Game: Gears of War 2
Lead Designer: Cliff Blezenski
Rating: M for Mature (17+)
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Release Date: Worlwide November 7th 2008

Summary from Xbox.com:

"Gears of War® 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the 4.7 million-selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game, and one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. Gears of War 2 picks up six months after the events of Gears of War, and thrusts you back into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival against a nightmarish force of underground creatures known as the Locust Horde.

Gears of War 2 is developed by Epic Games exclusively for Xbox 360®. Continue the story of Marcus Fenix, a reluctant war hero, as he leads Delta Squad on a series of perilous and adrenaline-pumping missions. Gears of War 2 blends third-person shooter with unsurpassed high-definition visuals, all layered on top of an engaging story of survival, loss, and retribution."

From Wikipedia:

Setting

Gears of War 2 takes place six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb at the end of the first game. Though most of the Locust Horde was destroyed, the explosion also caused much of the liquid Imulsion underground to vaporize, causing a fatal disease called "Rust Lung" to spread among the diminished human population. After months of peace, the cities of Tollen and Montevado suddenly and mysteriously disappear underground, leading the COG to suspect the resurgence of the Locust. Soon after, the once impenetrable Jacinto Plateau, one of the last remaining safe havens for humans, begins to show signs that the same fate awaits it. In order to stop the fall of Jacinto, the COG responds with a large-scale counteroffensive against the Locust. Senior Producer Rod Fergusson says "In order to save Jacinto, [the COG] have no choice but to take the war to the Locust." Comic book writer Joshua Ortega says "The stakes are raised. This is humanity's last stand. Everything is at risk. Nothing is safe."

Characters

Returning characters will include Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and others from the first game, as well as Cole and Baird. Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski confirmed that the character Anthony Carmine would be returning, but did not reveal how or in what capacity as Carmine was killed in the original Gears of War. It was later revealed that Carmine himself would not be present in the Gears of War 2 campaign, but rather his brother, Benjamin will make an appearance. The game will also introduce several new characters; among these are Chairman Prescott, the near dictatorial military leader of COG, Tai Kaliso, "a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor bound fighters," and Dizzy, a former Stranded who joined the COG in order to keep his family safe. Dominic's wife Maria will also make an appearance, and Dominic's search for her will play an important part in the story.

Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has done several interviews to highlight improvements to the game. Heavy netcode optimization has been done to negate the host advantage problem in the first title and hundreds of tweaks have gone into improving the cover system and movement.In order to provide a deeper story, the team brought aboard novelist Joshua Ortega as to incorporate more personal drama within the sci-fi setting. Steve Jablonsky will be providing the music for the game.

It was confirmed during the Microsoft E3 2008 press conference that the game would be released on November 7th 2008

Multiplayer

Gears of War 2 features an upgraded multiplayer mode that will allow up to ten users to simultaneously play.X360 magazine reported that Gears of War 2 will contain at least three new online multiplayer modes, called "Guardian," "Wingman," and "Submission." "Guardian" is essentially a modified version of "Assassination" from the original Gears of War, but allows players to continue fighting after the leader has been killed, but losing the ability to respawn. "Wingman" splits all ten players into five teams of two, where both members of a team play as the same character.Submission," formerly known as "Meat Flag," is a version of capture the flag in which players attempt to "down" an enemy controlled by the game's AI and move its body to their team's base to earn points. A Halo-like matchmaking system will be utilized for the online multiplayer. In an E3 special, it was confirmed that bots will be available in multiplayer, but this feature was not elaborated upon.

A new co-op game mode was confirmed during Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference; called "Horde," this mode allows up to five players to fight off waves of attacking Locust together. Horde Mode will not feature bot support as in competitive multiplayer, and can be played alone. The Locust attack in waves of multiple enemies which become more difficult as players progress.

Cameras in the multiplayer modes have also been improved significantly. Rather than static views from different points on a map, the new Battle Cam allows players to pan around a map as the camera focuses on areas of intense fighting, and the Ghost Cam allows a player to roam freely around a map. A photo mode will also be featured, with each photo taken by a player rated on the amount of action in the shot.

Regarding multiplayer-specific achievements, certain achievements such as getting a defined number of kills with a weapon have been altered. For example, to get an achievement which requires 500 kills with a weapon or 500 headshots, only the first kill or headshot made by a player in a given multplayer match will count towards the achievement. Cliff Bleszinski mentioned that this change was to emphasize the objectives of a multiplayer mode.

Videos:

Trailers:

Teaser Trailer
Gameplay Trailer
Last Day Trailer

Previews:

IGN Preview
IGN Online Preview
IGN Live Wire Demo
Campaign Walkthrough
Part. 2 of Campaign Walkthrough
The Mulcher
The Flamethrwoer

Interviews:

Online Reveal
Video Interview
Developer Commentary: Sound Design
Developer Commentary: Every Gun Has a Story
Developer Commentary: The Creatures
Developer Commentary: Delta Blues
Developer Commentary: Never Fight Alone
Developer Commentary: Every Pixel Counts

Reviews:

OXM UK: 9.0/10

Oh so looking forward to this game. It's the Die Hard of the game world. Most detailed graphics Ive seen in videos and just wow at the ingame cavern. Cant wait for this. What a year to be a gamer.

Just a week away. Gears2 vs Resistance 2 will make an interesting week.

 I dont think it will be close at all. I expect double or more sales over R2 from Gears 2.

Agreed.  2.5 million for Gears 2.  Close to 1 million for R2.

Believe the hype............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This game is going to be SICK!

yea cant wait to try out the new weapons.

looks like that "boomer" is back damn it!!

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!

*Boing!*

I'm ready!!