Gears of War Prequel

Recently I read an article that mentioned [at NYCC 2009] "a discussion of a Gears of War Prequel". I have one thing to say in response... Gears of War for the PS3!!! Consider this: if EPIC were to release Gears of War on the PS3 wouldn't a prequel make sense as an entry point to the series? Yes. Of course they could release Gears of War 3 and no one would complain... But doesn't it make more sense to release a game that would give players a solid foundation to start from? Yes, it would.

Here are the options (as I see them) that EPIC has for turning Gears of War into a cross-platform series:

1. Release a prequel to Gears of War 1 (e.g. Gears of War: Aspho Fields) for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.
   
2. Release Gears of War 3 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
3. Release Gears of War 3 for the Xbox 360, and a Gears of War Trilogy game for the PS3. The GOW Trilogy would presumably combine Gears 1 (the PC version), Gears 2, and Gears 3.

Of these three choices, option #1 makes the most sense as it would be the exact same content for both systems, and would provide the same originating story for both platforms. Option #2, would also be the same content for both systems, but would leave PS3 gamers in a situation where they were missing a lot more of the backstory, as compared to their Xbox 360 brothers.  If EPIC were to go with option #3, much more work would be involved in porting the previously unreleased game content to the PS3. And of course, the speculation is that Microsoft owns the IP (content) for the previous two games (but not the IP for the Gears of War Universe itself).

There is however another benefit to releasing a Gears of War prequel. There are many open and unanswered questions about the Gears of War Universe, and what caused the Locust to appear from the depths and almost wipe out humanity on Emergence Day. Such a game is a perfect start to what would become the perfect entry point for Gears of War to re-emerge as a cross-platform series.