Most of you have seen by now that Gears of War is coming to the PC (bet you never saw that one coming.)  Having been able to see (and play) the game first-hand last week, all I can say is "I think I'm in love...  Again..."

 

The game looks amazing on the Xbox 360, but on Windows Vista, running at 1280p (1900x1280 resolution) it is jaw-dropping.  I sat there with my mouth open as CliffyB and Rod Ferguson explained the controls to me.  The roadie-run controls (double-tap W, A, S, D to run OR use Space-Bar as the 360's "A" button) are flawless.  I may not be the best Gears player, but with the mouse and keyboard, I dispensed a healthy amount of pwnage during the Games for Windows Reception on Wednesday night (sorry about that Litheon).

Some of you have asked me why we tried to hide the fact that Gears is going to be available both on Windows XP as well as Vista.

Let me say that this fact isn't being hidden or glossed over.  Gears of War will be coming to Games for Windows LIVE, and while it will take full advantage of DirectX 10 on Vista, it will also run on Windows XP.

It's also worth noting that the PC version of Gears of War achievements are separate from the Xbox 360 version.  That means you can get 1250 Gamerscore from the Xbox 360 Gears of War, and an additional 1000 Gamerscore from the PC version!

Having recently discovered Annex mode (I know, I know - I haven't had a chance with all the Shadowrun I've been playing), maybe I'll see some of you online!

Update - Thought I'd clarify that Gears of War will not support cross-platform play, but it will support Games for Windows LIVE on XP.