Did you pay $60 for a beta: Gears of War 2

Quick! Use your host powers on the turret!

When Gears of War 2 launched last year it deceived a lot of competitive gamers into thinking that it was the second coming of Halo: CE. In the end we all payed $60 for a Beta to an unfinished game.

Although they took out the rag doll effect after a smoke grenade went off, that problem didn't transfer to the LAN component which many competitive gamers rely heavily on for tournaments. Going a little further into the issue, the abysmal host connection hasn't changed at all, and if Unreal Tournament 3 is any indication, it won't be changing at all thanks to Unreal Engine 3. It also seems like Epic Games does not care about their Hardcore competitive community, and why should they? We only make up a meager 5-10 percent of the community. It's sad to see a developer shrug off their dedicated fan base to cater to more casual audience who can care less about the game, but what is hot at the moment.

What started off as a good thing became a nightmare for some, and it looks like it won't be changing anytime soon. In the end Gears of War 2 could end up being one of the only games to have been on the Pro Circuit for a year and taken out, due to Modern Warfare 2 lurking on the horizon why would you keep a game like this on the circuit?

Now this may not be the case (I don't work for MLG) but it is a known fact that team passes do not sell as well for Gears 2 then they do for Halo 3. This could also be the case because of the poor payout but would it really make a difference at this point? The players have spoken and they don't want to waste their time with Gears of War 2 anymore, even some of the more prolific players are moving to other games.

Even though I sold my copy of Gears of War 2 recently (along with World at War for Brutal Legend), it didn't matter anymore because Epic already took my hard earned cash and laughed in my face while I played Gears of Beta 2. Which is sad considering how much potential the game has from a competitive stand point.

Now it's time to see how Gears of War 3 turns out.