Gears of War to have free downloadable content

by Ross Miller { Dec 15th 2006 at 4:10PM }

Speaking backstage at the Spike TV VGA awards, Epic Games President Mike Capps decreed that they will be providing downloadable supplements to Gears of War, free of charge. "We always take care of our customers," he said. "We always give them stuff for free and we're going to keep doing that forever."

Capps' statement doesn't rule out the possibility that Epic will also release premium content, but this is a sign that the fans have more goodies -- likely maps, à la Halo 2 -- coming up. Rare, whose Viva Pinata seems intended for Gears' antithetical demographic, has gone on record stating hesitance at downloadable content, especially when ~~money~~ MS points are involved.

Now that we have new downloads to look forward to, how about Epic gets that patch out before Christmas so we can put it behind us?

Tags: downloadable content, DownloadableContent, epic, epic games, EpicGames, gears of war, GearsOfWar, xbox live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Footlong! @ Dec 15th 2006 4:16PM

You are error. This isn't fresh

Pip @ Dec 15th 2006 4:18PM

And the online distribution model finally evolves from customers hating gaming companies charging $12 for a few extra levels, or $1 for a gun, to customers loving developers who will gladly preorder the next game because they took care of their own.

Listen up EA, you want to make more money? Start giving out assloads of kickass free content.

Judd @ Dec 15th 2006 4:30PM

Then again Viva Pinata actually followed the Microsoft first party games for $50 policy. Speaking of which, how do we know which games are going to continue that policy? Mass Effect, Fable 2, Halo 3 are any of these games gonna be $50? Hey, 'stiq maybe you could ask Major Nelson about this?

HappyJack @ Dec 15th 2006 4:33PM

Down with microtransactions! Yay!

Mike @ Dec 15th 2006 4:59PM

I hear from epic employees that the patch has been done for awhile... just waiting for MS approval/rollout.

LordMinogue @ Dec 15th 2006 5:31PM

Things I hope the patch contains:

1: No sticking when you are being shot (A-La-Chainsaw)
2: Your grenade will still kill you when you are down
3: Smooth the animations for the Hammer of Dawn
4: Slightly more damage per shot for the Hammer Burst
5: A third round for the Boomshot
6: Immediatly enter lobies in "Quickmatch," saves time
7: Track all power weapon kills under "Leaderboards"

Hopes for Gears of War 2:

1: Consolidate 'Y' with 'LB' and make 'Y' break cover
2: Make it possible to active reload at any time

Spartacus @ Dec 15th 2006 5:40PM

LordMinogue:

What do you mean "make it possible to active reload at any time"? You can already do that. Granted on a 3/4 clip that was active reloaded it doesn't make sense to do it again as the power enhancement doesn't carry over (only the 1/4 that was empty will get the extra power boost).

LordMinogue @ Dec 15th 2006 5:53PM

@Spartacus

My qualm with the Active Reload system ties in to the Boomshot mostly; The Boomer requires a direct hit to kill instantly, unless you have actively reloaded. The boomer has two rounds, so the best case is that you get one extra damage round.

Having the opportunity to attempt an Active Reload without expending ammunition would help to balance low-ammo guns. Of course, adding an extra round or two would have a similar effect.

FSK405K @ Dec 15th 2006 6:03PM

Microtransactions were nominated by Gamespot as one of the Worst Trends in Gaming for their Best and Worst of 2006. Go vote for it.

LumberjackOff @ Dec 15th 2006 6:21PM

Hopefully they will patch the grenade tags..You shouldnt be able to tag someone unless you are actually touching them.

A 3rd round on the Boom shot would be cool but it might make it a little too powerfull a weapon.

matthew @ Dec 15th 2006 7:38PM

The boomshot does not need to be more powerful.

aegies @ Dec 15th 2006 9:13PM

Mass Effect is Bioware, who isn't owned by Microsoft, nor are they second party, which would mean 60; Fable 2 is Lionhead, who are now owned by Microsoft and were second party essentially anyway, should be 50, but we'll see. Same thing with Halo 3, although I would imagine they'll release it at 50, knowing full well they'll sell a large number of the collector's editions. PGR3 and Kameo, as well as PDZ, were all 50 save for the collector's editions, so the precedent for Forza 2, Fable 2, and Halo 3 to be priced first party is there. And all of those games will likely have 60+ dollar special editions.