built Gears of War 4, the budget would have been well over $100 million, and if it was a huge success, we could break even. Anything less could put us out of business.”

These kinds of frightening costs for games development are what led tot he collapse of the mid tier gaming industry, causing former mid tier stalwarts to either collapse and go into bankruptcy, like THQ, or pursue AAA game development, like AAA. Today, AAA games have massive budgets, going into hundreds of millions of dollars, and need to sell millions of copies just to break even; they also take a long time to be developed, and are generally ‘safe,’ in order to ensure that they can recoup the massive investment.

But this scenario was not the only thing that caused Epic to rethink its strategy. Something that happened with Gears of War Judgement did, too.

“When we released Gears of War: Judgment, a bunch of community players were complaining about all the multiplayer levels we created. We realized that, you know, there are some problems with this, we should rework it, create a bunch of new content and release multiplayer around a new game just like we did in the project that was the genesis of Unreal Tournament,” Sweeney said. “We had all these plans to do this, and so we went to Microsoft and we said, ‘Hey, we want to do this.’ And they said ‘No, you don’t want to do that.’

“We weren’t asking them for money, but you know as our publisher and proprietor of Xbox, it didn’t fit into their business plans and so they said no. That made me realize very clearly the risk of having a publisher or anybody standing between game developers and gamers — and how toxic and destructive that process could be to the health of a game and its community.”

So it was also the realization that they wanted to shift to a more community oriented model of development that caused them to rethink how they would approach game making.

Is this new Epic better than the older one? That remains to be seen, but so far, Paragon, their first new game since the shift, does look good. We’ll see.

During the Season 1 finals of the Gears of War ESL league, Rod Fergusson, head of the studio The Coalition (which is currently the custodian of the Gears of War franchise), revealed that the four Xbox 360 Gears games – Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Gears of War: Judgement – are pretty popular even on the Xbox One, thanks to the system’s backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games.

According to Fergusson, of the nine most popular Xbox 360 games on Xbox One, four are the Gears of War titles. Yes, even Judgement is on this list, proving once and for all that people will swallow crap as long as it’s shaped like their favorite thing.

I kid. I think Judgement got a bit too much hate, more than it deserved, at any rate.

In any case, playing through the four older games is as great a way as any to prep yourself up for the upcoming Gears of War 4, which will launch in Fall this year.

Gears of War 4 looks pretty good- the fourth entry in Microsoft’s Xbox exclusive franchise seems like it will make the ghost of the disappointing 2013 game Gears of War Judgement a thing of the past, and instead return to the glory days of the original trilogy.

A lot of that will rely on the game having actual good game design, in single player and in the multiplayer modes. And during a Question and Answer session held at the Season 1 finals of the Gears of War ESL league, Gears of War 4 Lead Multiplayer Designer Ryan Cleven talked about the process behind the creation of the multiplayer maps for the game- and it sounds like they really know what they are doing this time.

The studio is constantly playing versus matches, to try and figure out how the maps actually are during real time gameplay, and they keep heat maps, which demonstrate the most common areas players go to during games on classic maps. Since the team at The Coalition is new at making Gears on the whole, they had to do their homework, breaking down what makes Gears of War so uniquely Gears, and then making new maps of their own in incremental steps, fro basic sketches to rudimentary 3D models, to extensive internal testing.

On the whole, the team is looking at Gears of War Judgement a lot, said Cleven, to try and understand what players didn’t like about the game, and to ensure they don’t make the same mistakes again. At the same time, they will also be considering the things players did like about the Gears games, all of them, and try to hit those same notes with the new title.

Let’s hope Gears of War 4 is great, then. It launches later this year exclusively on the Xbox One.

Owners of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be getting all four Xbox 360 Gears of War games – including the original, unaltered 2006 Gears of War which set the franchise in motion – for free on December 1, as they had been promised. The games will run on the Xbox One via the console’s backwards compatibility feature for Xbox 360 games and software.

To make sure you get to avail of this offer, all you need to do is to play Gears of War: Ultimate Edition once before December 31- as long as you do this, you will get the token to download all four Gears of War games. The games will automatically be added to your library, and all you have to do is to install them. The games will be fully functional, including all of their online functionality, intact.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was the Coalition developed remake of the 2006 Gears of War, a full reimagining of the game in the vein of the Halo Anniversary remasters. It released exclusively on Xbox One in August, though it is slated to come to PC some time in the future too.

Chris Wynn, former Producer of Gears of War: Judgement has announced today via twitter that he will be joining as a Senior Development Director at BioWare to work on the next-generation Mass Effect.

We don’t know much about the new Mass Effect other than the fact that it will not be starring Shepard and that the game will take advantage of the Frostbite 3 engine that Battlefield 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition are using.

Gears of War: Judgement wasn’t the greatest Gears of War ever, but it was decent. Do you think that the producer will have a negative or positive effect on the next Mass Effect? Sound off in the comments below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates on the next-generation Mass Effect.

Epic Games has officially announced a new upcoming downloadable content map pack titled ‘Lost Relics’ for Gears of War: Judgement, the prequel in the Gears of War franchise.

Lost Relics is the third downloadable content map pack for Gears of War: Judgement. This new content pack includes a new single objective gametype called ‘Breakthrough”, four new maps, new weapon skins and armor.

The four new maps are Ward, Checkout, Museum and Lost City. You can take a look at the fly-through videos for each map down below

Ward:

Checkout:

Museum:

Lost City:

Lost Relics Screenshots:

It’s nice to see Epic release new content for Gears of War: Judgement consistently throughout the game’s life, especially considering that the Xbox One launch is only a few months away. It’s a good thing to have something to tide the Gears of War fans over until the next-generation of hardware.

Let us know if you’re excited to play Lost Relics DLC for Gears of War: Judgement in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more news.

Epic has announced Call to Arms, the new DLC Pack for Gears of War: Judgement. Call to Arms will feature a brand new multiplayer mode, three new maps and “exclusive digital content,” which will guarantee to “explore the darker side of the Gears universe.”

The new maps are Blood Drive, Boneyard and Terminal; meanwhile the new game mode is called Master at Arms. The digital content, however, will include six armor pieces and gun skins.

Ten new achievements will also be included and will grant you extra 250 Gamerscore.

Call to Arms Map Pack will be available early to VIP Season Pass owners from April 23 on Xbox Live while everyone else will have to wait until April 30th for 1000 Microsoft Points.

Check out below for the official Call to Arms DLC description from Epic.

The Maps

Terminal: The speed and ferocity of the Locust invasion took Halvo Bay completely by surprise. Residents scrambled to evacuate by every means possible, and COG forces were called in to maintain order as martial law was enforced. However, the Locust showed no mercy, and gave no quarter; they swept through train terminals like this one to take advantage of the close quarters and sheer number of defenseless humans trapped within its walls. Sometimes, COG forces could hold the line long enough for a final evacuation, but too many lost their lives in defense of the people and the land they loved.

Blood Drive: As casualties started to mount, the staff at Halvo Memorial quickly began what would become the largest triage effort in the history of Sera. Their “Give Blood Today” campaign inspired a global blood drive in support of COG forces and wounded civilians. Sadly, Halvo fell quickly, and the hospital became a battlefront instead of a sanctuary. The seed of hope was planted, however, and government-run Memorial hospitals across the country mobilized to keep the effort alive until Jacinto Memorial was the last standing bastion of hope for the people of Sera.

Boneyard: The concept of traditional memorial services had to be suspended due to the constant stream and alarming volume of casualties as Sera fell victim to the Locust Horde. Memorial grounds quickly became boneyards. Unmarked holes became grave sites and mausoleums were filled with the nameless remains of the fallen, their skeletons piled into heaps. Tread lightly, you never know what, or who, you’re walking on, and one day you’re bound to join them.

New Mode:

Master At Arms: This new free-for-all game mode exclusive to “Gears of War: Judgment” will test the true range of your soldiering skills. The goal is to get a kill with each of the 20 different available weapons, without resorting to melee or grenade tactics. Every successful kill will automatically advance you to the next available weapon until you have used them all and proven your skill as a true Master at Arms.

Stay tuned on GamingBolt and let us know of what you think of this DLC Map Pack for Gears of War: Judgement down in the comment section.

Critically speaking, it’s not something that’s a high scoring game but considering the fanbase is massive it’s something that is expected to sell well. You can read our review of the game here.

Tomb Raider which was the top game last week has been relegated to no. 2 spot. The game has performed very well too with 1 million sales.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct which is supposed to be a bad game has taken the 3rd position and this is surprising since the game has been bashed by many outlets for being horrible. However, the review code wasn’t sent to many outlets which could have been the reason for such sales.

FIFA 13 and Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes the 4th and 5th spot respectively. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Full top 10 list:

1. Gears of War: Judgment
2. Tomb Raider
3. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
4. FIFA 13
5. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
6. God of War: Ascension
7. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
8. SimCity
9. Far Cry 3
10. Black Ops 2

This guide will tell you how to collect them all and if you are looking to get most of the achievements in the game, you’ve come to the right place. The game is developed by People Can Fly and published by Microsoft.

It is a prequel to all the Gears games released so far and stars Baird and the Cole Train. The multiplayer features 4 maps with 2 yet to be revealed, and it’s one of the reasons why many veteran players are upset, but hey, that’s not the point of this article.

This guide will feature a lot of multiplayer tips too and how to take advantage of all the new weapons added to the game.

All COG Tag Collectibles Guide

There are 48 COG Tags in Gears of War: Judgement and here’s a guide for all of them. Credit to YouTube user RecklessCon for posting the video.

The COG Tags are in proper order so you won’t be confused here. They are collectibles and are scattered across various chapters in the game.

The video has the name of the locations as well so it should make it easier to find them in case you miss it. Check out the video below.

Unlockables at different retailers Guide

Here’s how you can get the different unlockables that you can find at retailers across the US and the world. These are pre-order bonuses and there is no way to get them except this route.

There’s a thread on Epic Games forums for people outside US and it’s a complete list of participating retailers.

Ribbon Master Achievement Guide

You need to three unique ribbons in one section. You can chainsaw 3 guys to get the first ribbon, and then you can throw grenade into the emergence holes to close that and get a ribbon, along with multiple kill ribbon.

You can also try to get three headshots but that’s optional. The location is Chapter 1: The Museum of Military Glory, Section 1: Old Town. This video is by Maka91Productions.

Onyx Medal Glitch (“Ready for War” Achievement Guide FAST XP)

This is a glitch video that allows you to get a lot of XP and also get the Ready for War achievement. The glitch also gets you the “Doorman” Onyx medal in the game.

You need to play the Aftermath campaign and get to “One Step Closer” chapter and play until you reach the building to plant the C4’s.

You then have to press X and then B to cancel out and you can repeat it to get the medal. This video is by ZureyMedia.

Improve your Engineer Game (basics)

Engineer can repair fortifications, engage in close quarters combat and also deploy a turret. This video shows how to do all these things efficiently and also provides gameplay tips for the class.

The video is by arCtiCvBi.

Secret Pathways

You will encounter certain sections in the map where by pressing X you can open a new path. These are usually hidden and most players will probably not find it in their first playthrough.

There are secret switches and things that you have to press to access these paths, but we have a few videos for you that show how to do it. The last video which shows a Ticker is hilarious so check it out.

Full credit to the people who made these videos.

Note: This guide will be updated once we have more information on the game.

It looks like every publisher is following in the footsteps of EA. The success of the experimental implementation of microtransactions in Dead Space 3 seems to have sparked a trend in the industry. Call of Duty was the first to follow, and now Microsoft has announced that they too will be making their foray into the world of microtransactions with Gears of War: Judgement.

We already knew that the game was going to include a wide range of cosmetic skins similar to Gears of War, but now the game’s offering a “double xp” boost which as the name implies, let owners gather experience at twice the rate as usual.

The boosters will be available in packs with 80 Microsoft Points ($1.00) for a 10-match pack, 320 MS Points ($4.00) for a 50-match pack, 560 MS Points ($7.00) for 100 matches and 800 MS points ($10.00) for 200 matches. Those who purchase the game’s season pass will also find themselves with a permanent double XP boost.

While microtransactions isn’t a issue when the items being sold are purely cosmetic and have no impact on gameplay, booster packs just as these do tip the favor of matches towards those who can afford it. Double XP leads to leveling up faster, which in turn lets you unlock better weapons earlier than others. Add to the fact that the base game itself is a full price $60 release and not a free to play title, and you’re left to wonder whether this is the future of the gaming industry. Let us know your thoughts below.