After a decidedly long wait (no pun intended), Epic Games has announced this morning that they have successfully patched Gears of War 2. After heaving requests from the fans of the game, the patch supposedly fixes the multiplayer wait times in between public matchmaking among other small details.

• Adjustments to make Public matchmaking faster, especially in the single player party and the four player party case. Some of these adjustments should be felt immediately and some will play out over several days as our update enables us to reduce player segmentation by reducing the number of servers required to do matchmaking. This will increase the number of possible matches available for you to join.
• A tweak that should prevent us from losing some of our additional detailed stats data that we gather for gearsofwar.com. Due to the large number of concurrent matches, our stats gathering servers were not able to collect data for every single match played. The Xbox LIVE leaderboards are 100% accurate but our existing stats web pages may have some missing data prior to the update.
• A fix to address the issue where some players were unable to start the story-based campaign if Xbox LIVE was down or unavailable.

So, the patch actually went live around (3:40AM Pacific) time. The next time you pop in your Gears 2 you should be receiving this update.

Source: X360Fanboy and Epic Games Forums

Hitting your local retail store for Black Friday? Try checking out Sonic Unleashed. According to Sega the game has officially shipped to all gaming retailers nationwide. The title is now available for the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS, plus the Playstation 2. The Playstation 3 version will be made available sometime in December of this year.

Developed by Sonic Team in Japan, Sonic Unleashed is filled with classic 2D/3D gameplay and incredibly fast daytime action. The game features new moves that make Sonic even faster including the Sonic Drift (to corner quickly without losing speed), Ring Energy (faster speeds brings more ring energy), QuickStep (to move side to side without losing momentum), and Sonic Boost (uses Ring Energy to give Sonic a speed boost)- each allowing Sonic to reach unparalleled high speeds. Sonic Unleashed also introduces the Werehog – Sonic’s dark alter ego who comes out when the moon shines bright. Within the nighttime levels, players can take advantage of the Werehog’s strong and flexible arms to fight tough enemies as well as to climb and swing reaching all new heights in each level.

Starting this friday, Microsoft will launch a Black Friday sale on the Marketplace. Here gamers like you will be abl eot take advantage of cheap software and DLC. The software being Arcade games and DLC for various titles as well. Major Nelson gave us the details. Remember, this starts this friday and is wil be available for Gold members only.

Source: Major Nelson

The Last Remnant according to MetaCritic scores seems to be getting a mixed reaction around the interwebs. You either love it or hate it. Despite this, it's an RPG that the 360 desperately needs in its library and is lacking of at least until Finaly Fantasy 13 releases. Square-Enix has just announced it will be bringing the obglatory downloadable content to the game, with several packs to increase replayability.

Challenge Pack 1: “Purgatory’s Sins”
Price: Free
Release date: Gold Member: 1st December, 2008
Silver Member: 8th December, 2008
Level up your game with this pack of ultra-challenging guild tasks. Adequate game progression is necessary.

“The Key of Ancient Ruins”
Price: Free
Release date: Gold Member: 1st December, 2008
Silver Member: 8th December, 2008
Unlock the gates to the Ancient Ruins with this key, and discover what mysteries lie within its crumbling depths.

“March to War Set”
Price: 100 MSP
Release date: Gold Member: 15th December, 2008
Silver Member: 15th December, 2008
Three special unlockable formations (Scatterswarm, Goblet and Catapult) that will boost your tactical strength during battle.

Challenge Pack 2: “The Price of Lies”
Price: Free
Release date: Gold Member: 22nd December, 2008
Silver Member: 29th December, 2008
Add this pack of the most difficult guild tasks yet. Adequate game progression is necessary.

Not bad pricing sturcture, if you want to check out more about The Last Remnant go to www.lastremnant-game.com or read more below...

For Fable 2 fans, you can expect new downloadable content to be hitting your consoles soon enough. Both Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios have come together to announce the Knothole Island content pack.

Following its release on Xbox 360 on Oct. 21, more than 1.5 million units of “Fable II” flew off store shelves worldwide in the first two weeks, making it the most popular game, across all platforms, in the U.S. in October. With the release of the first “Fable II” downloadable content, available exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points, gamers will be invited to set sail for Knothole Island, where new quests, wondrous items and bizarre characters await.

Also on Dec. 12, fans everywhere will be able to enhance their “Fable II” experience with the release of a free “Fable II” downloadable pack exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. To engage in co-op gameplay with a player who has already downloaded the Knothole Island content, gamers will need to download the free pack. Both co-op players must download the Knothole Island (Premium) pack in order to play new quests and enjoy the complete Knothole Island co-op experience.

Among those who download the premium pack you will be receving gifts of your own with new items...

Free and premium downloaders will receive a show of gifts, including Knight’s Boots, Assassins Gloves, a special Weight Loss Potion, collectible silver book and more. Players will also be able to check their standing in over 50 new Leaderboards on Lionhead.com.

As an additional treat for “Fable II” fans, Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios have created an all-new Albion dashboard theme in celebration of the launch of the New Xbox Experience. Fans who want to show off their “Fable II” pride can head over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace to download the Albion theme, available now for 250 Microsoft points.

Source: Gamerscoreblog

Rockstar Games has announced that the first episode of downloadable content, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, will be coming to the Xbox 360  via Xbox LIVE. Available exclusively on Xbox LIVE worldwide on February 17, 2009, The Lost and Damned will feature new content and is the first of two episodes announced for Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360. 

“Making these episodes has enabled us to expand the narrative and the experience of interacting with a game world in really innovative ways,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We hope fans of the game enjoy the new way of experiencing life in Liberty City contained in this first episode."

The Lost and Damned promises a new main character and plot that intersects with the current storyline. Rockstar has also promised new missions, multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles, and music.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned requires players to have the full version of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE membership to download. Further details, including pricing, will be announced soon. For more information, please visit www.rockstargames.com/IV.

Phantasy Star fans can look forward too a new expansion that will be made available over Xbox Live. Also note that you must have the Phantasy Star disc and the active GUARDIANS license.

Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus is the expansion pack for the popular Phantasy Star Universe game, bringing a more personalized and interactive universe to the acclaimed series. In addition to new enemies, weapons, classes, and missions, there will be more options available for gamers to further individualize and customize their own unique avatars. Ambition of the Illuminus continues the exciting PSU story online as the player’s personal avatar is now the central character, investigating and working to restore peace in the chaotic Gurhal System. Players investigate through a series of online single-player missions, meeting familiar characters like Ethan Waber from Episode 1, along with other new faces, including no-nonsense GUARDIAN instructor, Laia Martinez. In addition, the online multiplayer world, with its fast-paced, engaging battle experience for up to six players, has been greatly expanded with over 25 new missions, 5 new bosses, and more than 100 added weapons and items.

The expansion is available for 800 MS points.

Europe will be getting a special bundle coming November 21st with the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld, the new sequel in Lara Croft's adventure.

Lara Croft is back in action in Tomb Raider: Underworld, and from Friday 21st November, Microsoft will offer everyone’s favourite leading lady’s latest adventure in a great value bundle pack.
Designed specifically to take advantage of the latest technologies, Tomb Raider: Underworld represents a new advancement in exploration-based gameplay. As fearless adventurer Lara Croft explore exotic locations around the world, each designed with an incredible attention to detail resulting in breathtaking high-definition visual fidelity that creates a truly believable world and delivers a new level of challenge and choice. Available in France and Germany, the game will be on sale bundled with the 60GB hard-drive Xbox 360 Pro console at an estimated retail price of €269.99.

Source: Gamerscoreblog

It's being reported that last night, Major Nelson and the Xbox LIve team launched the New Xbox Experience early to people who signed up accoridngly with the preview program. Apparently MS is comparing this to the birth of color television. Pretty bold there MS.

-- In 1954, the introduction of color TV heralded the dawn of a new era in entertainment. On Nov. 19, more than 50 years after that dramatic shift, a new era in home entertainment begins with the New Xbox Experience, as millions of Xbox 360 consoles will transform in an instant through the power of software. A bold new future begins now, where high-definition (HD) entertainment is delivered in an instant, the best games share the stage with the best movies and TV shows, and every experience is shared with friends and family in the same room or around the world.

The New Xbox Experience launched tomorrow morning in an Xbox Live update. Team Xbox uploaded the Intro video to your new Experience.

Team Xbox

Major Nelson has made another official update regarding the maintanence work on Xbox LIve. According to him, Xbox Live was down for 45 minutes this morning with the Xbox.com (My Xbox section) and forums were down as well.

I personally haven't encountered much of a problem with LIve issues, though I did notice myself being automatically signed out of Live a couple of times last night. Apparently the server maintanence will be in preperation for the New Xbox Experience which will launch this Wednesday, November 19th.

Major Nelson Update