PC Gears of War Will Be Expanded, Improved

The Xbox 360 best-selling shooter Gears of War is being modified and expanded for a PC release, and Shacknews teased out some details about the upcoming release from Epic, the game's developer.

The PC version will be compatible with both Vista and XP, supporting DirectX 9 and 10.

It was intimated that Microsoft did not push Epic to follow the Vista-only line it dictated with the launch of Halo and Shadowrun:

"Somewhat surprisingly, [Tanya Jensen] also told me that Microsoft did not make a big push for the company to release the game as Vista-only, after having released both Halo 2 and Shadowrun on PC as Vista-only titles. Epic wanted XP support from the beginning, and the company had its way."

The graphics are improved from the 360, apparently running smoothly on machines with Geforce 8800-level graphics cards. "While not in a whole new visual realm than its Xbox 360 counterpart, the game sports what are clearly more detailed textures and models and looks even tighter overall," the Shacknews staffer noted.

Gears of War will not be a direct port in terms of content, either. It will feature three new multiplayer maps, a new game mode, five new single-player chapters, and console-style achievements.

While downloadable content previously released on the 360 will be included on the PC game disc, Epic has not yet decided if further downloadable packs will be released - free or otherwise - on the PC.