In a recent edition of Major Nelson's podcast, Gears of War designe
r Cliff "Cliffy B" "Dude Huge" "insert nickname here" Bleszinski spoke openly about the upcoming Gears 2 upcoming "Dark Corners" expansion.
"It's a 90-minute section that was actually snipped from Gears 2," Bleszinski said. " Marcus and Dom area ctually going to the Locust homeworld and they're basically suited up in Locust armor and have a choice -- because they knocked out a couple therons -- they can go in guns-blazing as they always do, Rambo style or they can go in with a more stealth approach."
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Of course, Gears of War is no stranger to the world of downloadable content -- this is however the franchise's first pack to include new single player gameplay -- which according to Bleszinski was much tougher and requires a lot more work, adding that he had to bring in story writer Josh Ortega to help fill in the gaps.
"You get achievments for playing the mode either way and it kind of plugs right into the main game," Bleszinski said. "It's actually the first time we've done any sort of single-player DLC. It's kind of a test to see if people dig it."
Gears of War 2: Dark Corners is scheduled to release July 28 via Xbox Live as part of the Gears of War: All Fronts pack which features the single player content as well as five new multiplayer maps (check out the video above for your first glimpse) for 800 MS points.
Later on in the podcast, Bleszinski went on to share his feelings on Microsoft's much talked about motion-cam; Project Natal and how it well effect him as a Games Designer.
"If there's any future Gears products (Editor's note: The designer let off a very sly, self-aware cough), it's not the kind of thing you tag onto a game like that right?" The designer then went on to say that Epic is more likely to stick with more traditional control schemes but might consider incorporating the new technology if something worthwhile came about.
That's not to say that he's not a fan of Natal, in fact, Bleszinski went on to recall how much fun he had when playtesting the system a few weeks back. " I'm a fan. The whole system works amazing well -- they brought it out a few weeks before E3 to give us a peek at it. The driving, you just put your hands forward and steer. I don't feel any lag with it, it's incredibly crisp and accurate.
"Will it replace traditional gaming? No." Bleszinski continues. "But it is another way that we can expand the gaming experience to a wider audience and enhance what's already there."
Bleszinski went on to applaud Microsoft's attempt to corner the casual crowd. " What you have now is the 360 which has captured a lot of the video viewing audience with movies and netflix, it's captured a lot of the online gaming, it's captured a lot of the hardcore gaming. Now you can have your dodgeball thing, you have the creepy kid Milo who wants to drowned you in the pond. you can do it all!"
Look for more exclusive Gears news this week, along with our All fronts review next week!
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