FPS General

Cliff Bleszinski, best known for his work at Epic Games creating such iconic franchises as Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal Tournament and Gears of War, has announced a new project; shaving his head to support St. Baldrick's Foundation, a group that works tirelessly to help children with cancer and continue the search for a cure.

St. Baldrick's works on a crowd-sourcing type of format, if Bleszinski gets enough donations then off comes the hair. He is asking for $10,000 for St. Baldricks and, at the time of this writing, the project is sitting at $4,513 - just about halfway to the goal.

Speaking to Kotaku, Bleszinski said:

"I like my hair. A lot. However, I also hate cancer. More. I hate it even more when it happens to kids. So I've decided to join the Saint Baldrick's event and see what I can crowdsource to earn for that lovely charity BY HAVING MY HEAD SHAVED.

I've already put some of my own money into it. Whatever you can give would be lovely."

If you want to see what Cliff Bleszinski would look like with no hair, or if you just want to do your part to help children with cancer around the world, this is your chance to be a hero, a real-life Gear in a war that must be won.

You can make your donations at http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/644195/2013 and remember that it's not how much you give that counts, simply that you cared enough to give it.

Just a reminder, our parent site Curse.com is running a poll to understand how you guys like to game. The poll is quick, easy and will really help Curse deliver the kind of content that you guys are interested in seeing. Our #1 goal is always to provide the content that you, the gamers, want to enjoy. This poll is a great way to do your part by letting us know what you love and why you love it.

Check it out at http://curse.polldaddy.com/s/online-gamer-survey-1 and thank you for your time!

Over this past weekend, Gears of War: Judgement received the totally free Haven DLC add-on, bringing a new map and the return of classic Gears multiplayer mode Execution.

This DLC was originally slated for release today, but Epic Games seems to have had the content ready and saw no reason to make the players wait. The map is named Haven and can be seen in some brand new screenshots that were released this morning. Execution is returning and will be familiar to anyone who played previous Gears of War games, as this has been a staple of the franchise's multiplayer side.

The update is out now and you can check out the screenshots after the break.

Gears of War: Judgement is now available for public consumption and it's getting put through its paces by the gaming journalist collective. So what are they saying?

Is Judgement a worthy submission to the iconic Gears franchise or should you give it a pass?

Let's take a look at what a few esteemed critics are saying about the game.

Joystiq - 90/100

Whether it's multiplayer or single-player, Gears of War: Judgment proves that, for all of the series' trademark spectacle and flair, it all boils down to executing simple combat concepts well. A diligent approach to ensuring that no two encounters are the same keeps it from ever feeling stagnant or like a waste of your time.You're always moving, constantly pushing through the next enemy stronghold, never sure of what you'll face, and it's always harrowing.

Polygon - 80/100

Other than the awkwardly extended console generation, another Gears game seemed ... well, let's say opportunistic. But People Can Fly found a hook for Gears of War: Judgment — challenge.

Gears of War: Judgment manages to stand on its own in the Gears catalog by capitalizing on an arcade sensibility to encourage players to push themselves. It fails to reach the heights of Gears of War 3, but it's pretty, funny, and just good enough to make you want a little more Gears.

Gears of War: Judgement hits shelves this week so we wanted to take this opportunity to recap what we know about the game, in a nutshell, to prepare you for release. We will do our best to avoid spoilers but if you haven’t played the entire Gears trilogy, you probably shouldn't play Gears of War: Judgement.

This is the first game in the Gears franchise to not feature Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. Instead, Judgement focuses on Damon Baird, Cole Train and the rest of Kilo Squad. The characters are familiar, but Judgement explores them in a completely new way. Judgement’s story begins at the end. Kilo Squad is on trial for a crime that we don’t really understand until you play the game. The story unfolds with some clever storytelling in which testimony is given in court and rather than simply listening to the members tell the story, you play it.

The missions in the game are built around the events that lead up to the ultimate arrest and trial of the members of Kilo. Gears of War: Judgement takes place before the core Gears of War trilogy, around the time of Emergence Day, a pretty significant event in Gears lore.

While the story is fresh and multiplayer has been given some updates, this is a Gears of War game to its core. The mechanics and gameplay elements that you love, for the most part haven’t been touched. The classic mechanics are still in place, roadie-running, curb stomping, Lancer wielding. All of that goodness is still in place.

The game can basically be broken down into two parts; singleplayer and multiplayer. We’ve already talked about the singleplayer story, now let’s look at multiplayer.

We've been looking forward to Gears of War: Judgement for a long time and we can hardly believe that the game ships in less than a week.

Earlier this week, we gathered up some of our favorite Judgement wallpapers and even created a couple of our own but we're really in the Gears of War spirit so it's time for a giveaway.

Much like our Crysis 3 giveaway, this one is going to be a simple comment and Tweet sort of deal. Up for grabs will be a copy of Gears of War: Judgement on Xbox 360.

The giveaway will run this weekend and we'll do our best to get your game shipped out in time for the big launch on Tuesday, March 19th. We'll open this up to North America and European Union members, but just be aware that if you're overseas, it may take longer for your product to arrive!

So, here's the deal. Leave us a comment in this thread telling us what you are most looking forward to in Gears of War: Judgement. After that, Tweet the following message out to your followers:

'I just entered to win a copy of #GearsofWar #Judgement at @FPSGeneral! Details here: http://bit.ly/YtO3S9.'

Make sure that you include your Twitter username in your reply so we can verify that all the rules were followed. Our winner will be selected at random on Sunday, March 17th at 9:00PM (Pacific Time).

That's it! Good luck to all who enter and we'll see you in Gears of War: Judgement next week.

What are you looking forward to most about Gears of War: Judgement? Tell us below, Tweet out the above message and you could win a copy of the game!

***

Congratulations to antbrown88 - you're our winner! We will be contacting you via Private Message right here on FPS General to arrange shipment of your fresh copy of Gears of War: Judgement.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

_{Just between us, we might be doing something similar to this giveaway with a game that sounds like CryoClock Intimate.}

Gears of War: Judgement comes out in less than a week and we're starting to get excited. To celebrate, we thought we'd do something a little different.

We spent some time today scouring around the Internet and tinkering around in Gimp, rounding up some of the best Gears of War: Judgement desktop wallpapers that we could find. A couple of these we threw together ourselves and the rest are credited appropriately.

Feel free to download these images, resize them and put them on display to your hearts content. They're set up to open in a lightbox, so just right-click them and select 'Open Link in New Tab' or the equivalent to download the full resolution image.

For Kilo Squad!

Courtesy of Alphacoders.com

Keep reading for the rest of our must-have Gears of War: Judgement wallpapers!

Our friends across the pond recently got some hands-on time with Epic Games' upcoming Gears of War: Judgement and you can see some of their thoughts in the video above. 

Featured in the video is none other than our good friend Shaun Akerman (@ShaunyPwns) who actually recently helped cast our Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Pros vs Joes event. The rest of the folks invited to the event include Chris Trout, Peter Byrne, Aaron Ash and Alex Frewin. These are some of the biggest names in the Gears of War community in the United Kingdom and their insight as long-time Gears fans is definitely something to pay attention to.

It looks like the guys were able to check out the singleplayer campaign as well as the multiplayer components that the game has to offer. Opinions all seem pretty positive and that is encouraging from Gears veterans.

Gears of War: Judgement ships on March 22nd in Europe and March 19th in North America. Stay tuned to FPS General as we continue to follow the game!

Check out the UK community video after the break!

Gears of War: Judgement is due out next month, telling a brand new story set in the Gears of War universe. Creating this story was no easy feat, and it makes sense if you think about it.

The core storyline in Gears of War ended with Gears of War 3, wrapping up the tales of Marcus Fenix and his compatriot Dominic Santiago. With Judgement, however, Epic Games and People Can Fly had the task of creating a brand new story within the Gears universe that is just as engaging as previous entries in the franchise while still remaining wholly new and creative. To do this, the team focused less on cinematic cut-scenes and more on expanding the story within the levels themselves.

The video below, released by The Creators Project, takes a look at storytelling in Gears of War: Judgement and brings in writers Rob Auten and Tom Bissell to go behind the scenes.

Check it out after the break and visit http://www.fpsgeneral.com/news/gears-of-war-judgement for more on Gears of War: Judgement!

Check out a brand new trailer for Gears of War: Judgement, courtesy of Major Nelson himself, Larry Hryb. The video above focuses on Judgement's multiplayer modes, so give it a look!

Gears of War: Judgement ships on Xbox 360 March 19th, 2013, visit http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/ for more information on the game.

Things have been pretty quiet lately in the Gears of War: Judgement camp, with the team presumably working around the clock to perfect the next entry into Epic Games' masterful franchise. That silence ended on Friday as the team released a brand new trailer at the Spike TV Video Game Awards.

If you're not familiar with the game, Gears of War: Judgement follows the story of familiar faces Damon Baird and Augustus Cole, who are on trial - along with the rest of Kilo Squad - for treason. The charges have been brought against them by Colonel Ezra Loomis. The game takes place before the events of the core Gears of War trilogy and branches out beyond the stories of Dominic Santiago and Marcus Fenix.

The trailer features a perfect blend of gameplay and cinematics, showing how desperate the world has become after Emergence Day with the Locust attack in full force.

Check it out above and visit http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/ for more information on Gears of War: Judgement.

Yesterday, we learned that the next issue of Official Xbox Magazine had the exclusive scoop on Gears of War: Judgement's brand new multiplayer mode. Well, the new game mode has been revealed ahead of schedule including a brand new screenshot which you can see above (click to enlarge).

The new game mode is Free for All, which is exactly what it sounds like. This is classic deathmatch, Gears of War style. In Free for All, it's every man for himself with none of those pesky Locust beasts to get in the way. Free for All will be debuting at PAX Prime later this week, but for now we have a bit of information on the Free for All maps that will ship with Gears of War: Judgement.

Initially, we're looking at just two maps, Gondola (pictured above) and Library;

GONDOLA – The Coastal Villa Apartments are part of the exclusive Halvo community located in the prestigious Agora foothills. Residents enjoy a host of interior upgrades, and each unit features an ocean view from a private patio or balcony. This quiet, gated community is located only a short gondola ride from the renowned shops and businesses of our active and thriving coastal community.

LIBRARY – The Alexiy Desipich Memorial Library is not a library in the traditional sense, but rather an archive of important documents surrounding his life, career, and personal interests. An avid historian, politician, and philosopher, Desipich is most remembered as the father and creator of the Austere Canon, the basis for the Coalition of Ordered Governments, which was shaped around eight guiding principles: Order, Diligence, Purity, Labor, Honor, Loyalty, Faith, and Humility.

Stay tuned as we'll be bringing you the latest first-person shooter news, straight from the show floor in Seattle at PAX Prime 2012!

Epic Games and People Can Fly will be unveiling a brand new game mode for Gears of War: Judgement next month. The reveal comes in the next issue of Official Xbox Magazine (OXM), as viewed in the magazine cover to the right.

We don't really know anything about the new multiplayer mode other than we're excited to grab the next issue of OXM to find out more.

We know that Gears of War: Judgement will feature OverRun Mode but our fingers are firmly crossed that this isn't the new game mode being touted by OXM, as it was unveiled quite some time ago.

For what it's worth, in OverRun mode, the Locust horde must attack a COG generator, but to do so they have to first break through multiple objectives. Each objective successfully breached moves the fighting to a new location on the map, much in the way that Rush mode works in Battlefield.

Also in the issue are some new details on the singleplayer campaign and 'a crazy new weapon'. We're not sure how you get crazier than a chainsaw attached to an assault rifle, but if anyone can do it - it's Epic Games.

Gears of War: Judgement tells the story of of Damon Baird, Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole and the rest of Kilo Squad, who are currently on trial (awaiting Judgement).

Check out http://www.oxmonline.com/ for more information on the next issue of Official Xbox Magazine!

It's official. Gears of War: Judgement is launching in March of 2013, officially avoiding the crowded Holiday 2012 season for the slightly less crowded Early Spring 2013.

Gears of War: Judgement is currently in development by Epic Games and People Can Fly, the latter of which developed the 2011 shooter Bulletstorm. The story takes place before the core Gears of War trilogy and does not follow the exploits of Marcus Fenix. This game follows the trial of Damon Baird, Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole and the rest of Kilo Squad. The exact circumstances of the trial haven't been made clear, but we know that the Squad is on trial for desertion, cowardice, theft of military tech among other things.

We're pretty excited for Gears of War: Judgement and while March 2013 seems pretty far away, we didn't even know that Gears of War: Judgement existed just a couple months back, so there's always that.