Gears of War 3 Swag for Beta Participants
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and paid tribute to the folks who do the tough stuff so the rest of us can stuff ourselves full of hot dogs for an extra Monday every year. For better or worse, my vacation has puked bled into a 4th day due to the Heat taking game 1 of the NBA Finals. Now, onto something much more fun than real war: pretend war!
The Gears of War 3 Beta closed last week. This week, the 1.29 million players that jumped in received a thank you note from Microsoft that included a desktop background and a printable “poster” for working on that shot of yours, or for decoration if you’re 1. living in a dorm or 2. me. If you want it, you can get it here.
Some numbers:
Total Participants: 1.29 Million
Total Countries Playing the Beta: 145
Total Kills: 927 Million
Total Executions: 127 Million
Total Deaths by Chainsaw: 23 Million
Total Bullets Fired: 23 Billion
Total Match Time Played: 249 Years
So I’m no mathemagician but that means it took about 25 shots to kill someone, which might mean something if the Gnasher were Gears of War’s only weapon. The game’s signature rifle, however, carries 350 rounds in a clip so I’m going to need some more data than that to make any sense out of it. I guess what I’m telling you is I got nothing for ya here. Not even sure how this compares to the balance of earlier entries in the franchise, but speak up if you know.
Thankfully, the people who can really dig into those numbers for the purpose of re-balancing the game have over 3 months to do so. That means if you’re anything like me, not only are you expecting the most polished Gears of War game to date, but one of the best-ever Xbox 360 titles and a record-smashing release in terms of the industry’s macro picture as well. Those kind of lofty goals are impossible to achieve without hours and hours of play-testing, so it’s nice to see Microsoft do SOMETHING to say thanks to those people who stopped their lives for 3 weeks to get completely addicted to a glorified demo. I mean, it’s no replica Lancer, but it’s something.
P.S. If real-life chotchkies are your thing, make sure you pick up Gears of War 3′s Epic Edition, which includes a pretty incredible 11-inch Marcus statue among other things.
Follow WG on Twitter @wannabe_genius and read Mike’s personal grumblings @mickeyvee.
