Gears of War

We told you a couple of weeks back about Title Update 3 for Gears of War 2, and we can now tell you that it’s set to drop on March 24. Check out the detailed release notes here.

There’s also a Snowblind Map Pack set for release on March 31 that includes three new maps (Grindyard, Under Hill and Courtyard) and an updated version of a fan favorite from the original Gears, Fuel Depot. No price has been announced, but we’re guessing it’s going to be 800 Microsoft points.

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In my post How Epic broke Gears of War 2 multiplayer, I was quite vocal about the disappointing state of the multiplayer game compared to the polished and undeniably awesome campaign - and many of you agreed.

Thankfully, help is on the way with Title Update 3 (that’s Patch 3 for those of you who don’t speak Microsoft) which is in final testing and should be certified and released within four weeks.

Some interesting fixes and additions are as follows:

- Country preference added

- Players who quit will be replaced by bots

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TriForce has announced the acquisition of a license to produce full-scale replicas of the weaponry and armor found in Gears of War. First to be released are the COG armor, COG helmet and the awesome, chainsaw-equipped Lancer Assault Rifle - which will be available for pre-order on July 8, 2008. Obligatory Suicide Girls photo shoot sure to arrive shortly after.

Those trying to play Gears of War on the PC might be running into a bit of trouble. A bug in the update system is preventing a recently released patch from installing completely. If you want you can use this method to get it all working, but to be honest it seems like a lot more work than is necessary when you can just download the patch from here and install it the old-fashioned way.

via 1Up

As we near the PC release of Gears of War, it’s a shock to hear that the multiplayer mode was very nearly scrapped from the initial Xbox 360 version. President of Epic Games, Mike Capps revealed the fact at this year’s Leipzig Games Convention:

“I was going to cut multiplayer from Gears because I thought it wasn’t coming together fast enough, right, […] The day before E3 I’m like ‘no guys, it’s not pulling together.’ And they made it, they pulled it together, and then we won every award.”

It boggles the mind to think that the ridiculously popular Xbox Live modes nearly missed the cut, and proves an important point - your boss isn’t always right.

The PC version of Gears of War will hit stores on November 6.

via Gaming Today

One of the finest FPS’s to ever grace your Xbox is on track for its November 6 release on PC. And in case fans of the 360 version were sitting happy with their console version of GOW, Microsoft are tempting you with some PC-exclusive content, including “all-new Achievements to unlock, and ultra-high resolution visuals”.

via Arstechnica

Jerry O’Flaherty, art director of Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 3 and Command & Conquer has landed his first gig as director of a feature film, with Warner Bros. upcoming CG-animated Thundercats movie.

O’Flaherty is currently working on the script with Paul Sopocy, and plans to remain faithful to the franchise that children of the 80’s will remember so well. Speaking of the jump from games to movies, O’Flaherty told Variety:

It feels like a natural thing for me to step into, […] Games have come so far now. The last four years of my life have been about bringing the energy of filmmaking into the videogame experience.

via Gaming Today

Gears of War, the phenomenally popular Xbox 360 shooter has been slated for a PC release on November 6. It’s not just a straight port either - featuring an additional five single-player chapters, three multiplayer maps, a game editor and a showdown with the Brumak.

via Joystiq

There’s one major downside to paid map packs - and that’s segregating the user base. It’s always a shame to have to stay away from hosting the Hidden Fronts maps once I’ve found seven other Aussies online, just because one or two of the players haven’t gotten around to downloading the maps yet (or hassling the right parent for their Credit Card number.)

Microsoft has decided they’re made enough cash from the near 500,000 downloads of the Hidden Fronts map pack for Gears of War, and will be making the pack available for free as of September 3 - although something tells me that even this move won’t keep most of the massive user base from migrating their online gaming activities to Halo 3 once it hits later in September.

Major Nelson has posted the latest Xbox Live statistics, and yes…people are still fully locked in to Gears of War. Unsurprisingly, Bomberman Live debuted at the top of the Live Arcade charts for the week - check out our review if you haven’t already, or read on for the figures.

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