Fourth Gears of War confirmed? (gamespot)

- gamespot -

Source: Several forum posts on the Epic Games Web site by Mark Rein, vice president of Gears developer Epic Games.

What we heard: Last week, Gears of War became the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game to date, moving more than 1 million copies in a fortnight. Around the same time, self-styled "Gearheads" were whipped into a frenzy when Jeff Bell, Microsoft's corporate vice president of global marketing, let slip in an interview that a Gears of War trilogy is in the works.

Now comes word that Gears of War could go beyond a mere trifecta of shooters. In a post that went up shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Rein asked, "If we can keep making quality games that fans obviously love...then why would we have to stop at three? I don't see the Metal Gear Solid, Mario, Grand Theft Auto or Final Fantasy series (among others) stopping at three and they're still delivering compelling entertainment content that's easily worth the money (see Unreal Tournament as well)."

Though Rein's comments were rhetorical, they do raise the possibility that the Gears of War series could be open-ended. That was enough to send the rumor mill into overdrive, with some fanboys even floating the possibility of a real-time strategy spin-off à la Halo Wars.

The official story: Despite the widespread speculation, not even a Gears sequel has been officially confirmed by Microsoft, which hadn't commented on Rein's words as of press time. However, in a subsequent post, Rein said Epic is just taking it one game at a time. "If Gears had flopped we certainly wouldn't be thinking about a sequel," he wrote. "So when we said, 'Let's wait and see how the first one does before we commit to a second,' we definitely meant it. Likewise the same is true for third or fourth, or seventh or tenth. : ) I think we made it clear that this game is part of a bigger story and, if this one did well, then the story would unfold in another one."

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that a GOW sequel is a lock. As for confirmation of a fourth installment or spin-off? Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, people--bogus.