Gears Of War 2 Continues In Jacinto’s Remnant

@lachinay: So you're saying they're NOT converting the Gears franchise into novel form? Oh, ok, THAT makes sense. Even by your definition, it's a novelization. Please read what you write more carefully.

Or, better yet, read a dictionary.

Novelize: To write a novel based on something else, rather than an original work.

If this isn't a novel based on the Gears universe (a NOVELIZATION of the gears universe), what is it?

@subnet6: You're wrong. "Novelization" means "converting into the form of a novel"; that means that the story must be more or less the same as presented in a movie/comic/videogame/true story already known. "Halo: Flood" is a novelization (of the first Halo); all the other (5) Halo novels are either prequels or they fill some gap in the series or they simply are set in the same universe. That does not qualify as a novelization at all.

lachinay

@Andrew Testerman: I think The first ME novel, with all its limits, is way better than Reach. The universe is simply too superior - far richer.

I had to read with unusual attention most videogame-related novels (being either the translator or the translation reviewer) and the best I've read so far is Halo: Contact Harvest. I had zero expectations and I was pleasantly surprised by the characters (aliens and AI; humans, as usually, are an awful bunch of walking cliches).

Still have to "do" Halo: Cole Protocol and the second ME book, though (both are due out here in Italy this fall).

lachinay

@RRRansom: I know I know, but the how and why is what I'm interested in. Meh I'm a sucker for backstory...

@Shini: R.O.A.C.H.: You seem to have missed my point. I'm not suggesting that she has infringed on Epic's IP, or that she is passing off the Gears universe as her own creation. I'm just saying that I think it is cratively cheap to do so and that the world would be better off with more original works and less remakes, sequels and spin offs.

She is doing it to make money off of it. If she wasn't making money she wouldn't do it.

I understand how licensing IP works, it's part of my job, and by the same token, I don't think that the people that make toys / statues of established franchise characters deserve any more artistic credit than do people who write using another persons creation.

ThursdayNext

GAWDDAMNIT!!! This will teach me to procrastinate!!! I got the first Gears novel for Christmas last year, and I STILL have not read it!!! And now the next book is coming out! DAMNIT!!!! I'm getting behind in my reading. Sitting in the same pile as the first Gears novel is the latest Halo novel and the two Mass Effect novels. GEEZUS. I gotta stop doing this shiznit, putting stuff off like this. F*ck.

DrezKill

@jasoncourt: I'm with you. This makes no sense, unless you're like 14 and just have no idea what to read yet. But, to be fair, those people need books too I guess?

@ThursdayNext: As has been pointed out, the most notable difference between this and fan fiction is that she was hired to write it. She has (or at least should have) direct access to the people who made the story and can build from what they have created.

Your assertion that she is passing this off as her own is short sighted. It's clearly an extension of the Gears universe and her name is on it because she did the work. If someone puts a toilet in your home, you don't say that American Standard did the install.

The way something like this works is that a game publisher will take the IP and ask a writer to write the novelization of their world. Most of these are meant to be companions to the game, and the writer is usually approached by the game company because they are good at what they do.

Maybe in the future you should do some research into how this stuff is handled.

@cupajoe38:

I haven't yet gotten around to playing Mass Effect (though I've long wanted to do so). I have read both novels, Revelation and Ascension. Both were very well done.

@ThursdayNext:

Yes, you are entitled to an opinion, even if you do lack that bestseller.

To a point, I agree with you. These novels just come off as glorified fan-fiction. And if that is all a published author has done, it leaves a somewhat poor impression on me.

Now, I've done fan-fiction. I find it something fun to do, to play around in a universe and with characters I really like. There is still some creation involved and is not that easy to do.

But, overall, I prefer seeing original works, even by authors who do some writing in established series.

@Kuciwalker: What exactly did she do to Star Wars? Her Legacy of the Force novels are top notch.

@Penny29: Would those happen to be Bloodlines and Sacrifice? Because those are amazing. Have you read Revelation yet? She wrote that one too.

@ThursdayNext: She already HAS made her own universe. Look up the Wess'Har series.

@rogue32: Oh, and I just mentioned Star Wars writers, and I had forgotten that she herself has written Star Wars stories. Case in point right there.

@Kytano-Skorpius: Michael A. Stackpole AND Kevin J. Anderson *

@ThursdayNext: Tell that to most of the Star Wars writers, particularly Michael A. Stackpole. He knows how to take established characters that aren't his own and make them work well. Yes it takes a lot of imagination to come up with your own franchise, but it doesn't take any less to come up with a story using an established universe. In fact, I think that's even more challenging since you have to make your story work with someone else's characters.

Awesome. I read Aspho Fields and loved it, so I'll be sure to pick up a copy of this.

I still don't get why the COG destroyed their own, last city.

They did it without barely even questioning it, and not to mention, if it's your last city...where else is there to go?

JSPOOLE

@cupajoe38: The gears franchise is a video game. Yes? This is a novel based on that franchise, yes? Ok, then, it's a novelization. Sure it's not just one game in a book, but still, it's a novelization of a game. And not a game with a good story mind you.

It's funny you mention mass effect, because just as I submitted my comment, I had the thought, "hmmmm, I'd read a Mass Effect novel.....maybe....nah".

@Đipic: If Halo is getting crap for having 3 games out with two more on the horizon, Gears which has two games out and two more on the horizon can certainly get the same treatment.

Which is ridiculous, because those aren't franchises that are being milked. For milking shooter franchises see: CoD games made by Treyarch.

chronomasakari is dizzy from the spinning of games

@ThursdayNext:

How did you think that she was just writing a story about Gears to make money off of it? There's all sorts of lawsuits there if that scenario was true. I would think that a bibliophile would understand that.

BebopBlue

"This is Adam Fenix.... can you hear me....what have you done...??"

Joshua Settle

@cupajoe38: Didn't play Mass Effect, but the first novel wasn't bad. Kind of a good summer popcorn book, actually. Not quite as good as Halo: The Fall Of Reach, but definitely not a waste of time.

Andrew Testerman

@Kuciwalker: lol, whut?

@logan: "Imperial Commando" drops October...still so far away.....

@s1L3nt_n18t: Funnily enough, I had no real intention of playing Gears 2 until I started reading her Aspho Fields novel. That got me in and I played it for the sake of building a proper bridge to the next one. I seriously love her "Republic Commando" work and wholeheartedly agree with Fahey.

buks ah fer de' birdz, eh pawpett?

@jasoncourt:

I'm sorry, but you lost me. How is it ridiculous that a person might want more story from each of the respective franchises?

@LosDaddie: No I agree Gears 2 had a fast paced, well written story. After the end credists I was left wanting more... and now I they give me this. To thank you Epic, I may actually read a book to completion for once. (that last bit is not true, I have read to completion plenty of books, all from harry potter 4 to 7.)

RandomGuy400

@DTownsu:

Because more detail generally only helps a storyline, whether the detail comes in the form of another game or a novel?

@s1L3nt_n18t:

Did you also read the Mass Effect novels? I highly recommend them (they also stand on their own quite well, so one doesn't have to be familiar with the source material to understand what's going on).

I will absolutely be picking this up on day one. The first one was utterly fantastic.

I'm just disappointed that nothing is being written about why exactly Marcus was court-martialed. We know he left his post to save his father, but no specifics have been nailed down.

Kovitlac

@potatojenkins: How about next time, you actually read something being criticizing it, yes?

Kovitlac

@belo: Sounds like it.

Kovitlac

@ThursdayNext: She was *commissioned*. Obviously Epic felt the need for their universe to be expanded and approached her to do it.

You don't like them, don't read them.

Kovitlac

@phicaluk: What do you have against novelizations of a video game? I hope you feel the exact same way about movie-based novels. She was obviously commissioned by Epic to do this. Do you honestly think she just sat down one day and decided to pawn off Marcus Fenix as her own?

Just what exactly is your problem?

Kovitlac

@ThursdayNext: Because writing in those universes takes care of the branding, and brings along a large established fan base?

@Đipic: I thought Gears 2 did a good job with the story. The first one... not so much.

@subnet6: Video game novels aren't typically straight up novelizations of one game's story, but rather some back story or continuation of story. I would be interested in reading Mass Effect's book, because that has one of the richest science fiction worlds in video games.

Everything Karen Traviss touches ought to wither and die, after what she did to Star Wars.

Kuciwalker

@n00b_pwner: Damnit! By the DLC I meant that the events in the novel should become the DLC. I should have cleared it up in the first post by that.

@rogue32: When she "created" the language did she devise her own syntax? Or did she just substitute words in a consistent fashion? Either way all she is doing is using other people's work to sell her books. Why not make her own universe up, with its own inhabitants and languages, instead of using Epic's, or Lucas'?

ThursdayNext

@n00b_pwner: By the

This is just me, but I would say that future DLC for the Gears games should focus on it's singleplayer rather than it's multiplayer. I mean Horde is good, but if the map is not Security, then the game becomes impossibly hard.

If there is any game in dire need of novelization, it would have to be the Call of Duty games, preferably the Modern ones because those appear to follow a continuous story, unless the next one by Treyarch in Vietnam would follow a continuous story (which could happen).

@ThursdayNext: Well, it so happens that Karen Traviss is a terrible author.

@Phantasos:

yes to date there are four books in the RC series.they do not deal with the deltas as the main characters, though they are in the books quite a bit. the series deals with omega squad and the null arc's mostly as well as the mandos that trained them.

the last book does end pretty much in the same time frame as the game did though so now with the newest book it will now be imperial commandos in Imperial 501st.so there is still hope for Sev.

@Northern Cat: It was pretty obvious what went down in the research facility. Especially after you read that journal entry with the "loss of hair and lengthened fingernails".

That said, I am still at a loss as to why that bomb from Gears 1 didn't work.

I don't get how you can novelize GoW.

"ME AM HAVE BULLET HAVE GOOD SHOOT YES? BOOM BLOOD HEADSHOT! HEE HEE HEE"

Anyone who plays GoW for the story should be banned from videogamin' for making it bad.

This still won't make up for the lame last boss and ending.

@LosDaddie:

The last boss and ending was fucking lame.

Oh noes! VIOLENT reading! Someone pull these off the shelves! /sarcasm

Gears of War..... story?

vid3oman64

@ThursdayNext: karen traviss created a whole language and vastly expanded on the culture of the mandalorians from star wars, through the novels. i wouldn't be surprised if she did the same thing here.

rogue32

@belo: He's saying it's just as bad.

RockyRan

lol, I love how two of the shallowest dude-f'em-up fests(Halo and Gears of War) are 'novelized'. It is just so hilarious and odd to me.

And I know, I know "the Halo universe and ethos is so rich!", ok, perhaps the graphic novel is, but the fact that anyone would search this out or think to themselves that they wanted more of the story from either game is just ridiculous.

Those games are fun, sure, and the story in Halo has more to it than Gears. But still, I can't be the only one who thinks this is at least a little silly.

jasoncourt

@-[[CHoZO]]-: They're certainly nothing to write home about, though. Look at Team Fortress 2. THERE'S giving a fuck about a game after it's released. Besides, small changes is all they're doing. They haven't even acknowledged the multiplayer's biggest flaw (matchmaking). You'd think they change that if they had that many fucks to give.

RockyRan

@Doeseph: It cannot be like Halo, ever. The reason being is that Halo 2 had some actual improvements in the multiplayer area compared to the original, whereas Gears 2 is just broken in the multiplayer area compared to the original Gears.

@phicaluk: People who are actually drug into the universe of the story. Don't get me wrong, this ain't no Shakespeare but it does have its value for the fans of the series.

To contrast, I have a friend who loves the "Legend of Seeker" (or w/e, I forget) books and actually was excited for the TV Mini-series, but I "rolled" my eyes instantly at another Book-to-Television adaption. Still, he enjoys it so that's enough.

So, same here, just instead of B-t-T/G it's G/T-t-B. Besides, the stuff behind the curtains of the main story are actually rather interesting to see and give a ton of context the the universe's whole existence. That's why I love and have read all of the Halo books so far :D!

GDW1017

@subnet6: It is a little silly, but this isn't a novelization, rather a continuation of the storyline, hence why it may be of some interest to fans.

I too was skeptical of Karen until I read Aspho Fields and thought she did a really good job of extending and expanding on the Gears universe... better than Epic ever did with the 2 games (which isn't saying much).

FUCHIPATAS

@phicaluk: Something of a bibliophile myself (hence name/avatar). It mystifies me too. Unless of course, there really are no more original ideas.

ThursdayNext

@ThursdayNext: I just don't understand these books at all. If I go to Borders, there are more quality novels in there (you know, books with interesting plotting, compelling characters, political messages, whatever) than I could read in a lifetime - and I'm a pretty fast reader. Who bothers with this dreck?

@ThursdayNext: Thirded

@McDollar: It felt more like a Halo 2 retread to me. Or at least leading up to it. It had a civil war within the enemy faction(lambent locusts/regular locusts) as well as the sires looking and acting like a rip-off of the flood. The campaign was fun as hell(minus the shitty boss battles, just like Halo2), but the actual story sucked major ball sack.

@LosDaddie: And when you compare it to Transformers it's Oscar material! :-D

NunianVonFuch

@Đipic:

To be fair, shit got interesting in 2, but jumped around so much and left so much stuff to not be explained (ala Sires, lambent civil war, Marcus dad, Queen being humanoid locust taking prisoners...rada rada rada) that you had to ignore it and go back to chainsawing people in half.

@RockyRan: At least Epic gives a fuck about a game after they release it. I like the fact that they keep making little changes.

@skoomaster56: Gears of War 3 will be holiday 2010.

-[[CHoZO]]-

@Đipic:

Trust me, there is someone out there saying that as I type.

@akumaserge: I wonder if people actually buy novelizations of games. Really? Why?

I really like Karen Traviss, she wrote a couple of books in the extended Star Wars universe, and was directly responsible for the two best ones from the "Legacy of the force" series.

I just got a 360 last week, so im busy catching up on GoW2, hehe, might even pick this new book up.

@LosDaddie:

"...story was good...easily on par with most Summer blockbuster/action flicks.

DOES NOT COMPUTE.

@Doeseph: Not sure how anyone could argue that it's milked when there are only 2 games out in the series.

@ThursdayNext: Seconded

ShoopDaBoofs

Wait, people actually like Gears for it's story? wtf?

There´s a Republic Commando novel?

@akumaserge: From what I've seen so far from Epic is that they work closely with the people involved with the story in other media. They could have possibly just handed her the scripts for 1 and 2 and told her a few key things that needed to happen.

coop510

@ThursdayNext: its not fan-fiction if its official canon.

In before someone mentions Gears being a crappy milked franchise like Halo...

Aspho Fields? Damn fine read? Really?

I mean while there was alot of wonderful depth to be had in the characters (that the sorely games lack), I thought it was pretty mediocre as a scifi/war book. :\

But mebbe my standards are too high.

I fucking lol'd

@LosDaddie: I can't tell if you're being ironic.

DraconisXC

@dragonfang18: My question exactly. Damn I hated Gears 2's story. It raised too many new questions without answering any of the existing ones. *sigh* [SPOILER MAYBE] Especially that part in the research facility with the Sires or something. Geez. [END SPOILER]

@undefined: there will be another one, but this one *just* came out. relax. enjoy it for awhile.

@akumaserge: Have you read Aspho Fields? If she doesn't play the games, then she sure has a damn good understanding of them from somewhere. Also, maybe I'm getting the wrong idea, but do I sense some sexism here? I've never seen anybody ask this question when the author is a man. There are actually a lot of women in the industry, and a whole lot more who play games.

@skoomaster56: ...do we really need another one? Epic's not even done fixing the second one, for god's sake!

RockyRan

Does that mean Gears 3 will not pick up where Gears 2 left off? Is it gonna pull a Halo?

At the risk of being villified, I detest fan fiction and fail to see where this is different.

I think there are fewer forms of "creative" writing lower than taking an established world, collection of characters or what have you and passing it off as your own book.

If Karen Traviss is such a fantastic author why does she not create something instead?

And before anyone says it, no, I have not written a New York Times bestseller, I still get to have an opinion though.

ThursdayNext

@akumaserge:
i don't think you have to play the game to get the story...

you can research from the reviews, game publishers, and other game players on how the story went in the game...which i'm sure this author did if she's a best selling author...

unlike some other people who haven't even seen the video herself and went on national TV to comment on 3 second naked butt scene in a game...

I didn't read the other book, but now I might just pick it up. I love these kinds of novelizations, they really help to fill in the gaps. The Halo novels were quite entertaining as well.

Where is Gears of War 3?????

skoomaster56

Should be a good read. Gears2's story was good...easily on par with most Summer blockbuster/action flicks.

I wonder if she actually plays the games.

akumaserge