The Fenix Rising DLC will hit Xbox Live on January 17 for 800 Microsoft Points, however it also comes as part of the Gears of War 3 Season Pass, this is still available now for 2400 Microsoft Points and will allow you to download the game’s first four add-ons, which means that you’ll save yourself 33% overall – you can find out more about the season pass and perhaps add it to your 360′s download queue here.

Once you’ve got the content you will be able to play Versus Multiplayer, Horde and Beast Mode on five new maps, these are Academy, Anvil, Depths, Escalation and The Slab, you can see a full overview of these maps over at GearsOfWar.com, also if you head over to GameRevolution you can see a screenshot from each map, we have embedded one of them below. Also if your scroll down to the bottom of this page you can see a flythrough of ‘The Slab’ map.

It’s not just new maps which you will get, dedicated players can also choose whether to “Re-Up” so they can rank up through level 100 multiple times, this allows players to reset experience and rank but keep other progression such as their TrueSkill rating. You will be able to “Re-Up” three times and each time you’ll earn a new rank color each time. Re-upping will also allow gamers to unlock exclusive emblems and weapon skins, these weapon skins are said to be Re-Up Plasma, Re-Up Omen and Re-Up Electric – there’s no other way to get these skins!

Will you buy this DLC when it hits Xbox Live?

Along with the announcement came the launch of the debut trailer for the game which lasts just over a minute long. During that time viewers are able to get a glimpse of what they are to expect from Fortnite, which seems to be a cross between Call of Duty’s Zombies mode and Oddworld. The clip shows a group of people ransacking a derelict supermarket for supplies before they quickly retreat back to their fortified house followed by a horde of small alien like creatures with glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

The game is reportedly set in a post-apocalyptic era which judging from the video has caused an outbreak of flesh eating mutants that only come out at night and hunt in large groups. Although there is no gameplay featured in this trailer, there was the sound of gunfire heard in the background suggesting that the game may be a shooter. Whether it is an FPS or third-person shooter therefore remains to be confirmed.

In an interview with Joystiq, Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski stated ‘Gears has been amazing for us. But it’s fun to kind of stretch our wings and do something that’s a little different from the usual.’ Unfortunately nothing official about a release date or what platform the game will be appearing on was revealed. So far the game looks as though it will be fun to play even though it’s a lot different from what we’re used to seeing from Epic. Don’t forget to check out the trailer below for the first glimpses of the new game.

Does Fortnite look like a game you would want to play? What are you hoping for from it?

A tweet posted a few hours again can be seen here, it reads “The scheduled Horde Command Pack release for Gears 3 is temporarily delayed due to a tech issue. Updates here! http://epic.gm/dlcupdate”. The link in the tweet takes you to a forum post which was written by Epic Games’ community manager, Will Kinsler, here’s what he said:

The scheduled Horde Command Pack release for Gears of War 3 is temporarily delayed due to a technical issue. We apologize to those of you who are anxiously awaiting to play. We know this is disappointing news as we’ve seen a lot of posts today showing excitement for this content. We have folks working around the clock to resolve this issue ASAP so you can all play and enjoy the Command Pack.

The Epic Games Community team will stick around and keep you posted with any further information. Stay tuned for updates!

If you check out the forum post for yourself you will see that there have been 85 pages of replies (at the time of this post), which just goes to show how much of a stir this news is causing. Obviously some people will be frustrated, but let’s face it, it’s better to delay something like this rather than rushing out content which is not up to scratch.

We looked into things a little further and it looks like the delay is due to a “backend issue and not with the game code” (see here), some people are suggesting that this is a posh way of saying that this means some of the DLC was already on the game’s disc, also people think that the content will now arrive within a couple of days – however this has not yet been officially confirmed.

Do you mind that this content has been delayed?

Update: This DLC is now available on Xbox Live, you can add it to your 360′s download queue for just 800 Microsoft Points here.

So what do you get for your money? Well to start with you get a new campaign experience which should last well over three hours, the plot is said to take place after the events of the original Gears of War game and we are told that you should expect new characters, some of which are “eerily familiar to the series”.

This DLC will also bring six new multiplayer characters, the Chocolate Weapon Set and 250 Gamerscore points for you to achieve, we don’t have a full breakdown of the achievements which you must aim for just yet, but we expect plenty of blood and guts along the way. The reaction on Twitter suggests that you may be able to play as RAAM in the DLC, we cannot confirm this just yet, but it sounds very likely.

Currently these are all the details we have for the DLC, but at least we know when it arrives, how much it will cost and exactly what it consists of – we are sure that as it gets closer to the launch date we will find out more about RAAM’s Shadow, perhaps we will get some trailers and screenshots – we hope so!

Will you buy RAAM’s shadow?

Quite often when people try to play a splitscreen horde mode game with two profiles loaded the freeze occurs, but this video also shows a similar thing happening when a gamer tries to run any versus mode quick match – as you can imagine the problem is very annoying.

The Epic Games developers have been busy on the forums trying to get to the bottom of the problem, however haven’t yet given an indication as to when such issues will be rolled-out over Xbox Live, here is what one Epic representative had to say on the matter:

“Getting this resolved is a priority for Epic. We are collecting information internally, sourcing as much as possible from the community and exploring potential fixes. We do not have any recommendations to share with players just yet”

To help Epic Games diagnose the problem you should head over to the forums and answer the questionnaire, there have been 101 pages of replies so far, so it looks like the problem is quite common. The topic was originally addressed on September 27, therefore Epic’s dev team has had roughly two weeks to pinpoint and resolve the problem, hopefully we will hear something useful regarding the matter soon.

For now we would like to hear from you regarding the matter, has GoW 3 freezed for you? If so, have you noticed any pattern as to when it freezes? Let us know in the comments section. Here’s some reactions we spotted on Twitter:

Ythelastmatt – Dear Gears of War 3, please stop freezing and being so fucking buggy, I just want to enjoy and beat you before arkham city comes out. Thnx

kcirtaPDelgado – Bad News: My Gears of War 3 disc froze during a pivotal moment in the game. Good News: I was angry enough to finally turn Super Saiyan.

To get hold of the Big Explosions mutator you must unlock the hail mary ribbon 100 times, you get one each time you kill an enemy with a boomshot from 200 ft away, therefore it may take some time to earn – but if you are in a rush to get it we have a great video for you to check out.

The video embedded at the bottom of this post shows how someone easily earns 23 hail mary ribbons in just six minutes, so you could easily get hold of this mutator within 30 minutes of gameplay. Here’s a breakdown of one tactic which will definitely help you out massively.

At the game’s main menu you must go to “Versus” and then select “Private”, here choose “Team Deathmatch” – you can now configure your game just how you want it, you should ensure you have the same settings as what the image below shows you, once they match start the game.

When you get to the map selection screen ensure that you choose the map “Gridlock”, you must also press the back button and change all the weapon pickups to boomshot – this is very important. Once the game starts go to a part of the map where the boomshot is located and switch it for your shotgun and then pick up ammo from where another of the boomshots is located – below shows the part of the map where you should stay and pick off the enemies.

Once you are at the spot pick off some of the nearby enemies, they will then spawn further away – you will soon find that the boomshot can take out the enemies from a very long distance, each time you kill an enemy you will get 1 hail mary ribbon, so it won’t take long to build them up. You may have to repeat this entire procedure a few times – but soon you should have the 100 hail mary ribbons, which gives you the Big Explosions mutator.

The video embedded below shows you the tactic in full. Did this help you? You can see a full list of other mutators here along with how to earn them – let us know if your struggling with any of them in particular and we will try to assist you.

We aren’t sure how seriously to take this rumor, but both Gears of War and Forza have been huge franchises for the Xbox 360, therefore it would make sense to use such games to promote the launch of the Xbox 720 (or whatever Microsoft decide to call it). Apparently an extract from Xbox World magazine reads:

“what are id doing now Rage is about to ship? Doom 4, that’s what. Don’t expect it for this gen, though. It’ll be Xbox Next for sure. And what of Xbox Next? We, the Insider hears suits at Microsoft are already lining up the launch games – and they include two monsters: Gears of War 4 and Forza 5″

Now considering no official announcement has been made regarding Microsoft’s next console we must treat WolfsGamingBlog’s post as a rumor – but for the next paragraph or so we will imagine that it does turn out to be accurate, perhaps this will give us some insight regarding the next-gen console’s release date.

Epic Game’s released Gears of War in November 2006, Gears of War 2 in November 2008 and will release Gears of War 3 on September 20 this year – this shows they have a 2-3 year release cycle with games in this franchise, but developing a new launch game for a new platform could affect this quite dramatically. Firstly developing a game for a completely new console with better graphics than we have seen before is a daunting task and may take longer than usual, but knowing that GoW4 will be a launch title could spur on Epic Games to employ more staff and worked to tighter dealdines – who knows development may have already started. Our best guess is that Gears of War 4 will arrive in 2013, but this is based entirely on predictions and insight from previous release – let’s see if we Forza’s release cycle fits in with our prediction.

Turn 10 Studios released Forza 2 in May 2007, Forza 3 in October 2009 and Forza 4 is set for an October 2011 release. As you can see Team 10 tend to stick to a 2-year release cycle and this fits in with our Gears of War 4 release date prediction – again the next-gen console will no-doubt take some getting used to for the dev-team, but as it is a launch title we are sure that Turn 10 Studios will be up to the challenge.

So there you have it folks, if Forza 5 and Gears of War 4 turn out to be launch titles for the next-gen Xbox we think that the latter half of 2013 is a likely release date for the console – obviously this is very reliant on Xbox World Magazine’s statement, but it at least raises an interesting debate.

Do you think these two games will really be part of the next-gen console’s launch? Do you think late 2013 is at all likely? Let us know below.

According to Shui Ta over on the examiner.com website, both editions will come with a comprehensive walkthrough, which includes strategies for the four-player co-op gameplay mode. The Gears of War 3 Standard Edition of the Official Strategy Guide will set you back $19.99, while the Limited Edition is priced up at $34.99. Both editions will be arriving in North America on September 20th.

Those that buy the Gears of War 3 Limited Edition Official Strategy Guide will receive free, downloadable PDFs of both the original Gears of War and Gears of War 2 Official Strategy Guides, a sneak peek at the GOW comic book, a soundtrack sampler of the official GOW 3 music CD and a code to download the free Gears of War 3 strategy video from Xbox Live.

It will also provide them with information on where to find all the hidden collectibles in Act 1. Included in both the standard and limited edition strategy guides is an in-depth walkthrough, which provides complete coverage of every single area and encounter in the game (from start to finish). The strategy guide also reveals the locations of every collectible in the game.

Both editions will also provide players with detailed Single-Player and Multiplayer maps, which show every area of the game. Not only do the maps pinpoint mission objectives, they also identify collectible locations, weapons and ammo. Meanwhile, the Multiplayer maps illustrate team strategies, identify enemy paths and chokepoints and provide mode-specific callouts.

The official Gears of War 3 strategy guide will also show players how to get the best from every weapon, how to use terrain, movement and cover to their advantage, and the most efficient kill tactics for every enemy. Players can also learn enemy spawn points and winning techniques for every game type including Beast and Horde modes.

That’s not all either, as it also includes background and character bios, weapon and enemy data, gripping artwork and more. Will you buy the Official Gears of War 3 Strategy Guide? If so, which one: the standard or limited edition?

We now have some more exciting news for those of you that are waiting for the Gears of War 3 game to arrive as according to Chris Carlson over at ripten.com, peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz has just unveiled a new range of licensed ‘Gears of War 3’ gaming headsets for the Xbox 360, which are expected to arrive alongside the game when it launches in September this year.

The most expensive product on the list is the Gears of War 3 7.1 Dolby surround sound headset, which comes with official GoW 3 artwork and a price tag of $179.99. This model is performance-tuned for Xbox Live voice chat, and comes with independent game and voice volume controls, pulsating LED lighting effects and a detachable, flexible microphone with mute.

An added bonus with the Gears of War 3 7.1 Dolby surround sound headset is the Selective Voice Monitoring (SVM), which provides users with the option of hearing their own voice through the headset. Next up on the list is the Gears of War 3 performance stereo gaming headset, which comes with a price tag of $99.99. This model also comes with official GoW 3 artwork.

This noise-isolating headset comes with luxurious padding and an adjustable headrail. Other features include precision-balanced 40mm audio drivers, a detachable, flexible microphone with mute and independent voice and game volume controls. The final model on the list is the $29.99 Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator, which features a behind-the-neck design.

The Gears of War 3 throat communicator also comes with integrated mute and volume controls, crystal-clear sound and communication quality and a customizable neckband with foam-rubber inserts. As Justin Rubio from IGN reports, Mad Catz will be previewing the new range at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International.

You can check out images of the headsets over on the ripten.com website. Do you like the sound of any of these licensed Gears of War 3 headsets?

This is a great bonus for dedicated Gears of War gamers who have spent time earning achievements, also it may give you an excuse to go back to GoW or GoW2 to earn those achievements which you missed out on. According to VG247 it looks like Epic Games will check how much of a Gears of War gamer you are by looking up your achievements, so if you have unlocked something in Gears of War 2, it may show up in Gears of War 3.

One example of the achievements which GoW3 will check for will be the ‘Veteran Gear’ achievement from Gears of War 2, we are led to believe that when GoW3 notices that you earned this reward you will get an additional weapon skin, we wonder if you will get further rewards if you have earned every Gears of War achievement so far, this would be neat. You can check all of the Gears of War 2 achievements here.

You should have the ‘Veteran Gear’ achievement if you have reached Level 100 and have played in all maps from the Snowblind Map Pack, whether you think that an additional weapon skin is worth this time and effort is up to you, but it certainly gives you an excuse to play.

Gamers may be treated to Gold and Chrome Skins according to VG247, however Epic Games aren’t telling us much else just yet. The Chrome skin may come from the Rookie Gear achievement in Gears of War 2. This can be gained by achieving Level 5 in Multiplayer gameplay. So far there has been little mention of any achievements from the original Gears of War coming into play, however with 3 months between now and Gears of War 3′s release there is plenty of time for this to change.

We like the fact that Epic Games are rewarding their loyal gamers by giving them in-game items, do you? Let’s face it Epic could just release skins as part of purchasable DLC, this is what greedier game developers / publishers would have done.