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Some Gears of War 3 unlocks canned

Epic can't read non-Epic Achievements.

Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 3 won't include items unlocked by Achievements for some Epic-made games - as promised.

In December last year design director Cliff Bleszinski said owners of Midway's Unreal Tournament III, Xbox Live Arcade game Shadow Complex, Microsoft Game Studios' Gears of War and EA Partners' Bulletstorm would receive special unlocks in Gears of War 3.

While Gears of War 1 and 2 Achievements will unlock items in Gears of War 3, other Epic games won't.

"Turns out that we can't read the Bulletstorm, Shadow Complex, and UT3 achievements for unlocks in Gears 3 after all," tweeted Gears of War 3 lead programmer Joe Graf.

"Sorry about that."

Later, Graf explained the decision. "For those of you that are sad about the unlocks, it turns out that you can't read the data outside of your publisher/dev family.

"All of the Gears games are in our publisher/dev family, so those we will reward with unlocks."

But why not Shadow Complex, the Epic Games published, Chair Entertainment developed Xbox Live Arcade game?

"Shadow Complex has the right publisher but its title ID is in not the same dev family," Graf said.

Ah well. At least those who take part in the upcoming GOW3 beta will still receive unlocks.