If you bought Gears of War 2 new (and don’t live in regions unsupported by Live), you can stop reading now. If you picked it up used, you didn’t get a free voucher code for the Flashback Map Pack — a set of five Gears of War multiplayer levels given face-lifts for Gears 2, which can now be downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 ($5).

Think of those five bucks as Microsoft slapping you ever-so-lightly on the wrist for turning to the vile second-hand games market for your jollies. Then again, you might want to wait until Epic has ironed out all of the multiplayer kinks from Gears 2 before investing in more maps.

When it comes to homemade homages to video games, there are generally two spectra under which they fall. There are the cool ones, and then there are the scary cool ones. We’re fairly certain this falls under the latter category, as the man you see above has crafted a very real, functioning Lancer (also known as “the chainsaw gun” from Gears of War). It shoots real bullets, it has a real chainsaw bayonet. The creator, known only as SOC, apparently intended the creation as an “Anti Zombie Device,” so we don’t really know whether or not the homage to Gears of War was intentional. What we do know is that we’re staying very, very far away from this man’s yard. See a video of the weapon in action after the break (warning: several pumpkins are harmed).

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Via Hack a Day]

Yes you have read correctly Plasma Burn will be hosting our FIRST tournament January 24th At the Mustang Community Center. See the Details below for more information or check our Tournament Link for more details on other local tournaments. Okgamers.com Staff will be on hand as well to help make sure this is a great experience for everyone. Also we have a couple great sponsors, Jinx.com who has some kick ass Geek/Gamer clothing gear. And our friends at Nova Gaming are providing some nice Lan Packs. More sponsors to come! Also Played To Death Magazine will be on hand. If you haven’t checked out there Magazine do so! There are tons of Locations across Oklahoma. And the best part ITS FREE!

Why are we doing this tournament? Well 2 reason

1. We want to promote and educate people in Oklahoma that gaming is something good for every community in Oklahoma. It promotes Teamwork, Social Skills and Camaraderie.
2. Plasma Burn is looking to Open a Cyber Cafe / Extreme PC Service Center in the coming year. And we want you to know who we are! So Look for us in the Coming year at a location near you.

What: Plasma Burn Bi-Monthly Promo
When : January 24th 2pm Registration / Setup & Registration starts at 12:30
Where: Mustang Oklahoma / Mustang Community Center SW 59th and Mustang Road.
1201 N. Mustang Rd, Mustang Oklahoma
http://maps.google.com/maps?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=1201+N+Mustang+Rd+Mustang+Oklahoma&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

What:

Halo 3 4v4 $20 Person / $80 a Team –
Halo 3 FFA $15 Person –

GoW2 4v4 $20 Person — Rules / Map to be determined soon

Soul Calibur IV $10 Person — Rules can be found Here.
SSBB 1v1 $10 Person — Rules can be found Here.

To ensure you have a spot Please Pre-Register Click here

Pot Sizes will be dependent on the amount of people that show up. The more people show the more cash you can win. We are limited to 300 people though. I hope we have that many!! But Id like to plan for 150ish

Once registration is over there will be no refunds. So do plan accordingly.

Prizes will be added soon as I get them in the mail from the Sponsors. Concessions (Soda/Candy/Chips) will be also be Available.

Please be prepared and Bring your equipment and games with you. This tournament will be different from any other you have been to before. You will be assigned a Position based on the games you are registered for. We will be laying the room out so that people that are playing Halo 4v4 & FFA will be sitting near there team and near the FFA folks.

We will have a LCD screen showing bracket information(once I get a breakdown of the Tio software from XA ), We will also Have a PA system so we can talk to everyone with out yelling. We are going to do our best at organization at this event. We are going to get everyone in and out, I know no one likes idle hands. So i will be doing my best to make sure everyone has a place to be, and everyone knows where they need to be.

We will also have members of the Mustang Police Department on hand providing security. The City of Mustang Nor Plasma Burn.net are not Responsible for Lost or stolen items. Please take care of your own Personal items. Tip: Label your equipment and put identifying marks on your Disc’s, TV’s, Consoles and Controllers.

Pending Sponsor(s)
Nova Gaming Confirmed
Bawls
Jinx.com Confirmed Stickers for everyone and Prize packs.

What you need:
We seriously suggest you bring your own controllers. We will do our best to have a few extra around, but it’s always best to bring your own – less concern about your performance as well

If you can bring hardware, we would appreciate it! A “Setup” consists of a TV, console, game, and saved data. TV – 19″ or above, and tv controller if you can’t change to input on the front. For SC and SSBB – FULLY UNLOCKED (SC = all available, SSBB ‘more rules’ and all 35 characters, and levels), and any controllers would be appreciated, however we encourage people to bring their own. And of course, the game, console and any required cables.

WANT TO HELP US CAPTURE THE EVENT TO PUT ONLINE? Bring a VCR or some type of DVD recording Device.

***WE RELY ON THE PLAYERS TO BRING ENOUGH HARDWARE -We will cancel a game’s tournament if we do not have enough hardware that shows up ON TIME.(We ask hardware to be there typically 20 to 30 minutes before the tournament is set to start, see times.)

We reserve the right on ANY game to make on the spot changes to the tournament rules, such as a change to Single Elimination if there is not enough hardware, or too many people show up ["Too many" only determined by us not having the hardware brought to meet the demand in the time we have - be sure you understand that]. We have to be done no matter what at 9pm as that what the rental of the venue ends, thus the concern. [Will we change? Only if we HAVE to. Hardware and you determine that.]

Now having said all that those are pending sponsors that have shown interests. And Ive follow though with there paperwork that they requested. I will keep the list up to date as I get confirmations back.

As we get a little closer to the date I will be posting a Link to the new Plasma Burn Pre-registration system. This system will be offered to other Tournament event throwers free for the 1st tournament. and 5$ for each tournament there after. PM me for details if you would like to throw and tournament and use the Pre-Registration system. It is set up to accept paypal for those who would like to pre-pay for there spot.

Thanks and I hope to see you there!

-Fury

Some screens have popped up on this forum of what appeared to be Gears of War 2 multiplayer maps that aren’t included in the game. Currently they are calling it “Imulsion”

No idea what/where/how, etc. The interkids reckon it’s DLC. We’ll check with Epic now. For now you can check out the images we have found.

Microsoft has confirmed that Gears of War 2 will be “banned” in both Germany and Japan. Per standard operating procedures in these situations, the title was refused a rating, which means it cannot be sold in the country. The news isn’t exactly shocking considering the original Gears of War was also verboten in Deutchland.

The Germany ban was expected, but the Japanese one is a little surprising. It could have been the violence was just too over-the-top for the ratings board there — even with the game’s optional gore and language filter.

-source X3F

According to this WhatTheyPlay story, Gears of War 2 is to ship with filters for both violence and swearing.

From the piece:

Gears of War 2 will be released on November 7, but has already received an “M” rating from the ESRB, for “Blood and Gore,” “Intense Violence,” and “Strong Language.” For many families, that may immediately eliminate it as a possibility as a holiday gift. However, a new point of negotiation will become a factor this year; Gears of War 2 includes filters for both the violence, and the language. Microsoft informs us that the violence filter “turns the blood into sparks,” while the language filter “takes out all the swear words.”

Commendable. So will this confuse Parents more? Will it have 2 ESRBs depending on what setting it has? What are your thoughts? More through the link above.

Yes, you did read the title right and we’re just as amazed/shocked/confused about it.

If you’re willing to spend the equivalent of $130 for a special edition of a game, then you’re clearly off your rocker to put it bluntly. But being able to own your own lancer? That is quite a tempting offer.

It is clearly a lot better than the previous crap offered by special editions bundles such as the Bioshock miniature Big Daddy which was one of the worst quality figurines I’ve ever seen or the forth coming Fallout game which will give you an alarm clock for $60. This is the one special edition which I am very tempted to buy if I had money coming out my ears. (That’d be a sight eh?).

Will you be spending this ridiculous amount of money on a video game? Share your thoughts on the special edition below.

**UPDATE** This article is a little old but has gotten a lot of attention, but we wanted to update this and show that you can pre-order your lancer now via amazon.com.

Seems the folks over at 1UP had a chance to demo GOW2 and Resistance 2.   Demos with both games didn’t go as planned.

Seems that Cliffy B, was demonstrating a new level from his upcoming Gears of War 2 when all of the sudden the XBOX 360 froze and crashed. You can see that here. Cliffy B. and his team scramble to switch over to another machine. Cliffy B, stopped using the controller and started gesturing at the screen.

Supposedly they were playing the demo that they where going to release. If this is the case I hope they tweak on this a bit more before they release it to the public. I’d rather not have my XBOX 360 crash.

Around the corner, Ted Price was putting on a demo of Resistance 2.   As Ted was playing the Insomniac team nearly sh*t bricks as Ted almost dies. Apparently Ted wasn’t supposed to go down the stairs of the building he was in. The area was described as being a Sterile area. Seems none of the textures were completed, and the game looked far from done. Unlike Epic, the Insomniac Team didn’t have a back up plan for if Ted died.

So it looks like both games even though they are close to release still have alot of work ahead of them to complete there products. I’m sure though for as much money that is riding on both of these games that it will be a completed product. But it’s up in the air at the moment if either will be a successful title.