Whatever they show I hope it will be something that demonstrates the new features of the engine, maybe a new weapon, and the duel chainsaw battle.

It isn't just a guess. I saw it confirmed somewhere that there is indeed a chainsaw "mini-game" sorta thing. I think it was in one of the magazine articles. Can't wait to see this footage.

i've completed it like 5 or 6 times :P

Me too, but guess why?
The gameplay was fun, but I was helping my friends to get all the COG tags, if not that, I would probably only play it like 2 or 3 times and be done with it.

I guess that sort of achievement mentality does appeal a lot to certain people.. to me, I don't feel like I'm achieving anything, they seem like pretty false rewards. A chore, even. The rewarding part of playing a multi-player game to me is the spirit of the competition, and that's all I really need to keep me going. Well, that, and great gameplay.

Same here kinda. The extra 2/3 came as a result of trying to help mates complete it.

It won't be long before we post up the exclusive first ever gameplay video for Gears of War 2. 10:30 p.m. PST on Friday night is when we'll be setting it live, so stay tuned to this space! Hope you're ready -- it's awesome.

Gears of War 2
And you thought the Locust Plague in the Bible was hectic!
by: Michael Butler 09/05/2008

So the question is – how’s it looking? And the answer is – pretty damn good.

Of course, you’d expect a sequel to improve on the original but what’s most heartening about what we’ve seen of Gears of War 2 so far is that the improvements are looking good throughout the game. Technology, gameplay and story all look to have been substantially overhauled. Let’s look at how.

Technology:

Epic Games is also famous for the Unreal Engine, its middleware that forms the basis of all its games – and those of many, many other developers too. In the eighteen months or so since Gears of War’s release, Epic’s technology team has been hard at work on Unreal Engine 3 and it’s looking substantially more capable at blowing our minds than the version used in the original. Here are some of its key new or improved features, and what they mean in game terms.

Ambient Occlusion: adds more dynamic and realistic shadows.

Advanced Character Lighting: provides character models with better contrast and specular lighting, more detail overall and faster rendering.

High Density Crowds: allows the game to show over 100 characters on-screen at once, using flocking technology to move.

Dynamic Fluid Surfaces: a realistic physics simulation now allows for specular and environmental reflections, more dynamic interactions with water and superior sound effects.

Soft-body Physics: to better simulate the behaviour of soft objects (the Unreal Engine demo shows a giant, somewhat gooey-looking cube of meat); it’s also good for rendering liquids as it can simulate both viscosity and surface tension, so the artists can build more organic environments.

Matinee Improvements: these allow the cut-scene creators to access movie director-level controls over cameras and cuts and provides a real-time, in-engine preview mode.

Destructible Environments: Unreal Engine 3 now has real-time structural analysis tools to determine how objects break apart under stress, strain and high explosives.

The short version of all this is that the game should look amazing (as does the original) and will most likely raise the bar on visual fidelity and environmental modelling on the Xbox 360.

Gameplay
All this technology is meaningless without a good game in front of it, and on that count we can look forward to larger, more free-form battles, and a wider selection of weapons. The Active Reload system will remain in place, though it’s likely that different weapons will use different mechanics.

Also different are the enemy types, with some truly huge monsters set to appear, along with the Locust’s Kantus Monks, who can heal their wounded comrades at a distance and are equipped with sonic attacks, Gorgon Burst Pistols and poisonous grenades (to which you’ll eventually gain access).

And at last, Xbox 360 owners will be able to fight a Brumak (the giant beastie that appeared in the Gears of War trailer and an in-game cut-scene).

Happily, the game will support multiple save files (so your progress won’t be wiped out by a curious friend or family member who decides to just take a look at the game).

Not much has been revealed about the Gears of War 2’s multiplayer components, just a few tid-bits. Everybody’s favourite map, Gridlock, will be ‘re-imagined’ and co-op play has been much improved, with drop-in, drop-out play and provisions for gamers on different difficulty levels to play together. Speaking of which, the difficulty levels have been tweaked too. There will be a new level easier than Casual, for first-timers, and the harder difficulty levels promise to be truly horrifying.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention this: chainsaw duels. About (pardon the pun) bloody time…

Storytelling:

So. Improved technology. Improved gameplay. These are just the tools that create a great story – and here we know a little (but not a lot) more. Gears of War 2 takes place approximately six months after the events of the first game, and once again we’ll be playing as Marcus Fenix. He’ll be accompanied by his old pal Dominic Santiago and two new team-mates: Tai Kaliso (described as a ‘spiritual’ warrior) and Dizzy (one of the Stranded, who joined the COG in exchange for his family’s safety). It’s rumoured that they’ll meet up with their old buddies Baird and Coltrane as the game progresses – here’s hoping.

Chairman Prescott will now be issuing the orders and the story will concern, in part at least, the search for Dom’s wife Maria, who lost her children at the beginning of the war. You’ll be able to learn more about the war by examining the COG tags you collect, and you’ll get information from Jack, your floating robot companion.

Great news!

DC and his fast updates ;)

Holy crap that was intense and looked amazing! i cant keep up with all the stuff going on the screen and skies look like a matte painting indeed! wow must download the HD vid and watch on my tv :D

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18698