At a panel at San Diego Comic Con yesterday, Rod Fergusson of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition developer The Coalition announced that starting next month, the game will be available bundled with the Xbox One. While Fergusson stated that the game would be included with every Xbox sold, Microsoft subsequently clarified that it would only come as part of the specific Gears of War: Ultimate Edition bundle, which is just one of multiple ways to buy the console. Xbox Wire reports that the bundle “will be available at select retailers” including Microsoft stores.
The bundle includes a 500GB Xbox One, wireless controller, and a digital download of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. The bundle also packs in the Superstar Cole multiplayer skin, a 14-day Xbox Live trial, and perhaps best of all, guaranteed access to the Gears of War 4 multiplayer beta.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was officially announced at E3 last month, and is a remastered version of the original Gears of War, coming to the Xbox One and PC. In addition to a graphical overhaul, the game is also said to include “gameplay improvements” taken from later games in the series.
If you were hoping that these gameplay improvements would include Gears of War 2’s Horde Mode, you’re out of luck. Fergusson addressed this at yesterday’s panel, saying that The Coalition “didn’t want it to creep too much into Gears of War 2 territory.”
Fergusson added that while the sequel included a large number of new enemies, the smaller number of enemies in the original game would leave Horde Mode feeling empty, Polygon reports. Other multiplayer enhancements from later games like spotting enemies, which was added in Gears of War 3, will be included in Ultimate Edition‘s multiplayer.
The Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Xbox One bundle will be available starting August 25, the same day that the game goes on sale. The price will be $350, the same price as a standard Xbox One, so if you’re planning on buying the game anyway, there’s no reason not to go for the bundle.
