Gears of War is responsible for 360’s 512MB RAM

…and ONE BILLION DOLLARS of Microsoft Games Studios’ budget (mandatory Dr. Evil pinkie salute).

For the 512MB of RAM present on every Xbox 360 today, we have Epic Games, Mark Rein, and Tim Sweeny to thank. If you’ve heard that story lingering around before, that Epic costed Microsoft US$ 1 billion for the 512MB RAM chips and Gears of War, yep that’s true.

Mark confirms and tells the story to Major Nelson during the Canadian Community Party. The short version is this: if Epic wanted Gears to look that drool-inducing HD, then they had no choice but to ask for 512MB RAM. Thing is, Microsoft orginally projected that the 360 would carry only 256MB – and wanted that spec to stick.

But Epic had the last word. Mark’s partner, Tim Sweeny, sent the boys upstairs at Microsoft Games Studios a screenshot of how Gears of War would look like with 256MB of RAM. It would have been nice to see the screenshot that squeezed a further billion dollars from Microsoft’s budget just to swap out 256MB for 512MB.

It would have been nice to see the faces of the guys at Accounting when they finally got the bill. Two years ago, Mark thinks it was during the Game Developers Conference, he got this call from Microsoft Games Studios’ Chief Financial Officer who told him, “I just wanted you to know that you cost me a billion dollars.”

To which Mark replied, “We did a favor for a billion gamers.” From the bottom of our eye-popping hearts, we thank you, Mark.

Pre-order: [Gears of War]

…and ONE BILLION DOLLARS of Microsoft Games Studios’ budget (mandatory Dr. Evil pinkie salute).

For the 512MB of RAM present on every Xbox 360 today, we have Epic Games, Mark Rein, and Tim Sweeny to thank. If you’ve heard that story lingering around before, that Epic costed Microsoft US$ 1 billion for the 512MB RAM chips and Gears of War, yep that’s true.

Mark confirms and tells the story to Major Nelson during the Canadian Community Party. The short version is this: if Epic wanted Gears to look that drool-inducing HD, then they had no choice but to ask for 512MB RAM. Thing is, Microsoft orginally projected that the 360 would carry only 256MB – and wanted that spec to stick.

But Epic had the last word. Mark’s partner, Tim Sweeny, sent the boys upstairs at Microsoft Games Studios a screenshot of how Gears of War would look like with 256MB of RAM. It would have been nice to see the screenshot that squeezed a further billion dollars from Microsoft’s budget just to swap out 256MB for 512MB.

It would have been nice to see the faces of the guys at Accounting when they finally got the bill. Two years ago, Mark thinks it was during the Game Developers Conference, he got this call from Microsoft Games Studios’ Chief Financial Officer who told him, “I just wanted you to know that you cost me a billion dollars.”

To which Mark replied, “We did a favor for a billion gamers.” From the bottom of our eye-popping hearts, we thank you, Mark.

Pre-order: [Gears of War]