By Jim Brown
Apologies for such a long absence in the forums, but it?s only because I?ve spent many weeks on the road, off traveling to meet so many of you in person. It?s been an amazing experience to see such a passionate and engaged group of Gears fans the world over. I wanted to share with you all some of the places we?ve been, and the faces we?ve met. To each and every one of you, especially those whose hands I did not get to personally shake, thank you for being part of the Gears Nation!
Australia
The Australian event was held at MS offices in Sydney, and was three full days of fun. The first day was all journalists (a particularly laid back group) in front of the largest single rear projection screen in the southern hemisphere. The second day was more journalists, followed by a fan event in Australia?s flagship EB store. We had a surprise homebrew cosplay Carmine at the event who was fantastic (he stayed in character and posed for photos all night long), one of those fans who was super passionate about the franchise. The third day was a visit to ABC TV studios where we did a series of interviews for various programs about Judgment, gaming, and the industry in general.
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France
The French event was held in Paris, and the MS team converted an abandoned 13th century flat into a ?Gears mansion?. There were two separate journalist events, followed by a community event in the evening. The whole place was lit by candles, and we had a few close calls that almost resulted in us burning down Paris. EEP! It was entirely gratifying to see such a large number of people start screaming at each other and REALLY get into Survival in a big way.
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Germany
The German event was held in Hamburg, at an old theater that was (supposedly) the venue used by the Beatles when they first performed in Germany. We hosted two separate groups of journalists, and then there was a fan event (playing Overrun) in the evening. There were quite a few hardcore-types here, with deeper questions about MP systems and new things we?ve added to Judgment.
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Hong Kong
The event in Hong Kong took place at a rented out restaurant in the heart of downtown. We hosted a ton of journalists for a quick introduction and demo that included the ringing of a Judgment bell to announce the new game. The noise from the bell attracted the Locust, so a cosplay Baird and Alex Brand had to rush in and ?save me? from the cosplay Rager. There was a life-sized shadow box where people could climb in and take action photos with Sofia and Cole, and then a trip through the streets of downtown HK (with cosplayers in tow) to a frozen yogurt shop that the MS team had converted over to be Gears-themed. The yogurt cups were even custom designed with a ?cool down before war begins? Judgment theme, and covered in Gears-themed toppings (mmm? giblets). Then we had a second event for the community, with hands on Survival, a raffle, photo competition, and some other activities. A very long day before it was all done, but the normally reserved people of Hong Kong came out of their shell to scream and have a great time playing the game, so it was all well worth it. They were the best Survival players of the entire trip, probably because there were a quite a few competitive experienced players there.
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Italy
The Italian event was held at the MS offices in Milan. They had a huge stage for Waylon and I, and a series of consoles set up for journalists to get hands on. Journalists here were shocked by Aftermath (our first announcement of the second campaign), and really got excited at the prospect of an additional campaign that brought the whole Judgment story into the context of the larger Gears trilogy.
Japan
The Japanese event was held at the MS office in Tokyo. Chris Wynn was there to fend off the masses with some crazy complicated questions about strategy, tactics, and game balance. They were taking this all very seriously, and Chris was impressed by their deep knowledge and interest in the franchise!
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Mexico
Our Mexican fans have a reputation for being some of the most active, and most devoted of everyone we?ve met. The group in Mexico city this year upheld that reputation in spades. Chris Wynn was on hand to see the masses of people line up and cheer, the piles of Gears mechandise for sale along the streets, and tell stories about the shrines to Dom that can be found ?south of the border?. This event featured some larger than life cutouts of the characters (they were like 8 feet tall!) and various stations for people to play.
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New Zealand
The New Zealand event was held at the MS offices in Auckland, and it was incredibly laid back with parties going on all over the place. We had two groups of journalists in to play, and they REALLY latched on to Survival. They were hyper-competitive, and insisted that they had to do better than the Australian group (the only ones to that point who were able to beat Survival on the trip?) and refused to leave until they had accomplished their goal. Interviews went well all day long, and they were so into the game that we actually ran over by about an hour and finally we had to (politely) make people leave.
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South Korea
The Korean event was held in Seoul, and as my first re-entry to Asia it was quite the contrast to the other tours. The first day I had a chance to stop by the new offices of our team at Epic Korea, in the (in)famous Gangnam district. The Judgment event was the next day, and started with a series of formal interviews at the MS offices. After a short break, we moved over to a popular movie theater downtown, where the MS team had removed all the seats and completely redecorated the theater to be Gears-themed. After the press event (and about a thousand photos) we had a huge community event with several contests, signings, photo ops, etc. No need for me to explain how passionate Korean gamers are, this one was tons of fun.
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Spain
The Spanish event was held at a shopping mall in Milan. We took over the entire facility, and even had signage in areas that were still open to the public like the main (3-story, crimson omen-branded) staircase, the information desk, and storefronts. They had a cosplay Sofia that anyone (even the public) could come take pictures with and have them printed out. Waylon and I spent the entire (long!) day non-stop in interviews, then we hosted a small group of fans to come in and get a first look at the campaign and they seemed pretty excited. They didn?t even want to listen to our little intro, they just wanted to jump in and play. We ended the night with a live TV / web broadcast and a Q&A session with some pretty hardcore Spanish fans who had some of the more challenging questions I faced on the entire tour.
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Taiwan
The Taiwanese LOVE Gears! I hear that we?re the #1 Xbox game there, and it really felt like it everywhere we went. Huge crowds of passionate people, both on the community side as well as the MS team. The first day was for all the media in Taipei, with a cosplay Baird who was brought out in shackles and a couple contests for the media to win prizes and swag. The second day was a huge community event, with a 4-tiered Overrun competition that culminated in a Gears clan beating the hell out of me and the Taiwanese Twitch.TV crew in embarrassing fashion. (We didn?t even get the first E hole? thank god for Mercy Rules!) There were raffles and other contests, and everyone was so excited we ended up almost doubling the allotted time and went straight on into the evening with people playing Overrun. After we finally cleared the room, they congregated in front of the MS building to wait for us and ask for more photos and signatures.
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United Kingdom
The UK event was held in London, in the crypt of an abandoned church. We hosted two groups of journalists, and then there was an Overrun fan event in the evening. Interviews here were done in the old cells where they used to punish the heretics. Yay?! Also, it was freezing, so MS brought in space heaters which actually gave the whole place kind of an eerie glow. This event was held right after the big PS4 announce that featured UE4, so we had a lot of questions about next gen and UE4 on top of the usual host of Judgment questions.
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USA ? Various Cities:
Atlanta
The Atlanta event was held in a local Microsoft store. Pete and Rac exhausted themselves with a huge line of people wanting signatures and swag, and everyone got some hands on time with Overrun.
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Los Angeles
The LA event was hosted by our very own Alan VS and Natalie (of Anya cosplay fame!) who faced a giant, excited crowd that got some good hands on time with the game, and who stood in line for signatures and a chance to win some swag. This event filled the MS store to capacity, and we had some really hardcore fans stop by to push the game to its limits.
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Orlando
The Orlando event was held in front of the local MS store, and was once again hosted by Rac and Pete K. Crowds were fierce this time around (probably due to the more public area?) and they got some great hands on time with Overrun, FFA, and Domination. There were some really long-term fans here, and we got tons of great pictures with people and their oldskool Gears swag, tattoos, and stories. (You guys rock!)
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New York
The New York event was held in a suite at the W hotel in Time Square. It was pretty small and low-key, but a great way to get 1-on-1 with people and really give them a taste of what the game is all about. At lunch one day, I went over to do some shopping and found a huge Gears display that was surrounded by people buying toys I didn?t even know we had out there!
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Seattle
The Seattle trip was hostd by Alan, Chris, and Kendall (all familiar faces if you?ve watched the videos from the Live! event) and we had the chance to meet some long term fans, play some games, and give away some amazing prizes (see photos?). And of course, this is when they stopped to film the Live! event with Major Nelson, which (if you haven?t seen it) is definitely worth catching before launch day.
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I have tons more photos, and there are a few areas I didn?t have info about (Canada, South America, etc.) so maybe we?ll post more on the Community page soon. Can?t express enough how amazing it was to meet everyone we did, and see the reactions on faces as they got to play for the very first time. And now, it?s demo time ? go play!! Only a few days left until launch, and then I can?t wait to see all of you online. Oh, and yes ? my Reaper is waiting for you?
Source: http://epicgames.com/community/2013/03/gears-judgment-world-promo-tour/
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