I'm a big Gears fan and I plan on getting the sequel as soon as I can but I have a question: on horde mode, how many players can play with you on just one console? I plan on having a "Horde party" with some friends, but I don't know how many people can play horde on one system. Please help

You'll have to stay tuned--it hasn't been announced yet. It'll likely be at least 2, since the first Gears supported 2p splitscreen, but given all the time to tweak the Unreal Engine, the greater familiarity with 360 hardware, and the fact that they admitted that Gears 1 multiplayer was an afterthought, I'm hoping for 4p.

But surely if they had sorted out Horde for 4P on single console, they would've done the same for the campaign?

I'm hoping for 4P too, but I don't see EPIC leaving campaign as 2P and making horde 4 (seeing as there are more locust in one area on Horde than in the campaign).

Don't forget, though, that in multiplayer they only have to render a very small, enclosed area, versus an entire level in the campaign.

Also, they said they wanted to focus on Marcus and Dom's story, without feeling like they had to tag some random extra guys in there.  Cole and Baird wouldn't work because the two teams split up often, just like in the first game.

Yeah but still, the game would only load certain chunks of the area instead of the whole actual level, so that only the area that you are in is loaded, which would be a similar size than a multiplayer map (Gears 2's maps are larger than 1, it seems).

I think it is only 2

For the campaign, Cliffy said that if you have more than 2, then it cannot really be story based as the temptation to muck around is too much, and sometimes one will get so far away he triggers a cut-scene before the others really know what is going on, so it is not the same experience

The OP was asking about Horde mode, though.

I was just explaining how they could leave the campaign as 2p if they had 4 in horde

So, the number is not known yet? I hope we get news soon and that it is 4p, because I'm already starting to make plans, and if it only allows 2p i'll be disappointed. How long till the public gets to know?

horde mode is 5 player online, i dont think there is a horde mode offline as of yet if there is i think it will be a 2player game.