New Gears of War update, content on the way

by Kevin Kelly { Jan 8th 2007 at 1:41AM }

Joystiq has confirmed a scoop from XboxZone.com.au with Mark Rein at Epic that there will be some new things rolled out for Gears of War this week. Namely, two free new maps and a video which can be downloaded via the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday -- which is also being sponsored by the Discovery Channel. Rein also told us that there will be a GoW update rolled out ahead of the new content. Hopefully it'll address some of the glitches that players have been complaining about.

Details about the new maps:

Raven Down: "A Raven Helicopter 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."
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."

Not bad for some free content, especially considering the fact that we've just about run our GoW maps into the ground. It'll be nice to see some fresh locations, and hopefully one day they can drop in some new game types as well.

Tags: Gears of War, GearsOfWar, map, marketplace, new maps, online, XBL, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Imadogg @ Jan 8th 2007 1:52AM

Thanks for the good news joystiq! 2 new maps sound good, but the update beforehand sounds much better... only one thing worries me though...

"Namely, two free new maps and a video which can be downloaded via the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday." I'm always looking forward to the next XBLA release. This could be an excuse for M$ not to release a game for the 2nd week in a row, nooooooooo!!!!!

Colin Robertson @ Jan 8th 2007 12:33PM

I just hope the update lets you create more than 1 freeking save file per user. What if I'm in the middle of playing it through on hardcore, but want to start a new game just to show my friend the beginning of the game? I swear! Terrible oversight.

EzLnH8u @ Jan 8th 2007 2:21AM

It be nice to have some new weapons also. crossing fingers.

HeistTheWorld @ Jan 8th 2007 4:14PM

New weapons? Doesn't need any. What could they add that wouldn't be cheap and lame?

What needs to happen is some new gameplay types, and NO not CTF...that would suck so hard in Gears.

DrunknMonkeyAU @ Jan 8th 2007 2:55AM

It was Mygen.com.au that broke the news, not xboxzone. They had there artical up a full hour before. Credit where credit is due :)

MDK2002 @ Jan 8th 2007 1:04PM

Mark Rein also posted that the long awaited patch will be live before the new maps on Wednesday

HeavenlySwordFTW @ Jan 8th 2007 6:31AM

Yeah DrunknMonkeyAU is right, I saw a post on TeamXbox, and an australian site called mygen was the original source.

Thanks, ren

p3arl @ Jan 8th 2007 5:03AM

am i the only one who hates GoW multiplayer?

its the same stuff over and over, nothing that came from the campaign has transfered over. i honestly got bored really quickly, thank god i kept halo2

Paul Mendoza @ Jan 8th 2007 3:36PM

Look at the video of the Microsoft keynote at CES and there is actually some video of a guy on the new map at about the 59 minute mark. It's right after he shows IPTV.

Mr BoomStick XL @ Jan 8th 2007 8:45PM

Well I agree with #1's post, YES, not one but TWO MAPS and for FREE!!! Not only is this the BEST game of 06' it's strarting off as the BEST content of 07'. With that said though, I do look foward to NEW games Wed morning on XBLA and would not be suprised if MS pulled a "When the NEW games are ready, then we'll release them" crap!! Remember the last time?? We got a UNO card update!!!

Shadow @ Jan 8th 2007 8:16AM

Great news! Two free new maps, I can't wait.

Fester @ Jan 8th 2007 11:52AM

great news, once I get time to go back to gears multi (addicted to Viva Pinata at the moment) then those 2 maps are going to be very interesting. Hope neither of them are too much like gridlock though ;)

JazRad @ Jan 9th 2007 3:09AM

I am from XboxZone and i'm sorry but XboxZone was the first to annouce after IGN. MyGen posted their article around 1hr after XboxZone if you look at the time the two were posted.

Overall IGN was first. And the way i see it joystiq can source whoever they want ? No one copied no one here we were all sent the same press release from microsoft it was just a matter of who was home to put it up first

Regards,
JazRad
XboxZone.com.au

hellacool1223 @ Jan 8th 2007 8:52AM

So are these only multiplayer maps because their descriptions makes them sound like some type of campaign maps. I mean searching for survivors and saving a museum sound like mission based gameplay as opposed to the kill everything in sight mentality of the multiplayer game.

baby sea tuna @ Jan 8th 2007 9:08AM

#7, I read it the same way. Any confirmation that these are PVP and not mission based?

Jonah Falcon @ Jan 8th 2007 6:03PM

You forgot to mention:

They're FREE!

JS Beckerist @ Jan 8th 2007 11:46AM

#4:
I agree. All it is is "shotguns-r-us" where people don't even use the left trigger anymore as it's "too slow!" I HATE IT! New gametypes COULD make it better, but I doubt it. Way too repetitive, and way too slow (no respawn SUCKS). I play Halo 2 for hours a day, GoW maybe minutes a week...(before I get pissed and go back to Halo 2).

Hushed Casket @ Jan 8th 2007 2:31PM

@ #7: Bungie releases a back story of each map they release. It adds to the game's story arc. Epic is doing the same thing with Gears of War. These are multiplayer maps.

Firegirl @ Jan 8th 2007 3:54PM

Yay, new maps will help. I'm still not a huge fan of the multiplayer, seems too repititious to me. But adding maps to their small array will help.

multi-game @ Jan 8th 2007 11:42AM

Was about time they released an update or I would have considered loading another game in my Xbox :)

SonicRift @ Jan 8th 2007 4:21PM

Every Unreal Tournament map had a story too

JBDragon @ Jan 8th 2007 10:58PM

Great. This I would like to see more of. Support your Games, giving out FREE content keeps people wanting to buy your game and other games of yours in the Future. This is why EA is going DOWN. They keep nickle and dimeing people for stupid things that should be FREE, people Remember and don't buy EA games later on.