The staff of GOW-Series, worried about the future of the saga and the lack of rumor for a new incoming chapter on Xbox One, has started gathering the opinions of the players and it was already clear that Microsoft couldn’t have abandoned such a successful brand like Gears of War, loved by milion of player. Now that finally Microsoft have taken the wise decision of buying the rights of the brand and work on a new game, we would like to give a look on the past to see what has been done and which opportunity Gears of War can offer now.

For this reason we decided to interview Joshua Ortega, a screenwriter and comic book writer who has brought a great contribution to the saga of Gears of War through the complete screenplay of Gears 2, the works on Gears 3 and several comics related to the brand:

• How did you approach to Gears of War and in which circumstances you have been engaged to realize the screenplay of Gears of War 2?

Epic games had enjoyed my previous work in comics (such as Star Wars, Death Dealer, Star Trek, and more), and asked me to take over the writing chores for Gears 2 since it was going to have a bigger storyline than the first one.

I thought the Gears universe was fascinating and had a great foundation and a ton of potential, so it was a pretty easy decision to say “yes!”.

• During the works, did you have to get several details on a pre-exising plot, or you have been free of creating by yourself the story and characters?

There was a solid foundation in place, but there was a lot of room to add major dramatic moments such as the Tai suicide and the Maria scene. Epic was great to work with, and really let me tell the story I wanted to tell.

• In Gears of War 2, as in the comics you have dramatized, black humor was distinctive feature that has been weakened with Gears of War 3 (more tragic and sentimental) Do you think it was an important feature?

I am a fan of dark humor, and I’m glad that’s something you guys enjoyed. A lot of subtle things are carried out in the script, so since I wrote the entire script for Gears 2, I was able to get a fair amount in there. For Gears 3, I just worked on the high-level story, so it definitely has a different feel than Gears 2 or the comics. They’re different, but I think both approaches were effective.

• How did you feel while you've been working on characters like Jace, Barrick and Alex? Would you have liked to see her in a campaign as it happened for Barrick and Jace in RAAM's Shadow?

It was great seeing Jace, Barrick, and Alex brought to life in the video game. To see your creations move from one medium to another is really cool, especially since they get voices and animation when it comes to the game. And yes, it would have been awesome to see Alex brought to life in the game as well…who knows, maybe at some point in the future!

• We all are thirsty of secret details about the screenplay of the games and comics. There was any different narrative plot that has been abandoned afterward?

You know, we pretty much told what we wanted to tell in each episode. There’s still a lot more to reveal about the origins of the Locust, but we wanted to keep things mysterious for now, though there are a lot of hints throughout the games, especially in Gears 2.

• Personally, which historical moments and characters would you like to see back in the next game? Have you ever thought about a return as a scriptwriter after the works on RAAM'S Shadow?

I think a game that focused on Emergence Day would be pretty incredible. It would allow you to revisit all of the classic characters once again, and you’d still have the Locust threat that was eliminated at the end of Gears 3. Prequels are a great way to flesh out and enrich an existing universe.

• Tell us something about yourself, maybe about the way you approached to writing and your personal interests.

I think characterization and dialogue are really important parts of any story, and that’s one of the most compelling things about the Gears universe: it has great, memorable characters to work with. That really helps a story and universe to connect with people.

As far as other interests, I’m still working on a number of other comic books, including The Other Dead, a story about a Zombie Animal outbreak that threatens humanity. Issue #5 is now out in stores, and the hardcover collection will be release in April…I think most fans of Gears will enjoy the gritty and gory action of the book, pick it up if you get the chance!

• After the collaboration with Epic Games did you have other contacts with them for the serie? Did you know something about the oncoming acquisition by Microsoft of the intellectual propriety of Gears of War?

I’ve remained good friends with Epic to this day, and I think it’s great to see Gears of War back in production!

• On the the new software house's website (Black Tusk) is indicated that they are looking for a lead writer. Between your ambitions for the future, there is also a return to the screenplay of Gears of War? We would be ready to support that return with an online petition, that would certainly get the favor of many fans.

Thanks so much for the kind words, they’re much appreciated! We’ll have to see how everything shapes up…everything is still being figured out, but I’d definitely be interested in working on Gears of War again!

• You post everyday a Gears Daily Dose. It's a funny initiative followed by many users. They have expressed their preferences about stories and characters several times. Did you ever imagine new situations and new characters that could give life to another game?

Yeah, once you’re involved in something like Gears, you definitely think about it quite a bit, especially while you’re in the thick of the writing. There are so many great angles you can take with the game, and definitely, a lot of cool characters that could be introduced!

• A question that fans often do, whose answer you probably know: Is ,Skorge the Locust that appear in the last scene of Gears of War? (without the final polygonal model used in Gears of War 2 of course)

I think the best theory on that one is that it was Myrrah’s bodyguard at the time of that game…if it was Skorge, then he was definitely in disguise! ;)