Month: May 2008

Scrabble

A game of English-language Scrabble in progress
Manufacturers	Hasbro (within U.S. and Canada) Mattel (outside U.S. and Canada)
Designers	Alfred Mosher Butts
Publishers	James Brunot
Publication	1948; 76 years ago (1948)
Genres	Word game Board game
Players	2–4
Setup time	2–4 minutes
Playing time	Tournament game: 50–60 minutes
Chance	Medium (letters drawn)
Skills	Vocabulary, spelling, anagramming, strategy, counting, bluffing, probability
Website	scrabble.hasbro.com

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows or downward in columns and are included in a standard dictionary or lexicon.

American architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game in 1938. Scrabble is produced in the United States and Canada by Hasbro, under the brands of both of its subsidiaries, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers. Mattel owns the rights to manufacture Scrabble outside the U.S. and Canada. As of 2008, the game is sold in 121 countries and is available in more than 30 languages; approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and roughly one-third of American and half of British homes have a Scrabble set.^[1][2][3][4] There are approximately 4,000 Scrabble clubs around the world.^[4]

Game details[edit]

The game is played by two to four players on a square game board imprinted with a 15×15 grid of cells (individually known as "squares"), each of which accommodates a single letter tile. In official club and tournament games, play is between two players or, occasionally, between two teams, each of which collaborates on a single rack.^[5]

The board is marked with "premium" squares, which multiply the number of points awarded: eight dark red "triple-word" squares, 17 pale red "double-word" squares, of which one, the center square (H8), is marked with a star or other symbol, 12 dark blue "triple-letter" squares, and 24 pale blue "double-letter" squares. In 2008, Hasbro changed the colors of the premium squares to orange for TW, red for DW, blue for DL, and green for TL, but the original premium square color scheme is still preferred for Scrabble boards used in tournaments.^[6]

The name of the game spelled out in game tiles from the English-language version. Each tile is marked with its point value, with a blank tile — the game's equivalent of a wild card — played as the word's first letter. The blank tile is worth zero points.

In an English-language set, the game contains 100 tiles, 98 of which are marked with a letter and a point value ranging from 1 to 10. The number of points for each lettered tile is based on the letter's frequency in standard English. Commonly used letters such as vowels are worth one point, while less common letters score higher, with Q and Z each worth 10 points. The game also has two blank tiles that are unmarked and carry no point value. The blank tiles can be used as substitutes for any letter; once laid on the board, however, the choice is fixed. Other language sets use different letter set distributions with different point values.

Tiles are usually made of wood or plastic and are 19 by 19 millimetres (0.75 in × 0.75 in) square and 4 mm (0.16 in) thick, making them slightly smaller than the squares on the board. Only the rosewood tiles of the deluxe edition vary in width up to 2 mm (0.08 in) for different letters. Travelling versions of the game often have smaller tiles (e.g. 13 mm × 13 mm (0.51 in × 0.51 in)); sometimes they are magnetic to keep them in place. The capital letter is printed in black at the centre of the tile face and the letter's point value is printed in a smaller font at the bottom right corner. Most modern replacement tile sets come at 18 mm × 20 mm (0.7 in × 0.8 in).

S is one of the most versatile tiles in English-language Scrabble because it can be appended to many words to pluralize them (or in the case of most verbs, convert them to the third person singular present tense, as in the word PLUMMETS); Alfred Butts included only four S tiles to avoid making the game "too easy". Q is considered the most troublesome letter, as almost all words with it also contain U; a similar problem occurs in other languages like French, Dutch, Italian, and German. J is also difficult to play due to its low frequency and a scarcity of words having it at the end.^[7] C and V may be troublesome in the endgame, since no two-letter words with them exist, except for CH in the Collins Scrabble Words lexicon.

History[edit]

In 1938, the American architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented, called Lexiko. The two games had the same set of letter tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out by performing a frequency analysis of letters from various sources, including The New York Times. The new game, which he called Criss-Crosswords, added the 15×15 gameboard and the crossword-style gameplay. He manufactured a few sets himself but was not successful in selling the game to any major game manufacturers of the day.^[9]: 98

In 1948, James Brunot,^[10] a resident of Newtown, Connecticut, and one of the few owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game, bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. Although he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also renamed the game Scrabble, a real word which means "to scratch frantically".^[9]: 100 In 1949, Brunot and his family made sets in a converted former schoolhouse in Dodgingtown, Connecticut, a section of Newtown. They made 2,400 sets that year but lost money.^[11] According to legend, Scrabble's big break came in 1952 when Jack Straus, president of Macy's, played the game on vacation. Upon returning from vacation, he was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game. He placed a large order, and within a year, "everyone had to have one".^[9]: 101

In 1952, unable to meet demand himself, Brunot licensed the manufacturing rights to Long Island-based Selchow and Righter, one of the manufacturers who, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley Company, had previously rejected the game. "It's a nice little game. It will sell well in bookstores," Selchow and Righter president Harriet T. Righter remembered saying about Scrabble when she first saw it.^[12] In its second year as a Selchow and Righter product, 1954, nearly four million sets were sold.^{[13][9]: 104} Selchow and Righter then bought the trademark to the game in 1972.^[14]

Meanwhile, JW Spear acquired the rights to sell the game in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955.^[9] In 1986, Selchow and Righter was sold to Coleco, which soon afterward went bankrupt. Hasbro then purchased Coleco's assets in 1989, including Scrabble and Parcheesi.^[14] Mattel then acquired JW Spear in 1994.^[9] Since then, Hasbro has owned the rights to manufacture Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, and Mattel has held the rights to manufacture the game in other parts of the world.^[14]

In 1984, Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC. The Scrabble game show ran from July 1984 to March 1990,^[15] with a second run from January to June 1993. The show was hosted by Chuck Woolery. Its tagline in promotional broadcasts was, "Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles."^[16] In 2011, a new TV variation of Scrabble, called Scrabble Showdown, aired on The Hub cable channel, which is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro.

Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004.^[17]

Evolution of the rules[edit]

The "box rules" included in each copy of the North American edition have been edited four times: in 1953, 1976, 1989, and 1999.^[18]

The major changes in 1953 were as follows.

• It was made clear that:
  • words could be played through single letters already on the board,
  • a player could play a word parallel and immediately adjacent to an existing word provided all crossing words formed were valid,
  • the effect of two premium squares was to be compounded multiplicatively.
• The previously unspecified penalty for having one's play successfully challenged was stated: withdrawal of tiles and loss of turn.

The major changes in 1976 were as follows.

• It was made clear that the blank tile beats an A when drawing to see who goes first.
• A player could pass their turn, doing nothing.
• A loss-of-turn penalty was added for challenging an acceptable play.
• If final scores are tied, the player whose score was highest before adjusting for unplayed tiles is the winner;^[19] in tournament play, a tie is counted as half a win for both players.^[6]

The editorial changes made in 1989 did not affect gameplay.^[18]

The major changes in 1999 were as follows.

• It was made clear that:
  • a tile can be shifted or replaced until the play has been scored,
  • a challenge applies to all the words made in the given play.
• Playing all seven tiles is officially called a "bingo" in North America and a "bonus" elsewhere.
• A change in the wording of the rules could have been interpreted as meaning that a player may form more than one word on one row on a single turn.

Rules[edit]

Before the game, a word list or dictionary is selected in order to adjudicate any challenges during the game. In tournament play, the word list is specified in advance, typically the NASPA Word List, the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, or Collins Scrabble Words. All 100 tiles are placed into an opaque bag. To decide which player plays first, each player draws one tile from the bag. The player who picks the letter closest to "A" goes first, with blanks taking precedence over the letter A. Each player then draws seven tiles and places them on their rack, hidden from other players.

Gameplay[edit]

On every turn, the player at turn can perform one of the following options:

• Pass, forfeiting the turn and scoring zero.
• Exchange one or more tiles for an equal number from the bag, scoring zero. This can only be done if 7 or more tiles remain in the bag.
• Play at least one tile on the board, adding the value of all words formed to the player's cumulative score.

The first play of the game must consist of at least two tiles and cover the center square (H8). Any play thereafter must use at least one of the player's tiles to form a "main word" (containing all of the player's played tiles in a straight line) reading left-to-right or top-to-bottom. Diagonal plays are not allowed. At least one tile must be adjacent (horizontally or vertically) to a tile already on the board. After making a play, the player announces the score for that play (see Scoring for more details), and then, if the game is being played with a clock, starts their opponent's clock. If the opponent does not challenge the play, the player then draws tiles equal to the number of tiles played, or all tiles if there are not enough tiles in the bag to do so.

If a player has made a play and not yet drawn a tile, any other player may choose to challenge any or all words formed by the play. The word(s) are then searched in the agreed-upon word list or dictionary, and if one or more of them is found to be unacceptable, the play is removed from the board, and the player scores zero for that turn. If all challenged words are acceptable, the challenger loses their turn. In tournament play, a challenge may be to the entire play or any one or more words formed in the play, and players are not entitled to know which word(s) are invalid or the definitions of any challenged words. Penalties for unsuccessfully challenging an acceptable play vary in club and tournament play and are described in greater detail below.

End of game[edit]

The game ends when either:

• One player has played every tile on their rack ("playing out") and no tiles remain in the bag (regardless of the tiles on the opponent's rack).
• At least six successive scoreless turns have occurred and either player decides to end the game. This typically occurs at the end of the game when none of the players can form a valid word with their tiles. (For several years, a game could not end with a cumulative score of 0–0, but that is no longer the case, and such games have since occurred a number of times in tournament play, the winner being the player with the lower total point value on their rack and thus a score less negative than the opponent's.^[20])
• In tournament play, if either player uses more than 10 minutes of overtime.

When the game ends, each player's score is reduced by the sum of the values of their unplayed tiles. If a player plays out, the sum of all other players' unused tiles is added to that player's score. In tournament play, a player who goes out adds twice that sum, and the opponent's score is unchanged. The player with the highest final score wins the game.

Scoring[edit]

The score for a play is determined as follows:

• The value of each tile is indicated with a point values (between 1 and 10, with blanks worth zero points), and the score of every new word formed is equal to the sum of the point values of the letters in that word. If a play covers any premium squares (such as DLS or TWS squares), the point value of the corresponding letter or word is multiplied by 2 or 3 respectively. The center star is also a DWS square.
• Premium squares only apply when newly placed tiles cover them. Any subsequent plays do not count these premium squares. A play that covers a DWS or TWS multiplies the value of the entire word(s) by 2 or 3, including tiles already on the board.
• If a newly placed word covers both letter and word premium squares, the letter premium(s) is/are calculated first, followed by the word premium(s).
• If a player makes a play where the main word covers two DWS squares, the value of that word is doubled, then redoubled (i.e. 4× the word value). Similarly, if the main word covers two TWS squares, the value of that word is tripled, then re-tripled (9× the word value). Such plays are often referred to as "double-doubles" and "triple-triples" respectively.
• If a player plays all seven of their tiles on their turn (known as a "bingo" in North America and as a "bonus" elsewhere), a 50-point bonus is added to the score of the play.

Scoreless turns can occur when a player passes, exchanges tiles, loses a challenge, or otherwise makes an illegal move. A scoreless turn can also occur if a play consists of only blank tiles, but this is extremely unlikely in actual play.

Scoring example[edit]

See the example board at right.

Suppose Player 1 plays QUITE 8D, with the Q on a DLS and the E on the center star. Because the center star is a DWS, the score for this play is ${displaystyle (2 imes 10+1+1+1+1) imes 2=48}$ points.

Player 2 extends the play to form the word MES(QUITE) 8A with the A on the TWS at 8A. The score for this play is ${displaystyle (3+1+1+10+1+1+1+1) imes 3=57}$ points. The Q is not doubled, as the Q was not played on this turn.

Player 1 plays INFaNCY 9D with a blank A, forming five 2-letter words, QI, UN, IF, TA, and EN. Because several additional words were formed, each new word is scored separately. The score for this play, without the 50-point bonus, is

${displaystyle (1+1+4+2 imes 0+1+2 imes 3+4)+(10+1)+(1+1)+(1+4)+(1+2 imes 0)+(1+1)=38}$ points. Because all 7 tiles were played on this turn, a 50-point bonus is added, and the score for this play is ${displaystyle 38+50=88}$ points.

Player 2 plays RECO(UN)TS E4 through the word UN. Because this word covers two DWS squares, the score for this word is quadrupled, and the score for the play is ${displaystyle (1+1+3+1+1+1+1+1) imes 2 imes 2=40}$ points. Player 1 is ahead 136-97.

Acceptable words[edit]

All words that appear in the agreed-upon dictionary or lexicon are acceptable words in Scrabble, as are all their inflected forms, as well as plurals. Words that contain apostrophes or are hyphenated or capitalized (such as proper nouns) are generally not allowed unless they also appear as acceptable entries; for example, words such as JACK and TEXAS, while typically considered proper nouns, have unrelated meanings and are therefore acceptable in major Scrabble lexicons. Acronyms and abbreviations, other than those that have acceptable entries (such as AWOL, RADAR, SCUBA, and WYSIWYG^[21]) are not allowed. Variant spellings, slang or offensive terms, archaic or obsolete terms, and specialized jargon words are acceptable if they meet all other criteria for acceptability, but archaic spellings (e.g., NEEDE or MAKETH) are generally not acceptable words. Foreign words are not allowed in English-language Scrabble unless they have been incorporated into the English language, such as the words QI,^[22] KILIM, and PATISSERIE.

Vulgar and offensive words are generally excluded from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary but allowed in club and tournament play. The North American Scrabble Players Association removed slurs from its lexicon in 2020, after conducting a poll of its members.^[23] Mattel removed 400 derogatory terms from its official word list in 2021, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, with the company's head of games saying: "Can you imagine any other game where you can score points and win by using a racial epithet? It’s long overdue."^[24] This does not exclude players from playing these words, as it is within the rules of the game to play unacceptable words (at the risk of losing a challenge).

There are two popular competition word lists for English-language Scrabble:

• NASPA Word List (NWL, also known as OTCWL, OWL, or TWL)
• Collins Scrabble Words (CSW, also called "Collins" or "SOWPODS")

The first predominates in the U.S., Canada, Israel and Thailand, and the second in English Scrabble in the rest of the world. There is also a large community of competitive Collins players in North America, with its own NASPA rating system.

NWL and OSPD[edit]

Today's NASPA Word List, published by NASPA Games, descends from the Official Tournament and Club Word List (a non-bowdlerized version of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary) and its companion Long Words List for longer words. The current version of NWL is NWL2020, effective January 2021, and the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, published by Merriam-Webster, is currently in its sixth edition of 2018. NWL includes all current OSPD words, plus several hundred offensive words and genericized trademarks such as KLEENEX; as of 2020, it no longer includes words judged to be personally applicable offensive slurs.

The NWL and OSPD are compiled using a number of major college-level dictionaries, principally those published by Merriam-Webster. If a word appears, at least historically, in any one of the dictionaries, it is included in the NWL and the OSPD. If the word has only an offensive meaning, it is included only in the NWL. The key difference between the OSPD and the NWL is that the OSPD is marketed for "home and school" use, without words which their source dictionaries judged offensive, rendering the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary less fit for official Scrabble play. The OSPD is available in bookstores, while the NWL is available only through NASPA.

Collins Scrabble Words[edit]

In all other English-speaking countries, the competition word list is Collins Scrabble Words 2019 edition, known as CSW19. (Versions of this lexicon before 2007 were known as SOWPODS.) The lexicon includes all allowed words 2 to 15 letters long. Historically, this list has contained all OTCWL words plus words sourced from Chambers and Collins English dictionaries, but recent editorial decisions have caused greater discrepancies between CSW and NWL. This book is used to adjudicate at the World Scrabble Championship and all other major international competitions outside North America.

Tournaments are also played using CSW in North America, particularly since Hasbro ceased to control tournament play in 2009. NASPA, the Word Game Players Organization, and Collins Coalition (CoCo) all sanction CSW tournaments, using separate Elo rating systems.^[25]

Challenges[edit]

The penalty for a successfully challenged play is nearly universal: the offending player removes the tiles played and forfeits their turn. (In some online games, a

Gears of War 2
Developer(s)	Epic Games
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Producer(s)	Rod Fergusson
Designer(s)	Cliff Bleszinski
Programmer(s)	Ray Davis
Artist(s)	Chris Perna
Writer(s)	Joshua Ortega
Composer(s)	Steve Jablonsky
Series	Gears of War
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release	November 7, 2008
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series, with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia on November 7, 2008, and was released in Japan on July 30, 2009. The game expands technically on the previous game by using a modified Unreal Engine 3. The development team brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega to help write the plot for the game.

In Gears of War 2, the COG continues its fight against the Locust, who are attempting to sink all of the cities on the planet Sera. Sergeant Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad into the depths of the planet to try to stop the Locust during the assault upon Locust territory. The player controls Fenix in the main mission campaign, with the ability to play cooperatively with a second player controlling Fenix's best friend and fellow Squad member Dominic "Dom" Santiago. The game includes several existing and new multiplayer modes including five-on-five battles between human and Locust forces, and a "Horde" mode that challenges up to five players against waves of Locust forces with ever-increasing strength. New weapons and gameplay mechanics such as "chainsaw duels" and the ability to use downed foes as "meatshields" were added to the game.

On its release weekend, Gears of War 2 sold over two million copies, and within two months of release, had sold four million copies. It was the seventh best selling video game of 2009 and received several accolades. The game received similar praise as its predecessor, with the new gameplay and multiplayer modes seen as outstanding additions. Gears of War 2, along with its predecessor, is considered one of the best games ever made. It was followed by Gears of War 3 in 2011.

Gameplay[edit]

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter with an emphasis on the tactical use of cover, and retains much of the same gameplay from the first game. The player, playing as either Marcus or Dominic in the campaign mode, or as any of the human or Locust characters in multiplayer mode, can only carry a pistol, one type of grenade, and two other weapons at any time, though they may swap these for weapons found in strategic locations or left by downed foes or fallen allies. Each weapon can be used for normal fire as well as for melee attacks; the game's signature Lancer Assault Rifle can be used to instantly kill foes in melee with its mounted chainsaw bayonet. The game introduces the ability to engage in chainsaw duels should the player attempt to chainsaw an opponent also using the Lancer; the player is presented with a controller button to press rapidly to try to win the duel and avoid death.^[1] Gears of War 2 rebalances the power of the existing weapons while introducing five new ones: a flamethrower, a chain gun, a mortar cannon, a "Gorgon" Pistol, and the Ink Grenade. The chain gun and the mortar are heavy weapons, forcing the player to move at walking speed while carrying it in both hands. The Gorgon Pistol is an SMG-like machine pistol that fires four four-shot bursts per magazine. The Ink Grenade doesn't damage with its detonation, but instead temporarily poisons the area it was thrown, making it very useful for driving enemies out of cover. Grenades can be planted on walls or floors as proximity traps that go off when an enemy nears, but only fragmentation grenades have the ability to kill foes when they go off.^[2]

The player's health is represented by a red "Crimson Omen" that fades onto the screen the more damage the player takes; staying out of the line of fire allows the player to recover their health. Depending on the game mode or difficulty, if the player takes too much damage, they enter a downed state where they can crawl around the map to get out of battle and seek help. During this time, a teammate can revive him, an enemy may brutally execute the downed player, or the player may bleed out if too much time has passed. The player can also grab a downed character and use them as a meatshield, allowing the body to absorb damage but forcing the player to use a one-handed pistol.^[3] Explosive weapons will simply destroy the character they strike.^[4] Like its predecessor, Gears of War 2 features an optional mature content filter, which, when active, makes blood appear as sparks and removes harsh language from the dialogue.^[5] Furthermore, progress towards most of the Xbox achievements for the game can be earned in either campaign or multiplayer modes.^[1]

Campaign mode[edit]

The campaign mode in Gears of War 2 allows for a single player or two players playing cooperatively as Marcus or Dom. A new "Normal" difficulty was added between the game's "Casual" and "Hardcore" difficulties. There is also an 'Insane' difficulty that is unlocked after the player completes the game at least once. Players in co-op mode can select different difficulties, and a "communal combat system" will adjust the game's artificial intelligence to give both players a fair challenge.^[1] The co-op campaign can be played in a drop in/drop out manner, with the second player able to join the first player's game in progress.^[6] As well as collecting some COG tags as in the first game, players can search other story-based items such as personal letters and medical records, with discovered items being added to a war journal.^[1]

The campaign features a deeper story with new characters, new weapons, and new enemies according to John DiMaggio, the voice actor for Marcus Fenix.^[7] New vehicles have been added to the game, such as the Centaur Tank, which lead designer Cliff Bleszinski describes as a "tank with monster truck wheels."^[8] Players will also ride a Brumak and Reavers in the game.^[9] Cut-scenes use the better facial rendering technology of Epic's Unreal engine, and engage in more dramatic angles for the conversation, as well as using a video screen on Jack (the all-purpose robot used by Delta squad) to talk with their commanders face-to-face.^[1]

Multiplayer[edit]

Gears of War 2 features an upgraded multiplayer mode that allows up to ten users to simultaneously play in teams of five-on-five.^[10] Gears of War 2 includes most of the multiplayer modes, including Execution, Warzone, Annex and King of the Hill, and adds in three new modes.^[2][10] Guardian is 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.^[10] Wingman splits all ten players into five teams of two, where both members of a team play as the same character.^[10] Submission, formerly known as Meat Flag,^[2] 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 or objective to earn points. The 10 maps shipped with the game originally are Avalanche, Blood Drive, Day One, Hail, Jacinto, Pavilion, River, Ruins, Security and Stasis.^[10] A Halo-like matchmaking system has been utilized for the online multiplayer.^[1] Players can now engage in multiplayer scenarios with any combination of human players and artificial intelligence controlled by the game, with the ability to set the AI's intelligence level.^[11] Horde is a new co-op mode for five players, fighting off waves of attacking Locust together, with each wave becoming more difficult.^[9] Horde Mode does not feature bot support as in competitive multiplayer, and can be played alone.^[12]

Players can 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. The ability to take photographs is also featured, which enables the player to take a photo, which can be uploaded to the Gears of War website and is rated on the quality of action in the shot.^[2]

Synopsis[edit]

Setting[edit]

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 underground army of the Locust Horde was destroyed, the explosion also caused much of the liquid Imulsion underground to vaporize, causing a fatal disease called Rustlung to spread among the diminished human population. After months of peace, the cities of Tollen and Montevado suddenly and mysteriously disappear underground, leading the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) to suspect the resurgence of the Locust.^[13] Soon after, the once impenetrable Jacinto, one of the last remaining safe havens for humans, begins to show signs that the same fate awaits it. To stop the fall of Jacinto, the COG responds with a large-scale counter-offensive against the Locust.^[1][13] Senior Producer Rod Fergusson says "In order to save Jacinto, [the COG] have no choice but to take the war to the Locust."^[1]

Characters[edit]

Returning characters includes the main protagonists of the series Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and others from the first game, including Marcus and Dom's fellow Delta Squad COG soldiers, Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole and Damon Baird. Also returning in supporting roles are radio dispatcher Anya Stroud and senior officer Colonel Hoffman. Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski confirmed that the character Carmine would be returning, but did not reveal how or in what capacity as Carmine was killed in the original Gears of War.^[14] It was later revealed that the original Anthony Carmine would not be present in the Gears of War 2 campaign, but rather his brother, Benjamin,^[15] would make an appearance.^[16] The game also introduces several new characters. They include Chairman Prescott, the noble, yet near-dictatorial military leader of COG; Tai Kaliso, "a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor bound fighters;" and Dizzy Wallin, a former Stranded who joined the COG to keep his family safe. Dom's wife Maria also makes an appearance, and Dom's search for her plays an important part in the story.^[1]

Plot[edit]

As Gears of War 2 begins, the COG army mobilizes forces to deploy into the depths of Sera, known as the "Hollow", to assault the Locust directly. Delta Squad, consisting of Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, Benjamin Carmine, Tai Kaliso, Augustus Cole and Damon Baird; fight the Locust alongside thousands of Gears. During the battle, Tai is taken prisoner by Locust general Skorge and is tortured to the point of insanity, resulting in him committing suicide after being freed by Delta. They discover that the Locust are using a giant Riftworm to sink the human cities. The Locust plan to destroy the rock structures in the outskirts of Jacinto, the last major human city, in hopes of sinking it underground. Delta kills the Riftworm from within before it can sink Jacinto, but they lose Carmine in the process.

After returning to the surface, Colonel Hoffman admits the COG failed in locating the Locust stronghold. Chairman Prescott declassifies an intel file that reveals a nearby abandoned COG outpost that has a lead on the location of the Locust capital and their queen. Delta is ordered to investigate. Inside, Delta learns that the outpost is "New Hope", a genetics lab dedicated to studying human children of Imulsion miners suffering from Rustlung, resulting in mutated experiments called "Sires". Delta finds that the scientists relocated to the nearby caverns of Mount Kadar to continue their research. As Delta infiltrates Mount Kadar to infiltrate the Locust stronghold, Dom gets a lead on his missing wife, Maria, located at a nearby prison camp. Dom finds Maria in a vegetative state due to the aggressive and invasive torture techniques of the Locust. Dom euthanizes Maria and continues on the mission.

Delta locates Locust capital, Nexus, and sets off the beacon to initiate the second wave. The COG sees the Locust have been facing an epidemic against the "Lambent", Locust who have been exposed to Imulsion, and have been forcing the Locust out of the Hollow and onto the surface. Locust Queen Myrrah, who appears human, reveals to Marcus that the Locust are trying to sink Jacinto based on a proposal by Adam Fenix, his father, that the surrounding seawater could flood the Hollow and drown the Lambent. After a battle where they succeed in killing Skorge, but failing to kill Myrrah, Marcus decides to destroy both the Locust and Lambent forces by sinking Jacinto themselves before the Locust can evacuate. Jacinto is sunk by the COG and seawater floods into the crater, destroying the remaining Locust forces. After the credits, the voice of Adam Fenix is heard on a radio transmission, revealing he is still alive.^[4][17]

Development[edit]

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^[18] and hundreds of tweaks have gone into improving the cover system and movement.^[19] To provide a deeper story, the team brought aboard novelist Joshua Ortega as to incorporate more personal drama within the sci-fi setting.^[1] Steve Jablonsky provided the music for the game.^[20] Epic Games also considered making the game easier after complaints about Gears of War. Senior producer Rod Fergusson admitted that — for the first game — "We overshot on [the Casual] difficulty and a game that was a little harder than we intended."^[1]

A teaser image posted to the Gears of War 2 website on July 8, 2008, suggested that the game was to be released on November 9, 2008, but it was confirmed during the Microsoft E3 2008 press conference that the game would be released on November 7, 2008.^[9][21] On July 14, 2008, the teaser image was removed and the website relaunched and updated for Gears of War 2.^[22]

Gears of War 2 was a focal point during Microsoft's E3 2008 presentation on July 15, 2008, which included a "hands-on" demo.^[23][24] A second trailer, entitled "Rendezvous," was made available on July 14, 2008, as a part of E3. The Joseph Kosinski-directed trailer,^[25] which features the Trans Am track "Diabolical Cracker" from the album Red Line, takes its title and spoken words from Alan Seeger's World War I poem I Have a Rendezvous with Death.^[26] The game's release date was also set, with a worldwide release to occur on November 7, 2008.^[9] Microsoft and Epic Games announced on October 10, 2008, that Gears of War 2 had gone gold.^[27] It was stated by Cliff Bleszinski that, unlike Gears of War, the previous installment, Gears of War 2 will not feature a PC port.^[28]

Graphics[edit]

At the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, as a showcase for the functionality of the Unreal Engine 3, Gears of War creators Epic Games showed various improvements to the engine with specific reference to the sequel itself. The video showed several demonstrations of the improvements, the initial being improvements to the in-game lighting through Screen Space Ambient Occlusion, in which dynamic shadows could be generated through the use of a pixel shading technique to render more realistically lit and shaded objects and actors, illustrated through comparison between character and environment models in the original game engine to that of Unreal Engine 3. Also showcased was the ability of the engine to render hordes of actors within the engine, as demonstrated with a large crowd of locust flocking through the "Gridlock" multiplayer map from the original game. Alongside this technology was improvements to "Matinee," an artistic tool used for the rendering and editing 3-dimensional scenes within the game.^[29]

Other physics-related features included improvements to the rendering of water in which specular light and physical interactions with were displayed more realistically, improvements to soft body entities demonstrated with a "Meat Cube" and a floating ball possessing properties similar to that of liquid helium. The largest of these physics engine related changes was the introduction of destructible environments due to the implementation of real-time structural analysis tools to generate the damage of the materials and subsequently their deformed shapes based upon resultant forces placed upon them. This was demonstrated with the use of explosive arrows fired from the "Torque Bow" of the original game causing damage to wooden planks, and also revealing rebar present after destroying areas of a stone structure.^[29]

Downloadable content and updates[edit]

On February 20, 2008, coinciding with the game's announcement at the Game Developers Conference, a free set of gamer pictures and a dashboard theme, as well as a teaser trailer titled "Duel," were made available via the Xbox Live Marketplace.^[30] The first footage of gameplay from the campaign, highlighting new features of the game, was released online and to the Marketplace on May 9, 2008.^[31] After the Microsoft E3 press conference, the "Rendezvous" trailer and the press conference demonstration was available for download as well as a new free set of gamer pictures and a dashboard theme.^[26] Upon release, every new copy of Gears of War 2 features a code to download the "Flashback Map Pack," which includes five enhanced multiplayer maps from the original game. Customers who attended the GameStop Midnight Madness game release event received a code to unlock a gold-plated Hammerburst rifle for use in multiplayer and a code for an exclusive Xbox 360 Dashboard theme optimized for the New Xbox Experience.^[32]

The first downloadable content released after Gears of War 2 was the "Combustible Map Pack," which consists of three new multiplayer maps. This add-on was announced and released on December 15, 2008.^[33] The second title update was released on January 21, 2009, featuring several adjustments to gameplay and adding additional Achievements, the patch attempts to correct many of the "glitches" that players have discovered since the game's release.^[34][35]

A third update was applied to Gears of War 2 on March 24, 2009. The update added an experience-based ranking system in which the player is given a numerical value based on their number of experience points, which are gained by shooting or killing enemies in public multiplayer. The update also addressed several issues with matchmaking, including adding bots in place of players who have quit or lost connection to the game.^[36]

In early July 2009, Epic Games applied a fourth update to Gears of War 2, which added the ability to gain experience from the multiplayer Horde Mode, as well as applying several more gameplay fixes.^[37][38] On July 28, 2009, the "Dark Corners" add-on was released. This add-on consisted of seven new multiplayer maps, and an additional campaign chapter that was originally deleted from the game.^[39] The deleted scene takes place after Maria's death, where the user can choose to either sneak into the stronghold as Theron Guards or charge in as in the original game, though the level is different from the one that appeared in the final game and features a cameo from a Stranded character from the original Gears.

All Fronts Collection[edit]

On May 6, 2009, Microsoft and Epic Games issued a joint press release announcing the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, to be released on July 28, 2009. The All Fronts Collection was to be sold as a retail package, and would have included all add-ons released for Gears of War 2, a poster, and a strategy guide for the game.^[40] In response to complaints that the All Fronts Collection had identical pricing to the Dark Corners add-on, but significantly more content, as well as the All Fronts Collection retail package not being made available in certain regions, Epic Games adjusted the release plan; the All Fronts Collection was released digitally via Xbox Live and the Dark Corners add-on was reduced in price.^[41]

Stereoscopic 3D[edit]

In June 2010 during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 Mark Rein (vice president of Epic Games) was showcasing a tech demo of Gears of War 2 in stereoscopic 3D running on an Xbox 360 thanks to the TriOviz for Games Technology. "This technology's great because it works on normal HD TVs, as well as the very high end 3DTVs," Rein commented to Computer and Video Games. "We're not planning to re-release this in 3D - unless Microsoft want us to - but I'm sure its technology may be keen to put in the games developed by our partners."^[42]

In October 2010 TriOviz for Games Technology has been integrated in Unreal Engine 3, allowing to easily convert in stereoscopic 3D, numerous past and upcoming games developed with this engine.^[43][44]

Marketing[edit]

A Limited Edition of the game was confirmed on February 20, 2008.^[45] On July 14, 2008, more information about the Limited Edition's contents was revealed. The edition features alternative cover art, a SteelBook case with a bonus content DVD, a book entitled Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2, which includes concept art and story-related information, a keepsake photo of Dominic and Maria, and an exclusive Xbox Live code to unlock a gold-plated Lancer for online play.^[46][47] As a bonus item promoted by electronics store Best Buy, customers who preordered the Limited Edition also received a bonus Remote Control Centaur Tank replica, just like the new vehicle introduced in the game, free of charge.^[48]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]