Update: Microsoft’s Robbie Bach said at CES Gears of War sold 2.7 million copies in the 8 weeks since its release!
New downloadable content for the Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War is on the way and what better way to celebrate the New Year than to meet friends new and old online and greet them with the sounds of a chainsaw? Sponsored by the Discovery Channel, the complimentary new content will be available for download via Xbox Live Marketplace early Wednesday morning, January 10th.
By now most of the current maps have been memorized, analyzed and brutalized, but this map pack will feature two new maps including one where players fight around a downed King Raven helicopter.
1. Raven Down: A Raven Helicopter (shown above) has gone down in the middle of a large scale battle with the omnipresent Locust Horde. Gears have taken out the Seeder and gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors.
2. Old Bones: In an attempt to eradicate any traces of human history and culture, the Locust Horde has emerged under Sera’s Capitaline Museums and has begun to destroy them brick by brick. Each gamer’s mission is to help the Delta Force recapture the museums before all remnants of humankind’s existence are obliterated.
Also, an introductory video hosted by CliffyB will be available for download via Xbox Live Marketplace to coincide with the release of the map packs.
Additionally, the Discovery Channel will be giving away an unprecedented two million Microsoft Points for use on Xbox Live Marketplace. Gamers can visit Readyaimfire.com starting January 13th to learn more about how they can qualify to win.
Earlier this week, sometime today actually, a Gears of War update will come to Xbox Live. This patch includes a number of fixes and tweaks. Epic’s boss Mark Rein lists them all:
* Fixed aspect ratio distortion when using VGA cable with 4:3 displays at resolutions higher than 640×480.
* Fixed voice issue with new players joining Player Match games in progress.
* Players can now get the Achievement for “Dish Best Served Cold” when using Troika turret to kill RAAM.
* Fixed rare situation where host could loop countdown and never start match.
* Fixed rare situation where players could get stuck after chain sawing in multiplayer.
* Reduced Grenade Tag melee distance.
* Enabled “Strict” NAT check on host to prevent possible connection issues.
* Optimized server browser queries to return results more quickly and prevent scroll bars from hiding quality of service icons.
* Reduced number of possible revives in Execution to match Warzone.
* Removed host name from Ranked match server browser.
* Disabled security cameras in Ranked matches.
* Ranked matches now require balanced teams (3v3 or 4v4).
* Increased penalty for quitting a Ranked match to -50 points.
* Added additional cheat detection code.
* Additional housekeeping updates.