In a recent conference speech, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney revealed the development cost of Gears of War 2, putting it somewhere around the $12 million mark – a surprisingly modest sum for a current-gen blockbuster.

Tim also revealed that Gears of War 2 took 15 programmers and 45 artists over two years to create.

The Xbox 360 is due a dashboard update tomorrow, which is to include the previously-reported Gears of War style armor for your Live avatar…

Blorge.com recently posted a list of the top 40 Xbox 360 exclusive titles. The game atop this prestigious list?

Gears of War – Epic Games didn’t invent the cover system but this game revolutionized it and fostered a new genre.

With the recent trend of blockbuster games being packaged together (Game of the Year Bundle), it seemed that EPIC’s blockbuster Gears of War series was missing out on its very own package. Well fear not Gears of War fans, as Microsoft Australia have just announced a special ‘Gears of War’ bundle to be released on the 4th of June to participating retailers.

The limited edition Gears of War bundle will include an Xbox 360 Pro console, accompanied by both Gears of War 1 & 2, in a swanky looking blood red box. Though the press release clearly states an Australian release date, it is highly likely that this promotion will include all other major territories.

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Tonight at 6:30 PM ET, X-Play travels to Seattle to score an interview with Michael Capps, the President of Epic Games, about the upcoming Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection. Capps also details some of the new maps included in the collection, the continuation and expansion of the single-player campaign and the addition of stealth gameplay.

Courtesy of AchievementHunter, we have full achievement titles and descriptions for the new achievements. These were attained at the recent event that showcased Nowhere and the All Fronts package contents. See below for the full list of what’s to come.It should be noted these 13 new achievements bring Gears 2 up to a gamerscore of 1750, the current DLC addon cap, meaning no more achievements can be added. This probably means this is the last DLC for Gears of War 2 also, but who knows?

Afraid of the Dark (20)
Play a multiplayer match on each of the 7 Dark Corners Map Pack maps

Did Not Go Gentle (30)
Win a multiplayer match on each of the 7 Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode)

Blood on the Sand (50)
Reach level 50 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-50 on the Nowhere map in Horde

Am I Only Dreaming? (40)
Reach level 40 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-40 on the Memorial map in Horde

Like Father, Like Gun (30)
Reach level 30 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-30 on the Allfathers Garden map in Horde

Lost in Transition (20)
Reach level 20 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-20 on the Way Station map in Horde

No, But His Face Rings a Bell (15)
Reach level 15 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-20 on the Sanctuary map in Horde

Ride It All Night Long (10)
Reach level 10 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-10 on the Highway map in Horde

Be Careful What You Wish For (10)
Reach level 5 in multiplayer and complete waves 1-10 on the War Machine map in Horde

Is It Hot or Is That Just You? (25)
Kill 25 Bloodmounts with a Scorcher while playing Horde on a Dark Corners Map Pack map

Two for the Road (25)
Complete the “Road to Ruin” deleted scene in co-op as either Marcus or Dom

Highway to Hell (25)
Complete the “Road to Ruin” deleted scene after choosing the blasting option

My Way or the Highway (25)
Without being detected, complete the “Road to Ruin” deleted scene after choosing the stealth option

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Epic Games is getting prepared for a huge E3’09 showing this June. The new Unreal Engine 3 Technology is going to be displayed across all platforms, and it’s very possible we may see a brand new game coming from the guys behind Gears Of War and Unreal Tournament. Something is very strange though, take notice of the possible new character in the next iteration of Gears Of War which should work in conjunction with the new technology that is going to be displayed.

Gears Of War is a great game but even great games need to be updated significantly, and the introduction of a female character will do just that. it’s time for a bad ass chick to take the scene and Gears Of War 3 will be the perfect title for this to happen. Why? Because it will open up the market even more to female gamers showcasing that not only the men can be stars of big games and kick ass, also seeing a woman with a chainsaw gun will easily stand out over the competition and will potentially become a trend setter for more games in the future.

Gameplay elements using a female character will change the entire feel of the series in which Epic Games are masters at enhancing gameplay. Looking at this picture you can see the beautiful hardcore red head with sex appeal on top of a dead brumack, this raises one question how did she kill this monster? This seems to be Epic Games new change in direction for the Gears Of War series and considering the boss at the end of Gears Of War 2 is a woman wouldn’t be great to see this female character lead Marcus and his crew to victory.

After some suggestions(Dinokiller999) we have decided tonight May 8th we will be having a GWA Game night, so get your friends and invite your fellow Clan mates to some Gears, Left 4 Dead, Call Of Duty 5, or whatever you want! Tonight is the time to have some fun and get to know clan mates if you want. Here is a list of some clan members to invite. If they are on, invite them up and have some fun. GWA chairman will be participating as well. Invite us!! Hughes03  XHolySchnikiesX  XxWhoDeyxX85

Also after some suggestions(IXIxE4LxR4WxIXI) GWA has decided to have a “Clan practice session”  Saturday May, 9th to any one wanting to participate in the Gears Of War Addicts Gamebattles team. The team has not been set yet, GWA does not really have a set time for this “event”. If some of the clan members are on and you would like to scrimmage against them in some Gears of War 2 go for it! More details to come on how GWA will go about setting the gambattles roster, but for now we can alway use some practice

This week was another difficult week in choosing the Gears of War Addict Member of The Week. Unfortunately, this week, there wasn’t one glaring member that stood out among the rest so yet again, we’re breaking our own rules. We have chosen two members who deserve some recognition. The first Gears of War Addict Member of The Week is one of our newest members and our only female member, pikminlink. Pikminlink spent a lot of time on the Gears of War Addict website as well as the forums. We are proud to have her but unfortunately we didn’t get to play with her a whole lot this week. The second Gears of War Addict Member of The Week is Wildcody123. Wildcody123 spent a lot of time playing Gears of War 2 among other games with us, probably more than anyone else, with the exception of last weeks Member of The Week, DeMoNiC NiNjA62.

Congrats to both pikminlink & Wildcody123!

How do you become the member of the week?

Each week on Sunday, the chairmen of Gears of War Addict will get together and decide who should be our member of the week. We’ll base our decision on all sorts of things such as, who was most active on the website, who played the most, most improved, sportsmanship, among other things. If you have someone you’d like to nominate, leave a message on the forum or send any of us a message on Xbox Live saying who you’d like to nominate and why. These nominations will be taken into account when we are making the decision.

This week, we’re actually posting the Gears of War Addict Member of The Week on time. For this week’s member of the week, we chose a member who has definitely spend the most time playing with members of the clan this week. Both in Gears of War 2 and other games, he was willing to play and help. He helped both XxWhoDeyxX85 & XHolySchnikiesX  beat the final boss in Resident Evil 5, played constantly this week, and was just all around sociable the entire week. This week’s Member of The Week is none other than our first and only Corporal, DeMoNiC NiNjA62 formerly known as SatansAssassin4.

Congrats DeMoNiC NiNjA62!

How do you become the member of the week?

Each week on Sunday, the chairmen of Gears of War Addict will get together and decide who should be our member of the week. We’ll base our decision on all sorts of things such as, who was most active on the website, who played the most, most improved, sportsmanship, among other things. If you have someone you’d like to nominate, leave a message on the forum or send any of us a message on Xbox Live saying who you’d like to nominate and why. These nominations will be taken into account when we are making the decision.