During a special Twitch stream last night, Black Tusk producer Rod Fergusson, who is leading development on the new Gears of War game for Xbox One, discussed the project and even showed off a piece of concept art, though it's quite blurry. Check it out below.

"It's only been 100 days, so I can't go into a lot of depth about a lot of things," Fergusson said about the new Gears of War. "This isn't going to be the place where I can announce the name of the next game and all these sorts of things. Obviously, it's going to take some time to get to a point where we can do so."

"We are in what we would call the concept/prototype phase so we're really super early," he added.

Discussing the challenges of starting a new studio and working on such a major franchise, Fergusson said: "The hardest part is getting people up to speed on the way you make Gears. Everybody here is a Gears of War fan; everybody's played the games and loved the games. But there's a sort of style; the way you have to think about when you make a Gears of War game."

Fergusson pointed out that the Gears of War franchise has a lot of rules, design methodologies, and central pillars that go into making a great experience. Making sure everyone at Black Tusk is on the same page and trending toward the same goal is another challenge, Fergusson said.

An advantage Fergusson says Black Tusk has in making the new Gears of War game for Xbox One is that Microsoft now owns the IP. The backing and support of Microsoft means Black Tusk can "push a lot harder" in many "major areas," he said. "I think the franchise can do a lot more now that Microsoft owns the IP. We can expand its breadth and do a lot more stuff with it."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gears-of-war-can-do-a-lot-more-now-that-microsoft-owns-it/1100-6419678/