Epic Games has responded to the hugely positive reception of magazine and online reviews for Gears of War 2, calling the plethora of 90-plus scores "humbling".
Speaking to CVG, Epic president Mike Capps told us he was glad to see the excited reactions from the press, but notes that "the real test is still to come" for the shooter.
"It's really humbling to see such great review scores coming in so far, and we're glad that reviewers have been excited about the many changes we've made in the sequel," said Capps.
"But the real test is still to come -- we can't wait to get it into gamers' hands on November 7th and see what they think!"
On Metacritic Gears 2 has averaged an impressive 95 percent already across 18 reviews, making it the fourth highest rated Xbox 360 game behind Orange Box, BioShock and GTA IV (you might want to ignore the 3/10 user review score, though).
You can read our final word on the Epic sequel right here, where you'll see us call it "ten of the most quality hours of gaming from the last 12 months".
And if you're really excited about this Friday's big release (and if you're an Xbox 360 owner, you should be) don't forget to checkout our compo to win Gears COG tags and art books.
Glad to see the reviews are looking positive but I didnt really see them going any other way. He is right though, its once we the Gamers get our hands on it that we will really find out how good Gears 2 actually is.
I think this game should dominate Live for quite some time, sounds good to me.
I want to see exactly what effect Gears 2 online has on the numbers playing CoD4 and Halo 3. I expect a lot of the audience (especially CoD) will cross over into Gears. It might not overtake them, but I'd bet it'll eat a lot of their count.
Totally agree with Mike Capps!...rave media reviews are all well and good but your average gamer often views these reviews as jaundiced anyway, due to them not wanting to upset certain publishers for fear of losing valuable exclusive "first looks" or advertising revenue.
The true assessment of how good GoW2 is will be the gaming forums and its popularity on "Live". I personally think that it will eclipse everything for quite a while & can't wait to get my hands on it!!
I want to see exactly what effect Gears 2 online has on the numbers playing CoD4 and Halo 3. I expect a lot of the audience (especially CoD) will cross over into Gears. It might not overtake them, but I'd bet it'll eat a lot of their count.
Yeah, I think so too - it seems as if this is the most anticipated game in a sea of anticipated games, with the online being a huge part of the reason why it's so...well, anticipated.
It's not one I'd planned on picking up, to be honest; but I've read some things that just make it sound incredible - in fact, I've read very little negative reaction to it. It'll have to get into an ever expanding queue for me - somewhere behind GH: WT (Friday! - I would absolutely love it if Shopto.net get it to me early), Fallout 3 and RB 2...maybe in January.
I want to see exactly what effect Gears 2 online has on the numbers playing CoD4 and Halo 3. I expect a lot of the audience (especially CoD) will cross over into Gears. It might not overtake them, but I'd bet it'll eat a lot of their count.
Yeah, I think so too - it seems as if this is the most anticipated game in a sea of anticipated games, with the online being a huge part of the reason why it's so...well, anticipated.
It's not one I'd planned on picking up, to be honest; but I've read some things that just make it sound incredible - in fact, I've read very little negative reaction to it. It'll have to get into an ever expanding queue for me - somewhere behind GH: WT (Friday! - I would absolutely love it if Shopto.net get it to me early), Fallout 3 and RB 2...maybe in January.
Gears fans are in for a treat, by all accounts.
HMV online is only £34.99 in case shopto (quite literally) don't deliver the goods.
Yeah - HUMBLING? BAD scores would be humbling. Good scores are ego-inflating. Epic need to get a new dictionary I think.
Gears of War 1 was pretty mediocre from a PC gamer's point of view - I didn't get much fun out of it. To be honest, I think their anti-piracy and anti-PC comments are pretty far off the mark and just sour grapes for Gears of War not doing well on the PC.
95% on metacritic is pretty epic (pun intended), and from what I've read the campaign is longer this tome too. That's an epic plus, will be getting this along with Fallout 3 around christmas (I'm still playing Fable II).
I suggest that the people questioning use of the word humbling try using a dictionary or a thesaurus before deciding on putting comments that make themselves look rather stupid.
I want to see exactly what effect Gears 2 online has on the numbers playing CoD4 and Halo 3. I expect a lot of the audience (especially CoD) will cross over into Gears. It might not overtake them, but I'd bet it'll eat a lot of their count.
It'll be interesting. People were banging on about games like Battlefield: Bad Company knocking a few holes into CoD4 online, but that game fell away quite fast - people went back to playing the likes of CoD4, Halo3, etc.
But I think Gears 2 will be different. Obviously seasoned Gears players will jump on board and never look back.
I suggest that the people questioning use of the word humbling try using a dictionary or a thesaurus before deciding on putting comments that make themselves look rather stupid.
This is the way I always understood it:
having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.
And that is indeed taken from a dictionary. I still think it's the wrong word.
I suggest that the people questioning use of the word humbling try using a dictionary or a thesaurus before deciding on putting comments that make themselves look rather stupid.
Just to be sure I checked a couple of online dictionaries, and found no references to suggest that receiving massive praise could be "humbling". I suggest you ditch your "special edition" dictionary.
When someone or something is praised, the creator feels humble in the sense that the kind words are more meaningful and important than just making a computer game etc - saying something positive is a greater gift to your fellow man than creating the game. Is it the definition I have come across most often.
On the other hand, if the game was rubbish, then they would feel humble because the games they produced is crap compared to others or compared to any pre release rhetoric they may have come out with.
That said, I doubt they are genuinely humble - they must've expected reviews of early 90's minimum.
When someone or something is praised, the creator feels humble in the sense that the kind words are more meaningful and important than just making a computer game etc - saying something positive is a greater gift to your fellow man than creating the game. Is it the definition I have come across most often.
On the other hand, if the game was rubbish, then they would feel humble because the games they produced is crap compared to others or compared to any pre release rhetoric they may have come out with.
That said, I doubt they are genuinely humble - they must've expected reviews of early 90's minimum.
You were polite, so I have no problem with the point you are making. I will still say that no, this was not humbling for anyone at Epic. It is either the wrong choice of word, or he is lying because he doesn't want to appear arrogant.
There is nothing humbling about receiving praise. Being belittled can be humbling, as can a realisation that you are insignificant (the latter being the sense that you are referring to).
EDIT: This is of course not even mildly interesting as debates go.
When someone or something is praised, the creator feels humble in the sense that the kind words are more meaningful and important than just making a computer game etc - saying something positive is a greater gift to your fellow man than creating the game. Is it the definition I have come across most often.
On the other hand, if the game was rubbish, then they would feel humble because the games they produced is crap compared to others or compared to any pre release rhetoric they may have come out with.
That said, I doubt they are genuinely humble - they must've expected reviews of early 90's minimum.
You were polite, so I have no problem with the point you are making. I will still say that no, this was not humbling for anyone at Epic. It is either the wrong choice of word, or he is lying because he doesn't want to appear arrogant.
There is nothing humbling about receiving praise. Being belittled can be humbling, as can a realisation that you are insignificant (the latter being the sense that you are referring to).
EDIT: This is of course not even mildly interesting as debates go.
That's just it, he is lying. He is not humbled by it. It is more a turn of phrase than an accurate description of how he feels. But my original post just shows how it is applied in this context - I agree it doesn't make much sense, but what in the English language does?!?!
I can understand when Peter Moleneux says he's humbled (I think it IS the correct usage of the word btw) but for this guy to say it just seems wrong for some reason.
Anyway, absolutely, positively, cannot wait for this game!
Booked a half day Friday and the whole day Monday off to get stuck in, just a shame I gotta go out for mates joint b'day celebrations, otherwise i'd just plough through it all weekend.
BRING IT ON! "Cole, Baird....go run around like a couple of jerks" haha.
When someone or something is praised, the creator feels humble in the sense that the kind words are more meaningful and important than just making a computer game etc - saying something positive is a greater gift to your fellow man than creating the game. Is it the definition I have come across most often.
On the other hand, if the game was rubbish, then they would feel humble because the games they produced is crap compared to others or compared to any pre release rhetoric they may have come out with.
That said, I doubt they are genuinely humble - they must've expected reviews of early 90's minimum.
You were polite, so I have no problem with the point you are making. I will still say that no, this was not humbling for anyone at Epic. It is either the wrong choice of word, or he is lying because he doesn't want to appear arrogant.
There is nothing humbling about receiving praise. Being belittled can be humbling, as can a realisation that you are insignificant (the latter being the sense that you are referring to).
EDIT: This is of course not even mildly interesting as debates go.
That's just it, he is lying. He is not humbled by it. It is more a turn of phrase than an accurate description of how he feels. But my original post just shows how it is applied in this context - I agree it doesn't make much sense, but what in the English language does?!?!
It makes perfect sense...what he's saying is that he & his team thought the game was excellent, but the hugely positive reviews & accolades have "humbled" him and I'm sure his team ie praise beyond their wildest expectations, so of course the term is absolutely appropriate!
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