Xbox Addict

Gears of War 2 Incorporates Social Matches

With the release of Title Update 6 for Gears of War 2 today, Epic Games has added, among other things, a new way to jump into online games. Social Matches (also called player matches) allow you to join and quit at any time without a penalty, although quitting early will rob you of any experience you’ve earned in that game. Social Matches also allow your party to join a match in progress or to make a match if one isn’t available. In this mode, matches will continue to the next map without having to once again go through the matchmaking process. Teams will be rebalanced after each game, though parties won’t be split up in this process. It’s a nice batch of changes for people who are looking for a more casual playing experience.
The title update also makes other changes, such as renaming Public Matches "Ranked Matches" and Private Matches will become "Custom Matches." Horde sessions are now joinable even when they are in progress, and a variety of exploits have been fixed along with some balancing issues and other general fixes, including problems that could cause your profile or campaign save game to be overwritten.

The one unfortunate caveat about Social Matches is that you’ll need to own all four map packs that have been released to date. They can be purchased individually or you can simply pick up the All Fronts Collection, which includes the four map packs and other content all for the newly discounted price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The individual map packs have also had their prices dropped as well if you only need certain maps to complete your collection.

Gears of War’s sixth title update goes live today.