CVG
Epic Games could consider longer development times if the extra work it has lavished on the excellent-looking Gears of War 3 turns out to be worthwhile. The third entry in the Xbox 360 exclusive series was originally due for release in April this year, but it was pushed back to make it "the marquee title for the holiday season".
Epic president Mike Capps says the extra five months of polish have ensured Gears of War 3 is "the best game we've ever made", but it's fan reaction that will determine if the studio adopts the longer construction stretch for future titles.
"Gears 2 took two years, but it was bigger than the first one which took a lot more than two years because of all the pre-production work.
"I guess the real question coming down to it is going to be, do the fans appreciate that we spent that much more time on the product? If this game is really successful, if the multiplayer is really successful in a way that Gears of War 2 was, then that will really tell us if we did the right thing by putting all that extra time in.
"So I'd like to say yes but I'm going to wait and see if everybody likes it on September 20."
What's clear is that Gears of War 3 is definitely looking a better game for those extra five months. For one, the Unreal developer was able to hold the hugely successful multiplayer beta, which Capps says has been "huge" for the studio.
"This game was done quite a while ago in terms of we did what we were meant to do. We just kept adding and polishing," he explained.
"The beta was a big example of that. We never planned to do a beta but when we got some more time we said, 'let's do it' and it was huge for us.
"We learnt so much from how people were using different weapons, how certain maps worked, how combat would and wouldn't work, how levelling was working... and all of that fed into making the game better.
"Also, all of those systems for tracking the beta are now in-game so when we ship on day one if nobody's using the shotgun we can fix it without anyone knowing."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/317438/epic-gears-3-success-could-signal-extended-dev-times/
