Not to mention that the game is pretty frackin' awesome too

Far too frantic and linear for my blood, though I am looking forward to watching my son playing it. It looks stunning, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Gears Of War spawning a movie or two at some point. Now that really would be cool!

Personally, I'd pay a king's ransom for a true turn-based strategy game on the 360. Something along the lines of Gladius would be nice.

I love the song (and Donnie Darko, the movie that featured it and where the song REALLY fit). I was disappointed when I saw it used for the GoW commercial. I have no idea if the game is any good, but it has spoiled the song a bit for me. Hopefully my memory of the commercial will fade, and I can go back to enjoying the song.

The song really works well for the video though and makes a great "theme" song for the game.  The game is amazing really.  It may be a bit linear, and is certainly frantic, but in a great way.  The graphics are beyond stunning, just a great example of what a Next Generation video game console can do.

Granted, I've seen some beautiful images from Metal Gear Solid on the PS3 and it looks unbelievable too, but just how many PS3's are really going to be in peoples households this season, and at what price?  I know I am not going to have one anytime soon, if ever, at the price they are asking for them currently.  No matter how impressive the games are on the PS3, the hardware will still cost an arm and a leg and really won't be 'that much better' than what I have right now.

I *just* tried playing the game on a friend's xbox... I am definitely not a console shooter guy. I was in the tutorial... and I died Why won't they let me use a keyboard and mouse? They work in the dashboard, why not in games?

That question gets asked a lot and the answer (canned it seems) keeps coming up: "to keep a level playing field."

Many Quake/Unreal Tournament type players that are used to keyboard/mouse combos get frustrated at games on the consoles initially, but over time they normally adjust.  Not saying that keyboard/mouse combos aren't something that should be supported, just that it seems (so far) that non-support is a design goal, rather than a forgotten feature.

I will say that my impression of Gears of War so far is that it's quite fun, but I find some of the "take cover" controls a bit less than intuitive for my tastes.  I'm still more used to some other games in the FPS genre and know those controls a lot better currently.  Over time I'm sure I could get decent enough at that part of Gears, but then I'd probably still suck rocks at actually hitting the things I'm aiming at when shooting   (Something I always suck at).

I just played through the game last night with a friend of mine, he was about 2 or 3 hours in when i joined at about 10:30... 6 hours later, after about 10,000 bullets per gun and too many deaths to count, we beat the game, and while i had some minor gripes, they were just that, minor, the game is indeed "frackin' awesome" - though i can see how it could get too frantic for some... the frenetic pace just made it that much more addictive to me, that "one more check-point" mentality that made me stay until 4:30 AM to finish it off (that last boss is a pain in the rear!)

terpfan - i agree the take cover command was sometimes not good, my personal gripe was its reaction, i never did figure out the finer points of it, but overall it worked well

my only other gripes with the game are its length, though there will be a GoW2 i can guarantee that, and some minor technical gripes (whats up with the sniper rifle not forcing you to reload because you are zoomed? really sucks in the heat of a battle to forget to unzoom, reload, and rezoom, only to fire and realize you forgot those steps)

my favorite moments: both players in co-op mode chainsawing the same Locust Grunt (and no, i don't know if we chopped him into 3 pieces, both screens were covered in blood and i couldn't see). Me dying on top of a Locust Wretch with my chainsaw going ( lots of blood!) and that last sweet headshot on the final boss. - Plus the dialogue in the game just rocks, the writers deserve some major props, and whoever decided that the reload feature needed to be skill based gets mad props from me!

EDIT: oh btw, the Corpser (the spider things in the commercial) goes down right nice and pretty too, that boss fight was pretty fun

I was watching my precious G4 when this comercial came on. I nearly broke my television in rage! It's just a terrible use of this great song. Donnie Darko used it right: to convey sadness with an eerie happiness and mental instability. Anyone who actually thinks this comerical used the song in at all the right way has got to go out and rent, buy, or steal Donnie Darko, and watch it to completion.

"The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had," think about that lyric; what does it have to do with war? If you really want to die so bad during a war, you have a gun right there, blow your brains out or shut up and quiting whining.

You say Gears of War needs a theme song? I agree with you. But that doesn't mean it should go out and steal a theme song that doesn't even work. It should get its own theme song and actually make sure it makes sense.

OK, well then answer, if the dreams in which one is dying is the best they've ever had, why try to win? Why fight the fight? Why not just fucking kill yourself; you've got the gun.