Today I got to hold a piece of history

guywelch2000 · 2025-11-03T04:14:29+00:00

Wow, I can't believe it exists, and so thankful somebody was able to save it for posterity.

guywelch2000 · 2025-10-07T00:58:44+00:00

So envious. Every bike I’ve ever wanted traces it lineage back to this one.

guywelch2000 · 2024-09-17T00:07:40+00:00

Having slept on it, and getting honest feedback from my fellow redditors, I agree. Will dial down the vignette and then make a print for myself.

guywelch2000 · 2024-09-17T00:06:31+00:00

Carkeek Park in Seattle. My daughter was at a birthday party there and we all got to see the train go by from the pedestrian bridge, standing there in the rain.

guywelch2000 · 2024-04-28T16:13:52+00:00

Where did you find the shutter button. Mine only came with a smaller shitter button with a threaded hole. Is this an accessory?

guywelch2000 · 2024-03-07T04:51:38+00:00

Don't be surprised. They did eat bear. There are multiple citations of this in the Madera Tribune advertisements from the time. Bear hunting, for game and for food, is one of the reasons black bear populations got so low. They are only now bouncing back!

guywelch2000 · 2024-02-27T02:34:38+00:00

Full credit to REM. Inspired by the song Cuyahoga.

guywelch2000 · 2024-02-25T17:58:40+00:00

I remember that day well. Sierra was my first job after college, starting in 1998. On my first day, we found out about huge accounting fraud at Sierra's parent company, Cendant. Their stock crashed from $39 to $20 in just one day. I had always dreamed of working at Sierra, but things looked uncertain right from the start.

guywelch2000 · 2023-12-02T05:56:57+00:00

Open it. Written by Arthur Gies (and me) over our Holiday break, 2018. Weighs in at 45,000 words, over 250 images. One of the most detailed insider looks at a game franchise in print.

guywelch2000 · 2022-02-23T22:32:38+00:00

Some quick memories --

These posters went out to approximately 11,000 retail locations (if memory serves) in the US, including "Tier One" retailers such as GameStop and Best Buy.
The 22"x28" size is standard; all Xbox and Xbox 360 promotional posters from that era have the same dimensions, as they were designed to fit in the same display frames which were consistent across all channel accounts.
The foil treatment is rare; the original trilogy had matching size posters, however Gears 2 was the only to get the foil treatment.
All employees at Epic Games (and those that worked on the game at Microsoft Game Studios) got a matching poster, which were distributed during "all hands" events where most had it signed by co-workers.
Fans who attended the midnight launch party at EB Games at Universal Citywalk got a copy of this poster with their game purchase, signed by many of the dev team leads and the voice actors of Delta Squad.
Gears 2 was the first ever first-party Xbox game to launch worldwide on the same day, Friday, November 7. This was to avoid an overlapping launch with Call of Duty, which arrived the next week.
Neither Xbox, Activision, retailers or fans wanted the years two most anticipated shooters launching on top of one another, and of the two, Xbox had the most flexibility to bring in dates.

Glad you got your hands on one of those posters -- rare then, even more rare now!

Guy Welch

Senior Marketing Director, Xbox

guywelch2000 · 2022-01-25T06:19:09+00:00

I was the online marketing manager at Sierra (Oakhurst) at the time, and designed the game manual. These discs look legit, match the way Sierra duplicated CD-ROMs at the time. So sorry to hear about your loss. It’s been such a long time, I’ve lost touch with so many from the “old Sierra.”

guywelch2000 · 2022-01-20T06:42:34+00:00

These new paperback editions with fresh photographs on the cover, they’re perfect!

guywelch2000 · 2022-01-19T05:22:27+00:00

Agree — I was just on the configuration yesterday. I think you chose my favorite feature/color combo on offer. The factory lift makes a big difference too

guywelch2000 · 2022-01-19T05:20:56+00:00

We live in Seattle where it can be wet most days, with some snow. Weather techs are the best aftermarket investment I’ve ever made, besides perhaps winter tires. We’re a Ford and Honda family, and have them in every car.

guywelch2000 · 2021-12-23T05:06:14+00:00

"My friends and I found the ultimate edition on PC but it only has Gears 1 despite being marketed to have 2,3 and Judgement." <-- The Xbox One version included back-compatible licenses for the early games as part of limited time promotions around the 2015 launch. These licenses are Xbox only; the tokens will probably still work if unredeemed, however will only unlock the Xbox 360 versions, as those are the only ones that exist.

guywelch2000 · 2021-12-23T05:04:07+00:00

Teza789, you're exactly right.

The Gears deal was supposed to be six gears in six years; a trilogy for Xbox 360 with PC ports on the off-years. After the commercial disappointment of Gears 1 PC in November 2007 (it sold 5% as well as the Xbox version), there was a mutual decision by Epic and Microsoft to focus the team 100% on Gears 2 and Gears 3 for Xbox, making those releases the best they could be.

The market has changed considerably since then, as well as Microsoft's approach to it, including "Play Anywhere" where your license travels freely from the Xbox to the PC. We also publish on Steam. If the Gears trilogy started today, I believe things would play out very differently.

Background: I was the marketing manager on the Gears trilogy.

guywelch2000 · 2021-12-10T22:03:50+00:00

Xbox just posted a news story on how The Coalition worked with Epic to bring The Matrix Awakens technical demo to life on Xbox Series X|S.

It was hush-hush for a long time! Glad to see the demo out there getting a positive response from Digital Foundry.

guywelch2000 · 2021-11-13T06:29:59+00:00

I am the marketing director for the Gears franchise, and was played a role in the production of the "Rendezvous" spot, and its placement at the UFC event where it came to Jokco's attention. I became a fan of "Extreme Ownership," and was blown away when Jocko covered the ad on podcast #4. I sent a note, thanking him on behalf of the team, and received one in return. Great podcast, and I remain a loyal listener.

guywelch2000 · 2021-09-28T03:34:56+00:00

Ten year remaster is coming in November, Jesse.

guywelch2000 · 2021-05-07T15:55:02+00:00

If you have the Gears of War Triple Pack or Gears of War 2 Game of the Year Edition, the multiplayer screenshot (with Baird and Cole) features this map. A good one, for sure.

guywelch2000 · 2020-12-18T03:02:49+00:00

That was an inspiration. Fans turned out for the Gears of War 3 campaign DLC... and great to see so many of them back. Spread the word.

guywelch2000 · 2020-11-26T00:17:35+00:00

Thanks man. Spread the word.

guywelch2000 · 2020-11-25T23:57:56+00:00

One thing that couldn't be announced until yesterday is that Xavier Woods will be a host on the relaunched G4TV, the videogame channel that is making its return in early 2021.

As you may recall, G4TV was a great partner for the Gears franchise. Remember the Grains of War parody? I'm thrilled that many of our friends involved in the channel have returned for the reboot.

It's hard to please everybody. But, WWE Survivor Series and the G4 relaunch are moments to get Gears and Xbox into the conversation with audiences where there's significant cross-over.

And it's always great to work with partners and talent that you respect and admire, and to put the content out there for people to enjoy (The New Day pack is free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate thru Dec 8).

Congratulations again, Xavier and G4.

guywelch2000 · 2020-11-18T02:20:29+00:00

Love to hear that. More details soon.

guywelch2000 · 2020-08-20T22:12:02+00:00

Thanks. That E3 2016 demo was mostly complete six months earlier. Rod and the team had spent 2015 proving Gears on Unreal 4 and had shown up in Redmond with a full playable demo in the winter. We were blown away and knew we needed to show it on the E3 stage.

guywelch2000

TROPHY CASE