When the Final Fantasy XIII-2 domain registration story was going around last week I dismissed it because, really, why would Square Enix announce a new spin-off when it has seventeen other Final Fantasy XIII spin-offs still coming down the pipe? I was wrong on that one, and I don’t want to make a similar mistake so soon, so that’s why I want to talk to you about Gears of War: Exile. It’s a newly discovered trademarked phrase with the US Patent and Trademark office, presumably filed by Epic or Microsoft, that may or may not be used for an upcoming Gears of War game (via Siliconera).
Oddly, there’s a total of three trademarks for Exile out there: one for shirts, one for video game software, and one other for video game instruction manuals and hint books. And, as you'll see, some neat logo artwork has been included with the trademark.
Unfortunately, that’s where this story ends for now. When Joystiq reached out to Epic for comment, it gave them the standard “we’ve nothing to share at this time.”
So, could this be the game that Epic ended up not showing at the VGAs? Is this the rumored Kinect offering? Is this a prequel to the trilogy that ends with Gears of War 3? It’s doubtful that we’ll know for sure until someone makes an official announcement, but this definitely looks like it could become a real thing, especially in a world where Final Fantasy XIII-2 is possible.