SarcasticGamer.com has learned from an anonymous source why Cliffy B. was so adamant that Gears of War 2 was not simply Gears 1.5 prior to its launch.  We’re proud to have the worldwide exclusive on this one… Epic is actually developing Gears of War 1.5… but as strange as that sounds, it gets even more bizarre!

Due to contractual arrangements, Microsoft Games Studios owns the exclusive rights to publish “Gears of War” and “Gears of War 2″ with rights of first refusal on “Gears of War 3″ but Epic Games smartly retained the rights to the Gears universe.  I’m sure someone at Microsoft is learning a very tough life lesson now about the ins and outs of contract wording.  At first glance it would seem a lock that Microsoft has Gears of War to themselves until close to the next next-generation of gaming consoles but the folks at Epic Games realized the specifics of the contract limited them very little when they read exactly what it said.

Slated for a Fall 2009 release, we should expect to see Gears of War 1.5 (which you’ll note is not “Gears of War”, “Gears of War 2″, or “Gears of War 3″ on virtually every system but the Xbox 360.  Gears 1.5 on the Wii?  Our source says it’s coming, waggle and all.  Gears 1.5 in your pocket?  Not only that, but two distinctly different flavors are coming to the DS and PSP respectively.  Gears 1.5 on the PS3?  Yep, complete with mouse/keyboard controls and usermod support that it will share with the PC version (which, incidentally, is rumored to be available through Steam for PC users, and it will not be supporting Games for Windows.)

When we tried to learn any gameplay or plot details from our source, things got a little hazy.  As a showcase for the Unreal Engine, Gears games have repeatedly set the graphical bar when released, but now the series is coming to hardware that doesn’t even support the Unreal Engine such as the Wii, DS, and PSP.  Our source did admit that the Unreal Engine hadn’t magically been ported to those systems but promised we would see various “undeniably Gears” implementations.  Our Concern-o-meter pegged critical when it was hinted that the Wii version had several *gasp* mini-games, such as chainsaw battling using motion controls, curb stomping using the Wii Fit balance board, and the Torque bow shooting range using the Zapper gun attachment. The DS and PSP games were described as a mash-up of interactive comics and extremely story-driven quick time event based gameplay.

Expect more on Gears 1.5 as we get closer to the release, but most importantly… the next time Cliffy B says something… LISTEN TO THE MAN!  Gears 2 is not Gears 1.5…  Gears 1.5 is!

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