Microsoft is rolling out the XBox game “Gears of War” with a TV ad featuring Unreal Engine 3 footage. Marcus Fenix, the principal character in the Epic Games ‘Gears of War’, leads a squad of human soldiers on the planet Sera, fighting an underground enemy known as the Locust Horde.
In the 60 second spot Fenix inspects a war-torn street, looking at a reflection in a puddle and turning over the broken head of a statue. As the ground begins to explode Fenix runs through the rain, narrowly escaping the Locust Horde only to come face to face with a Corpser, a huge spider-like beast.
See Gears of War – Mad World at YouTube
Click on the image below to play the video.
XBox Gears of War ‘Emergence Day’ in the USA was November 7. Already the original XBox game has broken records for sales, earning awards in gaming magazines and web sites.
Credits
The XBox Gears of War TV ad was developed at McCann Worldgroup, San Francisco, by creative directors Scott Duchon and Geoff Edwards, copywriter Matt Burnell, art director Nate Able and agency producer Hannah Murray.
See David Wen’s interview with art director Nate Able at Welcome to the Ranch.
Filming was directed by Joseph Kosinski via Anonymous Content, with creative consultant David Fincher and executive producer Jeff Baron.
Visual effects were designed at Digital Domain by executive producers Ed Ulbrich and Lisa Beroud, VFX supervisor Eric Barba, VFX co-supervisor Vernon Wilbert, VFX producer Melanie La Rue, Previs supervisor Chris De Santis and editor Russ Glasgow.
Mad World Soundtrack
The soundtrack to “Were You There” is “Mad World”, written by Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears and released in their 1983 album, The Hurting. The version used in this TV ad was performed by Michael Andrews (piano and arranger) and Gary Jules (vocals) accompanying the end of the cult movie, “Donnie Darko.”
Mad World Lyrics
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
‘Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It’s a very, very
Mad World
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
This is one of two video game commercials to ever make me stay in the room and watch.
Great use of music!
The commercial for this game brings a tear to my eye…
it makes me wanna go buy xbox 360 just so i can play this game
i love gears of war i might be a girl but i just love it and the music i love to i av put it on my ipod and i just listen to it all day lol
sweet jesus i love gow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wooooooooooooooooooooo
I wonder if the sequal to Gears of War will be called Cogs of Conflict?
Lol, I beat the campaign, and played this online. It is INSANE! I love the game so much, such good graphics, but it mixes that in with amazing gameplay, the outcome has no words that can properly describe it.
YEAH gears is what dat is. I AM A LOCUS FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its the best game in the whole world. i eat, live, and breath this game i love blowing up cogs and sniping there heads offffffffff whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo like gears? I LIKE GEARS. hopefully there will be more locus to choose form and bigger areans.i hope they let us customize our own LOUCS. i love the voices of the locus. and in time we might be able to talk thought the headset and what evey we say they say now that WOULD ROCK no game will be able to beat that and you know it.thanks fo r listening. SERVE THE QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!