New Gears of War gametype detailed, dated, and pulled
by Christopher Grant 
{ Apr 5th 2007 at 9:54AM }
Now, we'll cover the drama: Apparently, Epic dropped the details (including an all too favorable April 9th release date) a little too early. The details previously listed on their website? Gone. That April 9th release date? According to 1UP, Microsoft says that's gone too. The good news is those details have been confirmed to be accurate and have now been mirrored all over these here wonderfully porous internets so check out any number of sites, like The 360 Forum, to get the full skinny.
[Thanks, everyone!]
Read -- Annex details at The 360 Forum
Read -- Gears of War update detailed and pulled (1UP)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shabran Alam @ Apr 5th 2007 10:02AM
First of all i wanna say FINALLY.. respawning is needed big time in this game... I mean i actually enjoy watching some people play when im dead in GEARS OF WAR but i also feel like it would be more franatic if respawning was available always putting all the others playing on their toes
sheppy @ Apr 5th 2007 10:08AM
A respawning game mode, huh? Maybe it's time to dust off Gears Of War...
Dolla Dolla @ Apr 5th 2007 10:13AM
How about a respawning "Every Man For Himself" mode, fastest to 100 kills wins? That would be sweet.
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 10:23AM
How about a Gears of War gametype where if I shoot somebody they actually die like in the single player game? Perhaps they fixed some of these issues already, but once you get killed dozens of times by the host with one shotgun blast, after you already nailed him with 5, it kind of sours the experience.
jan_halmes @ Apr 5th 2007 1:07PM
I don't own a 360, but it's stuff like this that leads me to believe I inevitably will buy one.
King @ Apr 5th 2007 10:48AM
5 shots? Someone needs some practice
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 10:53AM
Yes, practice fixes lag issues.
Elmindreda @ Apr 5th 2007 11:22AM
Actually AirIntake, practice can compensate for lag issues. From playing quake on a 28.8 modem back in the day, I can tell you that it's not too hard to figure out your latency and aim ahead to compensate. Just takes practice.
Keef @ Apr 5th 2007 11:15AM
better internet connections fixes that....
or joining proper servers... not crap ones...
fawazr @ Apr 5th 2007 11:19AM
I love when the super l33t players refuse to admit that Gears Of War is chock full of game ruining lag. Host advantage turned me off from playing online.
Ken @ Apr 5th 2007 11:19AM
I agree AirIntake, I can't play GoW online because of that. Pretty aggravating if you ask me.
Keef @ Apr 5th 2007 11:25AM
if we are super l33t player then wouldent lag actualy piss us off....
i have been in laggy games, but i just simply do the obvious...... leave....
90% of games i join are all perfectly fine with no lag.... just the odd anoying squeeky 5 year old american kid..
ZenGaijin @ Apr 5th 2007 11:25AM
I don't get why everyone complains about Gears so much....well the lag. There has been host advantage in every online game to date but people are all up and arms over Gears Host issuses.
I was all excited that all the glitching issues would be fixed by monday and I'd have a new gametype and an altered assassination to experience....but no more.
Damn you Microsoft certification process.
Jake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:26AM
I have a couple of buddies that hate Gears because of no respawn. They got the game late and sucked, so they would die right away and wait. They were annoyed and just gave up. This mode might be something they can actually enjoy.
All shooters need a respawn mode. If you are a n00b at a game it is very hard to enjoy it when you die right away and have to wait several minutes to start. Respawns are n00b practice grounds.
For the record, Gears is easily my favorite online shooter, despite its many serious issues.
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:27AM
I am quite aware that practice compensates for lag. I was doing this in 1995 playing MechWarrior 2 over Kali on a 33.6 modem. I had to aim 3 mechs ahead to compensate for 300ms of lag when using lasers. However, I don't want to compensate for lag, I want the lag issues fixed. Compensating for lag is not an acceptable solution for modern online gaming.
fawazr @ Apr 5th 2007 11:30AM
@14
Amen. Especially when modern online gaming comes with a pricetag of 50 dollars a year.
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:32AM
Yeah, especially considering I don't have lag issues playing games such as Halo 2, PGR3, CoD3, etc so I know it's possible.
Jake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:33AM
Gears is a game where skill can separate players more than other games. Lag is prevalent, but can be countered with skill. You just lead them a bit. Some people can't ever figure this out. Your target is often moving as well, so the lag is more noticeable than R6V, even though both feature equal amounts.
You can also dive around and bounce from cover to cover making yourself very hard to hit. A lot of players blame their losing on lag and cheating. The good players just shrug and keep playing.
Tom @ Apr 5th 2007 11:34AM
Waiting until April 17th I bet. Halo 2 new maps. Good thing is that GOW's online sucks.
Jake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:43AM
I do agree, though, that lag needs to be fixed. Connection speed matters most, but how you set up the game matters as well. There are two ways to transfer data.
1) Everything goes through the host. You shoot at something, your shot trajectory goes to the host, the host sees where it hits, data is transfered back. This method has less possibility of cheating and more shooting lag. You shoot, then the host tells you where you hit. That transfer takes time.
2) You send the host the results. You shoot at something that appears on your screen and the instant shot result is recorded and sent to the host. Your enemy may actually be in a slightly different place, but your shot only matters what you see, then your console lets them know if they are dead. This method has almost zero shooting lag. What you aim at you hit. However, there are problems where you may duck behind cover, then die. That is because on their screen, you hadn't ducked yet when they shot due to lag and they killed you.
Method 2 is the best overall but is more susceptible to cheating because your system tells their system if they are dead. Method 2 can also be annoying for cover-based firefights. You duck back, then your head explodes. This is why run and gun shooters often have less lag than cover shooters on the 360. Be careful what you wish for, though. If R6V used method 2, you would have a lot of situations where you die and don't know why.
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:47AM
Yes, I much prefer option 2. Cheaters should just be banned, not compensated for. After all, Xbox Live Gold is a paid service.
DEEZNUTZ @ Apr 5th 2007 11:47AM
@15.
It's not LIVE's fault. It's your connection and the connection/location of the host. When I play east coast player, I get a lag-free game. When playing with west coast, it lags horribly. That's the nature of online gaming.
AirIntake @ Apr 5th 2007 11:54AM
But I only seem to have lag troubles in Gears though......so it is not just a connection quality issue. The game must have something to do with it.
Seedy @ Apr 5th 2007 11:55AM
Give it up guys. You can't make a really old bad game interesting anymore.
Tom Whitaker @ Apr 5th 2007 12:24PM
Totally agree AirIntake, and no, they've not fixed them. I play this a lot, mainly with friends so it doesn't matter so much, but it does get frustrating. A shame they can't at least implement a way to rotate the host throughout a match.
ConstyXIV @ Apr 5th 2007 12:08PM
So, it's just a r(evival|ipoff) of Domination from classic (the best) Unreal Tournament? Not that I can really chew them out over it, since Epic did indeed make said original Unreal Tournament. And Domination itself was ripped off King of the Hill in Bungie's Marathon (who themself ripped off Domination with Halo2's Territory), which is most likely derived from someone else. I really think this says something about the lack of originality that is slowly creeping into games everywhere, like when every other game was a clone of Pacman or Space ivaders. The industry really needs a 1983-esqe "reboot".
mastafool @ Apr 5th 2007 12:34PM
I think people cry over "Gears of War host shotgun lag advantage" because they try to shoot the shotgun from the hip (without aiming) and it doesn't work all the time. When it does work, the loser cries host advantage.
Just turn up your look senstivity and aim the shotgun. I've gotten better results that way.
Aberu @ Apr 5th 2007 1:30PM
Why do companies keep displaying distrust in the public's ability to get excited about upcoming patch news? World of Warcraft does just fine and they preview all of their patches and updates a long time before, and hint at things all over with blue posts. What is wrong with these execs? Is this for stock investing's sake?
A0 @ Apr 5th 2007 3:11PM
I've only had lag in one game of gears and that was after my modem broke... I bought a new one now and no more lag...
exit stencil @ Apr 5th 2007 4:09PM
how about some join-as-group action?
LongshotX @ Apr 5th 2007 5:33PM
What the update won't be:
It won't fix any lag issues
No new weapons, sorry no Flame Thrower
It won't add Clan support
It won't allow to scroll through the server list right after you get kicked out.
But Annex will still be fun!
Marty @ Apr 6th 2007 5:27AM
I can't believe that they are actually adding respawning to this game... I am so utterly disappointed.
Fayezz @ Apr 9th 2007 11:11PM
Does getting kills in Annex count toward the achievement "seriously"? for example, If i had 9900 kills and i get the last 100 kills on Annex ranked, will I get the achievement?
Snog Canavi @ Apr 10th 2007 1:14AM
@ 33
Of course it should, it's a ranked game mode isn't ?
the one and only @ Apr 12th 2007 9:46AM
the new gears of war update has some how managed to send my BT HomeHub crazy and now i lag all the time even on good servers when i used to have the best connection around. has this happened to any1 else if so plz tell me how to fix it and if any1 else has any ideas how to fix the problem it would be helpful.
Coza666 @ May 3rd 2007 5:24AM
Gears Of War online Play is good but everytime i try to start a ranked match so i wont get any lag no one joins so i have to join some game whith some american kid you is host and i get serious bullet lag. I fire a gun and like 10 seconds later my bullets hit the wall it pisses me off grrrr so i have no idea how im going to get all the online achievements!
Rob @ May 3rd 2007 2:35PM
Why does no one play ranked anymore? i can't find a match with a good connection to save my life!
no one can debate host shotgun can get really annoying, but i have seen my head get blown off after i duck for cover (and yes, ive played the game enough to know you can get your head blown off in certain covers, i'm talking ones where i shoulda been invunerable). But either way, GOW is fantastic, theres never more than 1 host and half the time they're on your team, so just play hard.
Rob @ May 4th 2007 12:57AM
@33 sorry no it won't. Kills don't mean **** in annex.
Ross @ May 10th 2007 1:18PM
I just can't believe how over prioritised the shotgun is over the Lancer even with a small amount of lag. Gears has to be the only shooter I've seen where players are confident to run straight into a stream of machine gun fire only to turn you into a flesh balloon with a single shotgun blast.
looking forward to the sequel.
GEARS OF LAG II: The Fall of the Host Shotgun
Nero @ May 23rd 2007 7:41PM
@39
I agree. The shotgun feels like the strongest weapon in the game. I can't find people shooting at me with a different weapon besides the Shotgun or Pistol. Shotgun should be nerfed a bit. Or give the automatic more.. punch.