{"id":93,"date":"2019-06-20T19:18:19","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T19:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itgesports.com\/?p=93"},"modified":"2019-07-15T16:05:38","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T16:05:38","slug":"a-closer-look-at-gears-of-war-4-interview-with-glenn-mccollum-from-elevate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/gaming\/a-closer-look-at-gears-of-war-4-interview-with-glenn-mccollum-from-elevate\/","title":{"rendered":"A closer look at Gears of War 4 – Interview with Glenn McCollum from eLevate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The release date for the Gears of War 4 is coming closer and closer. Dedicated fans are waiting for the October 11th<\/sup>\n to get their hands on what the devs call \u2018Gears: Next Generation\u2019. If \nyou are lacking patience and you want to grab the game earlier, you have\n plenty of options. Initially, the game was supposed to be launched on \nOctober 7th<\/sup> but the console version will now be available to players on October 6th<\/sup>.\n The Xbox One S 2TB comes with a Gears of War 4 Limited Edition bundle \nfor the price of $449. The bundle includes a custom Xbox One S console \nand a Crimson Omen Controller, early access to Gears of War 4, Vintage \nLimited Edition Console back and other exclusive features. If you are \nplanning on investing in a new graphics card, keep in mind that the \nNvidia GTX 1070\/1080 purchase comes with a free GoW 4 on PC\/Xbox One. \n Game trailer can be accessed here<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are seeking to buy a new console or a video card, for $100 you\n can buy the Ultimate Edition and play the game four days earlier, \nbeginning October 7. Pre-loading is also another viable option and it \nwill be available before the game releases. Moreover, Microsoft has \nannounced a livestreaming event called Gears of War 4 Live<\/a> on\n October 5, 3 PM PT\/ 6 ET. Tune in if you are interested to see \nexclusive gameplay, surprise appearances and maybe to win some \ngiveaways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are not going to give a lot of details about the story mode even \nthough it\u2019s worth mentioning that the GoW 4 takes place 25 years after \nthe close of the 3rd<\/sup> entry and campaign focuses on three main\n characters: JD Fenix , Delmond Del Walker, Kait Diaz. Beloved classic \ncharacters like Marcus and Augustus Cole are going to be part of the \nstory. The new enemy is called Swarm, even though they have a lot in \ncommon with the Locust enemy types from the previous games. New \ncharacters, new enemies, new weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The story mode will definitely attract some new or veteran players \nbut the main question is can the Coalition team deliver a game that is \ngoing to bring out the best of the community, satisfy both amateur \nplayers and the competitive scene.  How will Gears fit in the \ncompetitive scene and eSports in general? October is right around the \ncorner and it is easy to notice that teams and players seem to spring up\n like mushrooms after the rain. I had the pleasure to have a discussion \nabout Gears with Glenn McCollum, the new Gears of War Director for \neLevate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    How did you get into Gears? What\u2019s your personal story? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long story short, I had two roommates about ten years ago who played \nGears of War 1. At that time, I didn\u2019t even have an Xbox and I had \nlittle interest in video games. One day, I ended up having my appendix \nburst and I was rushed to the hospital.  I wasn\u2019t able to walk for 2 \nweeks and my friends talked me into play GoW. I ended up enjoying it and\n ended up buying an Xbox.  When GoW 2 came out, I played religiously, \nthat is how much I loved the game! My friends and I transitioned to GoW 3\n and ended up playing on LAN a few times and took part in a couple of \nlocal events called MG Halo. Such events gave me the opportunity to meet\n my first Gears friends who initiated me into real competitive scene and\n the legitimate eSport scene. After meeting some people, it transitioned\n into an obsession and a hobby and now I am where I\u2019m at. It took a lot \nof hard work and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     What do you think about the yank and shank move, the \nvault kick and the nade plants? Do you think these features will have an\n impact on the competitive play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am convinced that the yank and shank move<\/strong> will be \ngiven a technical term, just like it happened to wall bouncing. To be \nhonest, I think it\u2019s going to be more like a chainsaw. I don\u2019t believe \nit is going to be something that is going to be utilized as much because\n the fast movement system is back where you can air cancel or bounce \nfaster. They are probably going to call it an air bounce but I think its\n usage will be minimal. The mantel kick, it is going to be utilized like\n the jumping over movement because people are going to run in quick \ncover instead of bouncing off. You will see players use that kick. I \ndon\u2019t know how much it will be utilized until we see the game play out. I\n have a feeling some of those meta are not going to be used as much as \nair bouncing because I think air bouncing is going to control a lot of \ngame play. Concerning the nade plant, <\/strong>currently you can\n plant 2 nades or 2 smokes just like in Gears 2. The third one would \ndetonate everything.  I am predicting they are going to remove the \nability to plant 2 nades\/ smokes. The change will be made for the \ncompetitive purpose of it.  For example, if you have 10 players on a map\n and they can each plant 2 smokes\/nades, you\u2019re dealing with 20 planted \nobjects. That is a bit absurd. I do think that it\u2019s going to be moved to\n one but I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to see a lot of competitive players \nplanting nades. You are probably going to see players using smoke on a \nhill for capping, but I doubt you are going to see too much nade \nplanting. It\u2019s going to be more of a throwing style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How did you find all the weapon in GoW 4? Any thoughts on the weapon balancing compared to Gears 3 let\u2019s say?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off, I will start with the pistol<\/strong> that has \nbeen downgraded a massive amount. In Gears 3 and Ultimate Edition, it \nwas very powerful and very fast paced. In Gears 4, you are not able to \ndown a player of the full clip and pop their head with a pistol right \naway with one clip. I am not sure how useful the pistol is going to be. \nHowever, I like that it was nerfed because now it plays more for \nconsistent accuracy and hitting the active reload at the proper time. \nIt\u2019s not just shot one bullet, keep one active, shoot another bullet and\n keep one active. That will not be possible. As for the shotgun<\/strong>,\n it seems like a lot of people are really happy. In Ultimate Edition, \nyou shot out of from the center of screen. With Gears 4, it\u2019s coming out\n of the barrel and not the center of the screen. Therefore, you\u2019re going\n to see the fast pace, quick air bouncing players utilize the shotgun a \nbit more because it gives you the opportunity to get into serious \nbattles. I think you\u2019re going to see a lot more skill coming out with \nthe shotgun\/ gnasher for this game. About the lancer<\/strong>, I\n can\u2019t give an opinion but I\u2019m assuming it\u2019s going to be the third \noption.  Once you\u2019re out of pistol or out of shotgun, you\u2019ll probably \ngoing to see some lancer usage. They are tuning the weapons and they had\n about 2 or 3 beta testing for pro players. Those players were able to \nput in their input concerning certain features like weapons and weapon \nbalancing. The devs are receptive and are changing things around, making\n the game more suitable for competitive play. I believe, they are \nbuilding this game for eSports and they want it to succeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fun and random question: What do you think about the Swarm? The steaks looking enemies with guns!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone favors the COG but I like seeing new characters. I don\u2019t \nplay a lot of campaign and the roles of the characters don\u2019t matter much\n to me from a competitive perspective. Everyone appreciates seeing new \ncharacters. I am excited to see how they all look when the game is \nreleased with the new graphics. It\u2019s going to be interesting to see all \nthe details of the characters. For sure, I am going to play with some of\n the old school characters but I hope to see a new Carmine especially \nbecause we haven\u2019t heard a word about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

   Let\u2019s talk about your team. Congrats on being assigned as \nthe Gears of War director for eLevate. What are the strong points and \nweaknesses of your team? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the roster we are working with was originally made by \neLevate and Ben from \u201cStrangulate\u201d at the time. He made a team for MLG \nColumbus. At that time, I was with Strictly Business. The current \neLevate team is not technically created by me, but they are good \nplayers. They just picked up KraZ and they won the first open. It gave \nthem 2000 pro points and it put them in the number 1 seat going into \nthese 4 2ks that create the Invitational for the first LAN. Week 2 they \ntook third\/forth place. I am expecting these players to do well.  They \nare very good at playing execution and very good with the shotgun. In \nGears 4, I am not 100% sure with who we are going to be working with and\n if we\u2019re going to be rolling over with this team or not. We are \nweighing out the options for eLevate for the future. We want to make \nsure that we are building a brand around the players that we feel are \ngoing to be the most successful in Gears 4 and fit us well. This is one \nof the reasons why I joined the team because of my knowledge of Gears \nand the players. I am confident about taking the reins for Gears for \neLevate.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With introduction of Windows 10, do you think that the pro scene will go PC or stay console?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it is going to stay console. I haven\u2019t really heard much \nabout people, competitive wise play with keyboard and mouse. Definitely,\n you are going to see a lot of people playing it and having fun with it.\n The graphics are going to be much better and the response time is going\n to be different. I am interested to see what it will bring to the scene\n but competitive wise, it\u2019s definitely going to be all console.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Let\u2019s say I am an amateur Gears player and I want to join \nthe competitive scene. What advice would you have for me?  What\u2019s the \nfirst step?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are new and you want to be a pro make sure you put yourself \nout there and make yourself available. Afterwards, you need to put in \nthe proper amount of time. My honest suggestion is to find a group of \npeople that is dedicated as you and have the same passion as you. You \nneed to grind GameBattles because that is where you are going to find \npeople. A lot of these top teams that are coming out now come from \nGameBattles. The original Synergy team came from there.  My eLevate team\n and the players from VexX that I believe recently left VexX, they came \nfrom there. It is all about finding the right people that fit you. \nEventually, someone will pick you up. SuMuNs came from GameBattles and \nhe is part of the Optic team now. GameBattles is literally the stepping stone to become an amateur or professional player<\/strong>.\n Get on there and establish a reputation and of course, be consistent.  \nGrind, grind, grind! Sure, you are going to lose, you are going to have \nups and downs but you have to continue to grind!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Is your team planning to help out the Gears community as a\n whole besides being part of the competitive scene? I am asking this \nbecause Gears is known not to be open to new players. Any steps in \nchanging this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re not the first person to bring that one up. If you haven\u2019t \nnoticed, you\u2019ve seen a lot of transition from each new Gears game, and \nnow it is more open to players. It used to be a core group of players \nand that has changed. With rosters expanding to teams of 5, you have \norganizations showing interest in the game. Players are much more open \nminded about finding the right players to fit them. They want to win! \nThere is a million dollars\u2019 prize pool. You are going to see a bunch of \nnew players coming in and everyone is going to be more accepting. The \nscene is finally getting a little bit of spotlight to where you will \nfind players from GameBattles who aren\u2019t very well-known but they play \nvery well, take part in scrims and if it goes well they will may be part\n of a good team. The perfect example is Chris iBN who now is part of \nMurder by Numbers (MBN). No one knew who he was a year ago. People gave \nhim a chance because he played well and put his dedication into it. \nAnother example is FatalStryke who was never given a proper chance to be\n part of a good team but thanks to his dedication and effort now he is a\n pro player. The answer to your question is basically the same as the \nprevious one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s talk about the future of Gears, not only the competitive play. Any predictions and\/or expectations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I definitely believe Gears 4 is going to be a success! Jack Felling \nand the devs have put so much time and dedication into this new game. \nOriginally, when they released Ultimate Edition, they said that they \nwon\u2019t be putting a lot of money and effort into it because they were \nsaving it for Gears 4.  If you look at the numbers on gaming platforms \nlike Twitch, without a doubt, our viewers are not that many. We were \nhitting a couple of thousands of viewers on Twitch but keep in mind, \nthose numbers were for a remastered game that is 10 years old. We just \ngot a million-dollar circuit which is going to help a lot. Sponsors are \ncoming in with organizations. We have Optic, EnVyUs, eLevate and other \ntop organizations dipping in. The biggest question is how much will the \nviewership grow with Gears 4. Is it going to be lackluster like the \nprevious games or is it going to excel? I personally think that the \nviewership is going to go up. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to get numbers \nlike other big games, but I do think the popularity of the game is going\n to grow. I am sure you are going to see more players joining in. Open \nevents allow new players to come in, no name players to test their \nskills and who knows what can happen. Someone might come in and just \nsurprise everyone! We need that shocker team and that is going to boost \nviewership. Regarding expectations, I believe a few teams will stand \nout. Who knows how they are going to transition because we\u2019re going from\n execution to an objective based game, escalation. I am sure you are \ngoing to see the dreams teams consistently topping the charts but teams \nlike Tragedy, eLevate, Kaliber, VeXx that are really good are going be \nputting up a good fight.  I can\u2019t predict who is going to come on top. \nWe don\u2019t really know until we see the first LAN for Gears 4. It\u2019s a \nwhole new world and it\u2019s exciting to see how it\u2019s going to unfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can follow Glenn on Twitter @eLevateiink<\/a> or check out his Twitch channel twitch.tv\/nvink3d<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gears 4 announced two game modes for competitive: execution and \nescalation. Escalation is a domination type game similar to what you \nwould find in CoD. It is nothing new, just another ring based game. In \nall previous Gears games, the playlist was divided between competitive \nand social.  The opinion on this matter are also divided. However, if \nyou look at other competitive games like CoD or Battlefield that have \none playlist and you see how successful they are, it makes you question.\n Doesn\u2019t having a divided playlist make the game less accessible to new \nplayers and divides the community as well? When you have devs that \nchange the game to make it more competitive and listen to the feedback \nof pro players and make changes to the whole game, that makes you \nwonder. Is that really the best decision? The game is known not to be \nfriendly to newbies. In every Gears game, when they considered a weapon \ntoo overpowering for the completive play, they will make it \ninaccessible. Why not just make players adapt to new features, new \nchanges or new weapons?  When I think about Gears 4, I want to see new \nmaps, new features, new game modes that are going to make any player \nenjoy the game. The love for the Gears franchise is impressive. You can \nsee streamers and players that love the game so much that they decide to\n get a Gears tattoo<\/a>. Now that is pure dedication!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The success of a game stands in changing a mentality. New features \nlike yank and shank or vault kick would be interesting to see in the \ncompetitive scene. Of course, the game has to be engaging enough to be \nplayed by pros but also, you have to take into consideration the \nentertaining value. Will people be interested to watch competitive game \nplay? This leads to the issue of what game mode should be competitive? A\n game mode like execution that encourages drawing out a timer when at a \ndisadvantage, will be boring to watch. If new fun features will be \nignored and not used, this makes me think that old veterans of the game \nare reluctant to embrace something new to Gears. Now let\u2019s have a look \nat the Gears community. I dare you to take a look on some major social \nmedia outlets and judge for yourself. Like I wasd mentioning before, \nthere is no doubt that the fans are devoted but yet Gears has failed so \nmany times in the past to deliver and so many just quit the game. The \nproblem is not that it costs $60 to play a competitive game. Yes, there \nare plenty of free to play competitive games. I doubt this is the issue.\n However, we have all seen how poor behavior of pro players can do so \nmuch harm to a game. Let\u2019s admit it: Gears as a game is unique and its \ncommunity is like no other! GoW devs always wanted to add a twist to \ntheir competitive games, \u201cmake it their way\u201d. So far did it really pay \noff?  Why not follow the footsteps of other successful eSports games?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many expectations, fears and hopes when it comes to Gears \n4. The game will be either a huge success or just another failure in the\n series. Expectations are high especially with so many teams and \norganizations showing interest. I am going to be optimistic about one \nthing only: the new teams and new players. They might change the fate of\n Gears as eSports and bring back the spark in a very divided, turbulent \ncommunity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The release date for the Gears of War 4 is coming closer and closer. Dedicated fans are waiting for the October 11th to get their hands on what the devs call \u2018Gears: Next Generation\u2019. If you are lacking patience and you want to grab the game earlier, you have plenty of options. Initially, the game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itgesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}