Gears of War Update Coming Soon

Epic VP Mark Rein has made a brief statement about update plans and content downloads for Gears of War. After a bogus, user-made viral campaign suggesting new downloads would be available on Christmas Eve, Rein has confirmed that a small update is coming in "the next few weeks."

"Our main focus on Gears was building the single player game," Rein told MCV. "But while Gears might not be the most feature-rich multiplayer game around, people are still playing it online in absolutely huge and unexpected numbers."

"We're already preparing an update, which is somewhat of a housekeeping task to adjust a few things rather than any significant new functionality, and we're also working on finalizing some downloadable content as well. These should be in peoples' hands in the next few weeks - but they're just the first of several things we have planned to keep the Gears fire burning."

Gears of War online gamers have been clamoring for a fix for a voice chat bug that prevents existing players from hearing new players entering an ongoing match. Other concerns include a more robust host interface and the ability to play ranked games with friends.

Topping the Xbox Live online play charts and selling over 2 million copies worldwide, Microsoft claims 1 million unique gamers have played Gears of War online.