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Gears Of War 4 SDCC Panel Talks JD's Full Name, Horde Mode 3.0, And Hints At A Gears Movie
During today's Gears of War 4 panel, The Coalition studio head and Gears of War co-creator Rod Fergusson was joined by the voice talent behind the upcoming title to discuss the process of making the game. While entertaining antics, like acting out a script from the game with the roles mixed up – the voice of JD, Liam McIntyre, played the role of Del, Kait's actor Laura Bailey did a hilarious Marcus impression, Del voice actor Eugene Byrd did a soft-spoken attempt at Kait, and Marcus' voice, John DiMaggio, delivered an overly Australian version of JD, poking fun at McIntyre's natural accent – ensued, Fergusson also delivered some new details for fans.
Horde Mode 3.0
We've known that Horde mode is coming back for Gears of War 4, but not much else has been given out by the development team. Fergusson claims to be quick to look back at the successes of past iterations of the mode, but also to the failures. He says that the Horde 2.0 was a great version of the game, but it sometimes became too "tower defense-y." With Gears of War 4's Horde mode, you're able to build stuff wherever you want to and move it around as you please. In addition, Fergusson divulged that the mode will feature a system based on classes and skills, but will not be something like OverRun. Horde 3.0 will go back to being 50 waves, but we won't known too many more details for a while.
JD Fenix's Full Name
When the question-and-answer session occurred in the panel, Fergusson was quick to advocate for playing the game unspoiled when people asked questions about the potential of a new member of the Carmine family, or where characters like Cole and Anya are, but he was able to be swayed by the enthusiastic crowd and voice actors on one subject. One Q&A participant brought up the subject of if the "D" in "JD" stood for Dominic in tribute to father Marcus' longtime squadmate, Dominic Santiago. Fergusson was gun-shy at first, but after a uproarious swell of encouragement from both the crowd and the voice actors (with McIntyre going on and on about "wanting the D" and Bailey teasing that she could see Rod was about to give in), Fergusson stood up and said, "His full name is James Dominic Fenix." The crowd (and panelists) went wild upon the announcement.
You can see the moment for yourself below.
On The Topic Of A Gears Of War Film
Another Q&A participant got up to ask about a Gears of War film. Fergusson stated that he has, in the past, talked around the issue, stating that it's something that the team would love to do. This time, however, he said that something has recently changed and he's excited at the prospects of being able to deliver news very soon. Not exactly a confirmation, but it sure sounds like something is in the cooker.
Bender And Jake The Dog Won't Be Grabbing Lancers Anytime Soon
One of the more off-the-wall questions during the Q&A session came in the form of asking about the possibility of having characters in Gears of War games that sound like Marcus Fenix voice actor John DiMaggio's other well-known roles like Bender from Futurama or Jake the Dog from Adventure Time. While both Fergusson and DiMaggio laughed at the idea, Fergusson eventually pointed out that they "aren't making a Deadpool game" so they need to keep the fourth-wall-breaking to a minimum.
Other Tidbits
In addition to the other pieces of news, Fergusson told one fan that asked about sawed-off shotguns in the final game that the powerful weapon would not be appearing in the game. This garnered some applause from the fans in attendance.
The panel also shared a clip from veteran actor Jimmy Smits, who announced he is playing Oscar Diaz, Kait's uncle, in Gears of War 4. You may know Smits from his work on Sons of Anarchy, The Star Wars prequels, season 3 of Dexter, or any number of films or TV shows in his long-running career.
To hear about our time playing Gears of War 4 at SDCC 2016, head here.
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