Gears of War Novels on the Way

Epic Games and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey will publish three novels set in the world of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Gears of War video game series.  The first novel, GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss, will go on sale October 28, 2008.  The Gears of War 2 video game, the highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defining third-person shooter that won over 30 game of the year awards, will be released worldwide exclusively for the Xbox 360™ on November 7, 2008.

In GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, the last human stronghold on Sera braces itself for another onslaught from the Locust Horde, as ghosts come back to haunt Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. For Marcus — decorated war hero, convicted traitor — the return of an old comrade threatens to dredge up an agonizing secret he’s sworn to keep. As the beleaguered soldiers of the Coalition of Ordered Governments take a last stand to save humankind from extermination, the harrowing decisions made at Aspho Fields have to be relived and made again. Marcus and Dom can take anything the Locust Horde throws at them — but will their friendship survive the truth about Dom’s brother Carlos?

“After finishing the first Gears of War game, players were left wanting to know more about Delta Squad and the events leading up to Emergence Day,” said Epic Games’ president Michael Capps.  “This trilogy of novels opens up whole new worlds of storytelling opportunities, and will add even more context to the upcoming comic book series, game sequel and motion picture.  We loved Karen Traviss’ work on the Republic Commando series, and we can’t wait to get her Gears book to our fans.”

So here is it for all those who were wondering where the Gears of War story was, it’s coming in the books. In all seriousness though, this could be really cool. Here’s hoping that they do as well and are written as well as the Halo books. It is interesting that more games are jumping on this trend of books to go along with the game. It’s great to get more story, but should they be trying to get all that story into that games instead?