Gears of War 3 multiplayer, thy name has been Shotgun City for a while now. Epic Games has opted to weaken its newest power weapon, the sawed-off shotgun. Effective October 12, the weapon no longer gibs further than the gnasher shotgun. Shotties are the weapon of choice by a large margin in GOW 3, as evidenced by the stats Senior Gameplay Programmer Pete Knepley displays in the video below. The Gears games helped usher in the era of cover-based shooting, but online multiplayer is still full of people charging ahead with shotguns blasting. They account for 72 percent of quick match kills, with the gnasher responsible for 45 percent.

Epic Games is taking the leak of footage from Gears of War 3 very seriously. Executive Producer Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer it has ways of tracking those who shared spoiler videos. Fergusson said Epic issued a plea to players not to share spoiler videos, and some who did could find themselves banned on September 20 when GOW 3 releases.

Epic Games’ Unreal Technology is responsible for creating some of the most beautiful graphics in gaming. The engine is particularly good at producing wonderful lighting effects and detailed character models. Non-Epic games to use Unreal Engine 3 are Borderlands, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Mass Effect to name a few. The Unreal Engine was also used to create the world in Infinity Blade, which is probably the best looking iPhone game ever. More iPhone developers will be able to create games at high graphical levels when Epic releases the Unreal Development Kit on Thursday (December 16, 2010).

Although Dominions 3 (Windows, Linux, Mac) normally sells for near $55, Shrapnel Games has generously reduced the price to $48.95 until September 8, 2010. This still might seem high for an ancient game from 2006 but Dominions 3 is one of those games where, if you measure in hours of play, that kind of price comes out to a few pennies an hour at best..

Project Sword is being developed for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad with full Game Center functionality. The most impressive thing about this Unreal Engine 3 powered game is its graphics. They are unlike anything seen before on an iDevice. The game won’t be out until the end of the year, but a demo called Epic Citadel on the App Store now. Epic Citadel focuses on Project’s Sword’s enviornment.

I’m not a PC gamer but I was fortunate to have a PC that could run Unreal Tournament 2003 pretty well back in 2002. The variety of weapons, ridiculous taunts (You be dead!) and varied maps made me a fan for life. When UT 2004 made its way into my hands I was amazed at how much better multiplayer could be when vehicles are thrown into the mix. I also started to experiment with the different mods players would create to extend the games shelf life. What more could I ask for?

Those looking forward to the release of Epic Games’ highly anticipated sequel Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360, on November 7, 2008, may be pleased to hear that the game’s official soundtrack will be getting a release of its own come November 25, 2008.

The Gears of War 2 soundtrack has been composed by Steve Jablonsky – known for his work on popular Hollywood films including Transformers, The Island and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - and recorded by the Skywalker Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus at Skywalker Sound.

Jablonsky is quoted in a press release issued by Sumthing Else Music Works earlier this week (October 27, 2008) as saying that he “experimented with a lot of hybrid organic/electronic elements, and combined them with…

Next up to cast a shadow on PC gaming’s vitality is id Software, which had been a driving force in the platform’s popularity during the ’90s with the Doom and Quake games.

Last Thursday (March 20, 2008), id’s Director of Business, Steve Nix, told Eurogamer that the average first-person shooter player isn’t just some guy armed with a keyboard and mouse anymore. Although id will continue to steadfastly support PC gaming, it must take into account the current market shifts. Nix told Eurogamer that even formerly die-hard PC gamers are making the jump to consoles.

“I know that I have friends who are…

Microsoft has had a forgettable start to the year with the Xbox 360 finishing third for the first time on US sales charts in January 2008. The news of Blu-ray triumphing in the HD format war has only aggravated its woes, although it is putting up a brave pretense. But at the Game Developers Conference, Microsoft gave itself a few reasons to cheer by announcing a stellar games lineup, which includes the much awaited Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Too Human.

Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer at Epic Games, took center stage just as…

As Microsoft has already confirmed that Gears of War 2 is already in development and ready for a November 2008 release, Epic took to the stage at this year’s Game Developers Conference to discuses some of the changes and additions being made to their hugely successful Unreal Engine 3.

It should be noted that all of the updates and improvements made to the Unreal Engine were demonstrated showing Gears of War. While these are more than likely not scenes of the upcoming sequel, they do…

Click through for more including the tech demo from GDC 2008.