An Unofficial Gears of War Blog

User Info for SweetTea023


Email: nickw023@gmail.com
XBOX Live Gamertag: SweetTea023

I'm the Community Manager for this awesome community and attend Olivet Nazarene University in pursuit of a degree in Corporate Communications. I'm also in the Army's Officer Training program. Last but actually the most important bit of info~Jesus has saved me and I follow Him daily.

Oh, and I enjoy the great drinks of SweetTea and NesQuick



Batman: The Dark Knight Review (I left the spoilers behind!)
By SweetTea023
Posted on Sat Jul 19, 2008 at 11:09:19 PM EST

Rarely do you see Rednecks, Emo kids, Moms, 50- year old Men and College Kids in line for the same thing.  Yet, while walking into a midnight showing for Batman: The Dark Knight, I witnessed just that. The parking lot was full, popcorn line crowded, and bathrooms overflowing....forty minutes before the movie was supposed to start.  All this attention makes you wonder if a superhero movie is really worthy of it.

After experiencing the two and a half hours of the Batman movie, I can assure you- it is.

The Dark Knight is almost as much of a comedy movie with action, as it is an action movie with comedy.  Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is both hilarious and disturbing. This "better class of criminal" is one of the most disturbingly believable villains that I've ever seen and somehow still manages to charm audiences with on-the-spot, witty jokes.  Batman isn't as impressive. The Batman-Joker rivalry is played up to its full extent in The Dark Knight and puts many other hero-villain rivalries to shame.  Even David and Goliath would be impressed...

But even without Ledger's Oscar-worthy performance, The Dark Knight is incredible.   Awesome action sequences, fun dialogue and a deeper moral discussion all play pivotal roles in the movie.  This is one of the best movies I've ever seen and I don't say that often.

Someone looking for a comedy will be satisfied. Those looking for an action flick will be pleased.  Even the audience who never thought that they would go to see a comic book movie will enjoy The Dark Knight.  Whoever you are, whatever you enjoy, you'll more than likely find something to love about Batman: The Dark Knight.

I will now spend the majority of my life pursuing scientific research to bring Heath Ledger back to life.  Wish me luck.

Entry Link :: 5 Comments

Greg Ford & Andrew Fitch "Love and Hate" the E3 Keynotes on latest GearHeads podcast
By SweetTea023
Posted on Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 12:35:43 AM EST

In the latest (and funniest) edition of the Official Podcast of GearHeadsofWar.com, we are joined by two awesome guys~ Managing Editor of EGM- Greg Ford and Senior Copy Editor of 1UP- Andrew Fitch.
Joining them are Tyler Bleszinski and myself.  Ford and Fitch discuss the following:

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• Why Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo's VP of sales and marketing, is the new "Jeff Bell"

• Fast paced, hilarious discussion of Microsoft
• Sony and Nintendo's Press Conferences

• We give each company's conference a grade based on content...
...And call out the lame performances.

• Fitch and Ford provide their highlights and disappointments from each Keynote speech

• And somehow, Greg mentions seeing "The Dark Knight" without anyone asking how it was...

----------------

All that and much more on the latest podcast from GearHeadsofWar.com!

E3Big3.mp3

Entry Link :: 6 Comments

1UP Linkfest...And an Announcement!
By SweetTea023
Posted on Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 03:54:49 PM EST

Everyone in video game journalism is swamped right now with E3, as you can imagine.  Not escaping that fact are our good friends at 1UP.  To give GearHeads easy access to a majority of the Xbox 360 previews coming out of E3, I've compiled a list with links to each games preview from 1UP.

Why 1UP? Well because their E3 list was easy to navigate/link to and because quite frankly, David and friends are the definition of awesome.

INTERVIEWS

1UP Interviews Shane Kim
Final Fantasy 13 Producer Q and A
Pre-1UP Show pics (Cliff, David, etc.)
Mega Man 9

Xbox 360 PREVIEWS

Gears 2 Hands On
Banjo-Kajooie: Nuts and Bolts In depth hands on
Fracture
Fallout 3 Hands On
Rock Band 2
Resident Evil 5- Hand On
Dark Void Hands On
MotoGP '08
This is Vegas
Borderlands
Fable 2's Pub Games Hands On
Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising

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New Stuff:

NBA 2K9

--------------------------------

Continuing the 1UP theme, I'm pleased to announce that today we will be recording an E3 podcast with EGM's Managing Editor, Greg Ford and 1UP's Andrew Fitch. Joining Papi and myself, both will be hilarious additions to the podcast and will offer their thoughts on Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's Press Conferences.

The podcast should go up later tonight and along with great E3 discussion will include need to know questions like "Which PS3 game will still be headlining Sony's E3 Conference in 2 years?" and Awards like "How to Kill your Fans" (Microsoft for the Bungie screw up)

All this and more will be available in our latest edition of I Claim Shenanigans.

Entry Link :: 5 Comments

GEARS 2 E3 Media, Impresssions and More!
By SweetTea023
Posted on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 04:29:13 PM EST

The Media

Reminders!
~G4 Gears 2 Demo Starts at 6 EST!!!

~The 1UP Show coming tonight will feature an interview of Cliff Bleszinski as he plays through the single player level shown at Microsoft's Keynote. Apparently there are some hilarious moments throughout the interview that should add to its already immense desirability.
Cliff + David + Gears 2 = Epic Win for GearHeads
Some Pics to tide you over...

Single Player Walkthrough!!! (Now with Narration)
Gears 2 Trailer "Rendezvous!" (In HD via GameVideos!)
Annnd New Pics!


The Impressions

David's Gears 2 Impressions!
Stephen Totillo from MTV's Multiplayer Blog
TeamXbox Impressions

The News

Gears 2 to release November 7, 2008
Only 2 Player co-op
Horde Announced: 5 Player co-op on any multiplayer map. Fight off as many Locusts as your can as they increase in number and size.
Awesome Mad World-Topping E3 Trailer, theme and picture pack are available on the marketplace

Gears 2 lobby, playlists and matchmaking detailed-Xbox360Fanboy


Also, don't forget to download our latest podcast with our great friends from GameVideos as we talk about Horde, new weapons and maps including "Avalanche"!

Update [2008-7-16 5:19:4 by 3Suns]: New Rod Fergusson Interview vid with John Di Maggio and Carlos Ferro cameos - !!LMAO warning!!

Entry Link :: 82 Comments

Sony's Turn! E3 Keynote on it's way...
By SweetTea023
Posted on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 01:20:36 PM EST

After a brief break for hardcore gamers with Nintendo's Press Conference, hardcore gaming is back with our favorite little rival of...Sony.  Their conference should start at about 11:30 am PST.

The News

PS3 80GB to replace 40GB from September: $399
PSN movie and TV video distribution starting Tonight. Rental and Purchases. Ability to copy movies onto on multiple devices including PSP.
PS3 Greatest Hits - $29.99 includes Resistance,Assassin's Creed, Ninja Gaiden, and more..
Newly announced exclusives:

- God of War 3, CG Teaser~2009
- Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (new separate, shorter R&C game for $14.99
- MAG - Massive Action Game from Zipper, 256 players, 8-player squads, coming 2009
- DC Universe (SOE MMO)

New PSP games - Resistance, Super Stardust, Buzz and more..
New PS2 Bundle coming, Lego Batman + Movie DVD for $149.99
Life with Playstation coming by end of month -Partnership with Google: News, weather and webcam feeds

Entry Link :: 109 Comments

Gears 2 E3 Podcast...David and Jason bring the goods!
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 09:04:06 PM EST

I had the supreme pleasure of sitting down with two great guys (and good friends of GearHeads) from GameVideos, David Ellis and Jason Bertrand, to talk about Gears of War 2.  Both have had time with the game and were able to talk about all of the following things in detail:

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•Horde: How it plays, how it is set up, and just HOW BIG and CRAZY it gets. (Ahem, 5 plus Berserkers!)

•New Multiplayer Maps: Avalanche revealed and detailed!  Take that title literally...; Also, Day One explained~ how it plays.

•New Enemies:  Blood Mounts fully described; 2 New Boomers detailed- Flamethrower and Boomer with an explosive whip (as seen in latest gameplay)

•AI-Bots Discussion

•New Weapons: Mulcher (chaingun) detailed, Mortar weapon- how it works

•And plenty more...

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It's a half hour of power and simply can't be missed.

Gears2E3.mp3

Entry Link :: 30 Comments

Microsoft Keynote News! (Continuously Updated)
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 02:02:43 PM EST

The Xbox 360:

New Dashboard: Simple to navigate dashboard coming this fall and looks slick along with…
Avatars confirmed: Design your own avatar, up to 8 friends can join a “party” with 8 player chat, watch movies downloaded via Live together, share pictures and much more! The avatars look silly but everything they can do is amazing. Learn more by reading 1UP's Impressions

Marc Whitten gives us even more Dashboard news over at Major Nelson's Blog!!!

Netflix comes to the 360!

LIPS Unveiled! Karaoke using any songs from your IPod or Zune!

NBC and Universal join the Video Marketplace

Games:

Television Shows coming to Live as games; Use your avatar to play 1:100, Deal or No Deal and more with friends

Gears 2 coming November 7!

PORTAL: STILL ALIVE EXCLUSIVE TO XBOX LIVE ARCADE!

Fable 2 coming this October; Walkthrough Video Amazing online co-op via this system: Purple orbs represent your friends when they are playing at the same time as you. Wherever they are in the game, their orb will appear on your screen. Simply walk up to the orb, push a button and they instantly can join your game!

Rock Band 2 exclusive to Xbox 360! 84 Song, including ACDC

Geometry Wars 2 coming next month! Video...Possible Co-op?

RE5 to release March 13, 2009; Gameplay Video, Gameplay Video Online Co-op Revealed.

FINAL FANTASY 13 COMING TO XBOX 360!

"Scene It 2: Your in the Movies" Coming soon! Use the vision cam to play stupid games that are then compiled into funny movies. Looks neat.

Fallout 3 Walkthrough Also at GameTrailers

And Bungie News Coming!

New Halo Wars "5 years" Trailer!

Trailers for just about every game shown can be found on the Marketplace! Which, surprisingly seems to run much smoother...=)

------------------------------- Discuss the conference!

Entry Link :: Comment

Microsoft Keynote Live Chat! (And a chance to win...)
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 12:54:46 PM EST

Here we go! Microsoft's Press Conference is less than an 45 mins away and from talking to various GearHeads this morning I think we're ready.  You can use this thread to throw out your live thoughts on everything that's going down at Microsoft's Keynote.

As an added bonus, we'll be randomly picking 3 people who comment on this thread to win a Gears 2 EGM signed by Dan "Shoe" Hsu.  On top of that, we'll be picking funny/witty comments about certain pieces of news and place that comment (and your name, of course) next to the link to that news item on our front page.

So it pays to post. ;) Be sure and hop on Skype in addition as I'm sure they'll be a ton of GearHeads carrying the discussion over there as well!

Don't forget to check out all the Live Blog's and streams that can be found found here.
Enjoy!

(Thanks to Joystiq for the pic)

Entry Link :: 171 Comments

E3: Everything you need...(The updating begins...)
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 12:13:40 AM EST

Everything you need to experience E3 to the fullest extent can be found in this story.  Well, other than the actual news...and tickets to see it live...But links to all the major coverage can be found in the form of nice shiny links below.  Tomorrow morning the list will be updated with links to actual Live Blogs, Streams, etc.

Remember, Microsoft's E3 Press Conference will start at 10:30 AM PST tomorrow morning, so get ready!  Being posted before the Keynote will be our "Live Keynote Chat".  This is where you can post your reactions to all the Xbox 360 news as it happens, and see what your fellow GearHeads have to say.  I'll open it up around 10:00 am PST; You will not want to miss this GearHeads conversation!

Here is a list of some of the best places to experience E3:

Microsoft Keynote Live Blog's and Streams

1UP's Microsoft Keynote Live Blog
G4's Live Stream (Both online and on air)
IGN's Live Stream USE THIS~BEST FEED
Kokatu's Live Blog
Joystiq's Live Blog
MTV's Multiplayer Blog Live Flickr Feed...
...And Twitter updates!
Major Nelson's Live Twitter Updates

1UP's E3 HEADQUARTERS
G4 E3 HEADQUARTERS...
     ...and their coverage.
Spike TV Coverage
1UP's Journey So far, In pictures! (David included!)

E3 Conference Times

Monday, July 18

Microsoft — 10:30 a.m. PST
Electronic Arts — 3:00 p.m. PST
Tuesday, July 19

Nintendo — 9:00 a.m. PST
Sony — 11:30 a.m. PST
Ubisoft — 2:30 p.m. PST
Capcom — 4:30 p.m. PST
Wednesday, July 20

Take-Two — 10:45 a.m PST
Konami — 2:30 p.m. PST

Those are the major player's in terms of coverage of E3.  As more places make their E3 stuff available, I will link accordingly.  If there's something you guy's think should be here and isn't, just let me know!

In 24 hours Microsoft's Press Conference will be over, major Xbox 360 announcements will have been made and our Gears 2 podcast will be filling ears across the internet.  

E3 is here, my friends~Are you ready?

Entry Link :: 8 Comments

Rolling into E3
By SweetTea023
Posted on Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 10:52:22 PM EST

To say we at GearHeads are ready for E3 would be an understatement.  Our Pre-E3 Gears 2 podcast passed 1,000 downloads just two days after hitting the web.  Our follow up podcast that will take the E3 Gears 2 news to a deeper level has already been recorded and has potential to blow up when posted Monday.  A few days later Greg Ford, Managing Editor of EGM will be joining us to talk about the Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft's Press Conferences.  Not to mention two high profile guests coming on our podcast to finish up the month.  

We've finished the pre-game, set up the after party and are just awaiting the big game.  Bring it on, E3; GearHeads is ready and waiting.

If you actively use GearHeads (ie post diaries, visit regularly etc) you'll want to click "Read More" to see how exactly we're handling all the news coming out of E3.  We've decided on a rather particular way of doing it and hope everyone plays along! =)
So go ahead and open up this story to see exactly what we're doing next week (Pics included!) and how you can help!

Click "Read More" for the rest...

Read More :: 12 Comments

Gears 2 Pre-E3 Podcast
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 12:06:12 PM EST

All aboard!  The GearHeads E3 Hype Train has officially left the station. Below you will find the link to our first podcast in a series centered around Gears 2 and E3. You can expect the second next week that will feature even more 1UP and GameVideos special guests to talk about all the Gears 2 E3 info as well as the "Big 3's" E3 news. Like I said, look for that next week!

But first, lend an ear to our latest podcast that features David Ellis and Jason Bertrand joining Tyler, Kenny, and I as we force every bit of Gears 2 info that they can give us out of them. Now a big DISCLAIMER here as we had huge technical difficulties that made the editing process torture. The sound quality is perfect throughout, however, we lost about half of the first edition of this podcast and had to re-record.

So instead of airing half of one podcast and then another that covers some of the same stuff I've patched together the best from each and this is what we've got!  So you may hear Jason or David start talking without being introduced.

But fear not!  The discussion is good, the info amazing and the theme music is sexy. Enjoy, GearHeads~
As has already been posted, this is what you can expect:

• An Epic battle between David Ellis and Cliff Bleszinski's teams in a Gears 2 tournament- Find out who wins.
• In-depth discussion of Guardian, Wingman, and MeatFlag (Which has a new name!).
• An awesome feature reveal regarding the Torque Bow
• Talk of the new Shield.
• How using the new grenades work (Sticking them to anything, stun effects, etc.)
• Hear how the Scorcher treats opponents like a cigarette.
• How Gears 2 feels compared to the original.

A huge special thank you to GameVideos Jason Bertrand, David Ellis, and of course- our resident GearHeads!

ICSGears_2_Pre-E3.mp3

A note from David:

"Hey Guys, I posted this in the podcast thread, but I wanted to post it again to make sure people saw it. Some of the things I talked in the podcast (Boomshot changes, Subway map, Shield decapitation) were in the context of rumors. I guess through the coarse of editing two different podcasts together this part of the conversation got lost. So, just for the record, the boomshot was normal except it now has four shots, and although though I've heard rumblings about a Subway remake and the Shield decapitation, I haven't actually seen them to confirm anything. Sorry for any confusion."

Click "Read More" for the rest...

Read More :: 36 Comments

Foreplay...
By SweetTea023
Posted on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 01:58:25 AM EST

As you all know, E3 is almost one week away...and we've got the goods.  IT SHOULD BE Tomorrow morning at 9 AM PST, that we'll be posting 2 podcasts edited into one (due to mass technical failures) that features both David Ellis and Jason Bertrand from GameVideos discussing their hours upon hours of time with Gears 2 multiplayer with Tyler, Kenny (Blankman!), and I.  Included will be:

• An Epic battle between David Ellis and Cliff Bleszinski's teams in a Gears 2 tournament- Find out who wins.
• In-depth discussion of Guardian, Wingman, and MeatFlag (Which has a new name!).
• An awesome feature reveal regarding the Torque Bow
• Talk of the new Shield.
• How using the new grenades work (Sticking them to anything, stun effects, etc.).
• Hear how the Scorcher treats opponents like a cigarette.
• How Gears 2 feels compared to the original.

And much, much more!  Again, look for this sometime tomorrow morning...and get ready to hit Gears 2 hype into over-drive.

Enjoy! =)

Entry Link :: 33 Comments

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