As Sehran over on the gamepur.com website recently reported, the most noticeable changes of all are that the game will now allow matchmaking for gamers that purchase the downloadable Anarchy maps, as well as players being able to exit the game from the title screen using the ESCAPE key.

The new update is said to contain a fix for the problem in which the experience gains bar would sometimes overlap its UI space following matches during XP Multiplier Events and a fix for the issue in which the game would crash while reloading checkpoint following a player’s death.

Players should no longer experience the issue where the MOTD would sometimes scroll too fast after game launch either. Players’ Quick Match lobbies should now recover correctly to display ‘Searching,’ when other players leave the lobby during a map vote tally.

You can read more on the new PC patch notes via the gamepur.com website. Have you been experiencing any issues with the PC version of Bulletstorm?

According to Vg247, the Gears of War 3 beta will officially kick off on April 25, but for those of you who bought the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm, you get access to the beta a whole week earlier on April 18.

Microsoft also confirmed that Limited and Epic Editions of Gears of War 3 are to be released and are available to pre-order. Although the beta is open to anyone, you must first meet a set of requirements to actually gain access.

As stated, you must have either purchased the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm or you can still opt in by pre-ordering the game at GAME and GameStation, Microsoft say.

A standard copy of Gears of War 3 will set you back £49.99, Limited Edition will cost £59.99, and Epic Editions will cost £99.99.

The beta for Gears of War 3 ends on May 15, but anything you gain from playing in the beta can easily be carried over to the retail version once purchased. This includes unlockables such as the beta tester medal, thrashball Cole multiplayer skin, gold-plated retro Lancer, flaming Hammerburst, flaming Lancer, flaming sawed-off Shotgun and flaming gnasher shotgun.

Finally, Gears of War 3 will see a worldwide release on September 20. Are you looking forward to playing the beta?

While this is just our first impression of Killzone 3, our expectations of the whole game have been raised thanks to an amazing start, and we hope the rumors of a weak story turn out to be false.

If you like to start directly in the action, then you will love Killzone 3. After a couple of minutes shooting a few targets at the firing range, and listening to some repetitive voice-overs (that could have said something funny when you’re doing it wrong), you land in a warzone almost right away.

You’ll start by playing as the Helghast (well that’s what you think at first), and then after a few cut scenes and training, the story goes back in time to start playing as the good guys that show their human faces.

We will not spoil the story anymore, but while the start of Killzone 3 jumps about in time a little, you’ll find yourself pulled in right away. Think action all the way with this one, and now the ability to move around while you have your gun zoomed in.

We were expecting a shooter, but after an hour realized the game was a lot more, you will love both the action and experience. We cannot comment on the story yet, but we’ll update you after our first impressions.

The characters in Killzone 3 may be a little limited compared to our expectations, and we found their personalities predictable, which lacked a little more insight into their characters. Then we opened our eyes to what we’re playing, drama and compelling gameplay.

Guerrilla has shown that it knows how to develop immersive games, which not only show you a dynamic story with amazing cut-scenes, but also makes you feel every shot from each gun you use in Killzone 3. Our testing was done on a $3500 Bose system, which made the bullets even more real. If Killzone 3 is your next game, get ready to feel the momentum. Next up, an hour with Bulletstorm, which has a big job if it wants to compete with the feeling of playing Killzone 3.

Screens, Photos and Amazing Cut Scenes

According to a recent article over at justpushstart.com by Damian Antony Seeto, the upcoming DLC – which is entitled “Gun Sonata Pack” – will provide players with three brand new maps for the game’s Anarchy mode, and two new maps for the Echo mode.

The three new Anarchy mode maps are called Hotel Elysium, Villa and Sewers of Stygia, while the two new Echo mode maps are called Crash Site and Guns of Stygia. The DLC pack will be available sometime this spring, and will cost 800 MS Points via Xbox Live / $9.99 via PSN.

As Adam Rosenberg over on the multiplayerblog.mtv.com website recently reported, the two new Echo mode maps also provide players with new challenges and a pair of enhancements for their character’s Leash – the Pulp and the Flamingo.

Will you be purchasing the upcoming Gun Sonata DLC pack?

David Brown of The Telegraph has written a detailed review of the game, and mentions that every kill you achieve you get awarded a score based on the style and flair you show while doing it. You have up to three weapons at your disposal at any one time, and these can be used with a leash which you can use to pull your foes towards you.

Action is nonstop and you hardly have the time to take a breath before the next wave of enemies start to attack you. All this will keep your attention levels up throughout the game, and you will be looking for new and inventive ways in making your kills. The problems that were mentioned in our earlier report about your team mates not being intelligent are mentioned.

There was also an issue with some in-play loading problems, which may just prevent the game from being a true classic. The multiplayer part of the game came in for some praise, but would need some new maps to be added eventually to stop you from getting bored.
Below you can watch a video of the first ten minutes of the game. Are you planning on getting Bulletstorm? What do you think of the video?

Well we’re pleased to report, that it doesn’t look like that will be the case with Bulletstorm, as the early reviews we’ve read so far have all given the game a glowing report, praising the new innovative features that gamers haven’t seen in a first person shooter before.

It’s no secret that Call of Duty remains the FPS king at the moment, but how does Bulletstorm cope when placed in a direct comparison? It’s hard to say since the official reviews for the game are yet to go live, but an early, detailed review has already been published online by Attack of the Fanboy, and it gives you a taster of whats likely to follow by the likes of IGN, Eurogamer and Joystiq.

To put it shortly, Bulletstorm is a great deal of fun, mainly thanks to the brilliant skill shot system in the game, which rewards players with points depending on how gruesome you finish off an enemy. Bulletstorm may be perceived as ‘over the top’, but there’s going to little debate that the single player campaign is much more satisying and enjoyable than the campaign offered in the last two Call of Duty games from Activision.

Every game has it’s flaws though, and Bulletstorm is no different. It looks like the biggest complaint which gamers may moan about is the non-existant computer AI which may hinder you whilst playing through the game with AI teammates.

You can read the full review over at AOTF here. They think it’s an awesome game, but for those of you who have already spent some time with it – what do you think? Is this the way forward for the FPS genre, or do you still prefer Call of Duty?

As reported from VG247, Gears of War developers Epic Games has just confirmed that gamers will have other opportunities to get into the beta aside from picking up a copy of Bulletstorm, but they haven’t said how and why yet.

Here is a tweet from Epic EP Rod Fergusson, in which he replies to a user question asking if Bulletstorm is the only way into the Gears 3 beta or not:

”No, but it’s the best way in with headstart and exclusive content”

Did he just say exclusive content?! We’re guessing by this he means that some players will have different beta access than those who get into the beta without purchasing Bulletstorm. This could mean Epic offering extra maps and weapons in the beta to selected players, or a longer preview of the game and an early look at how weapon upgrades will work.

Put in simpler terms, you’ll still want to obtain your key via Bulletstorm if you want to get as much out of the Gears of War 3 beta as possible. Below is a taster of things to come in the beta – we definitely can’t wait.

The trailer video features P.O.D’s Boom as its soundtrack and it is very fitting, the game looks explosive and shows some of the cool things you can do and unlock, we also get another look at some of the game’s many skillshots.

The game’s visuals are quite similar to what we are used to seeing when playing Gears of War games (ignoring the fact that Bulletstorm is a FPS), perhaps the most exciting thing about the video is the many unique weapons featured, this should help Bulletstorm find its own niche in the ever-expanding first-person shooter lineup.

We have embedded the video at the end of this post (scroll down to see it), we would love you to share your thoughts in the comments section below, has this convinced you to buy Bulletstorm? If so, which platform will you choose?

If you are still unconvinced you should check out the official BulletStorm website, remember demos are currently available on Xbox Live and the PSN, you can add the free demo to your Xbox 360′s download queue here.

To promote the upcoming game Epic Games and EA have released some videos showing some of the game’s “skillshots”, if you perform skillshots you receive points, these points can be used to upgrade your character, therefore it is well-worth performing them.

You can see two of these skillshot videos on JoyStiq, the first one was released a few days ago and features three skillshots, these are Gag Reflex, Mercy and Acid Rain, you can watch it here. The second video also features 3 videos, these are Voodoo Dool and Parashoot and Torpedo, you can watch it here.

According to the videos there are 135 skillshots in total, therefore we will have to keep you posted as we hear of more, after watching the video I think it is safe to say that Bulletstorm will be hugely popular, especially given the fact that buying the epic edition it will allow you beta access to Gear of War 3.

The demo should hit Xbox Live and PSN on January 25th, will you be downloading it?

According to Stephany Nunneley over at vg247.com (sourced from a Eurogamer report), the Bulletstorm demo will be arriving on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 25th. As the report notes, the demo will show off the game’s Echo multiplayer mode.

Players will take on the main character Grayson Hunt, as he tromps through a ruined building. The upcoming demo will also unlock optimizations, which players will then be able to use in the Anarchy mode once they buy the full Bulletstorm game.

If you haven’t already heard about and watched the trailer for the upcoming title, then you can watch it now in a recent article by Brett Molina over at usatoday.com. The trailer shows off three of the game’s skillshots – Acid Rain, Mercy and Gag Reflex.

What do you think of the Bulletstorm game? Are you looking forward to playing the demo?