wallpaper_gears_of_war_08_16001Gears of War 2 är fortfarande ett av de populäraste spelen på Xbox Live efter två år på marknaden och ligger på en stadig tiondeplats med Modern Warfare 2 och Halo: ODST i topp. I den största uppdateringen på väldigt länge adresserar utvecklarna flera svåra buggar som fått även de mest garvade spelarna att se rött där bland annat alla achievements, kampanjer och XP kunde skrivas och spelaren tvingades börja om från noll. Lagom roligt för den som når 90+ av 100 i level och spenderat oräkneliga speltimmar framför konsolen – och får börja om från början.

Bland förbättringarna finns ett nytt spelläge kallat Social Xbox LIVE där spelaren kan hoppa in och ut ur matcher obehindrat och matchas för att hitta spel med andra spelare i samma level. Därtill har förbättringar gjorts till hur spelet väljer den som ska hosta matchen och hur bandbredden testas, vilket i sin tur förhoppningsvis leder till lägre pingtider och mindre lagg.

Här är alla förbättringar och buggfixar i senaste patchen till Gears of War 2.

Improvements
Title Update 6 makes these new improvements:

  • Adds a new public multiplayer match option called Social Xbox LIVE (aka player matches), open to anyone who owns all downloadable maps (that is, All Fronts Collection). We’ll be having a promotion that will dramatically reduce the cost of the All Fronts Collection.
  • You can join Social Matches in progress and can quit any time without penalty, although players who quit a match early don’t receive earned experience (XP) from that match.
  • Social matchmaking lets your party join a match in progress. If a match is not found, your party hosts a new match, filling any empty player slots with bots.
  • Social Matches automatically cycle to the next map without further matchmaking.
  • Teams are rebalanced between matches based on XP level without splitting parties.
  • If you quit, your spot is taken by a bot until a new player joins the match. That new player can join while the match is in progress.
  • If you join a match in progress, you are assigned a team based on XP level and party size.
  • If you join a match in progress, you replace a bot at the earliest opportunity: at the first bot’s death for respawning game types (for example, Annex) and at round completion for Warzone, Execution, and Wingman.
  • Social leaderboards become part of the War Journal.
  • Renames Public Matches to Ranked Xbox LIVE Matches to differentiate these from Social Xbox LIVE Matches, and adds some improvements to these matches.
  • Improved host selection using bandwidth testing and previous hosting data has been added.
  • Before the match begins, teams are balanced based on XP without splitting parties.
  • Renames Private Matches to Custom Xbox LIVE Matches and makes these matches invite-only.
  • Adds the ability to join Horde sessions that are in progress.
  • In Social Horde, you can join a session in progress through matchmaking and you are able to continue your session from the last wave you failed without starting over.
  • In Ranked Horde, you can join a session in progress only through invites.
  • If you join a session in progress, at the end of the session you receive the score you achieved during the time you spent in the session.
  • Improves the precision of weapon selection using the D-pad.
  • Improves client-side hit detection for ballistic weapons.

Exploit Fixes
Title Update 6 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

  • Execution rules could be ignored when using certain weapon types.
  • On the Subway map, you could get outside of the playable environment by sliding into cover and rolling between a train car and the side of tracks.
  • On the Blood Drive map, you could get outside of the playable environment in various locations.
  • Players could grief other players on Submission, Annex, King of the Hill, and Guardian games by preventing the objective from being completed while racking up experience. Title Update 6 adds match time limits to each of these game types to prevent this practice.

General Fixes
Title Update 6 fixes these other issues as well:

  • An issue that could cause your profile to be overwritten, erasing XP level, and achievement progress.
  • An issue that could cause a campaign save slot to be overwritten if you previously chose to continue without saving and then signed in.

Balancing
Title Update 6 makes these balancing changes:

  • Changes the Gnasher Shotgun pellet pattern to increase hit consistency.
  • Changes the Guardian game type to select the leader based upon XP level (highest to lowest).