Split-Screen writes: "We met Ashim Mathur, the National Marketing Manager of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. Earlier, Microsoft India had said they expected Gears of War 2 to help boost sales of their console, and today Mathur said that while they can't reveal the exact figures, sales for the 360 went up by 30 to 45 per cent in the wake of Gears 2.

"So, the XBox 360 has apparently got a lead in the console wars here, for now anyway."
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GOA Writes : By now you know that there are some issues with the matchmaking system in Gears 2. People have experienced long waits, as much as 45 minutes for a game to start, which is ridiculous.

Well, Rod Fergusson, Senior Producer of Gears 2, put an official post up in the Gears of War forums. Click read more to see what he had to say.
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Gears of War was the most played game on Xbox Live for the week beginning November 10, beating off CoD4 and Halo 3.
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Many gamers have questions about how the ranking system works in Gears of War 2, and it's time to have those questions answered.
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arstechnica.com writes: "As great as Gears of War 2 is, those of us unfortunate enough to be hurt by the Gears of War 2 match-making issues have been unable to fully enjoy the game's multiplayer experience. Thankfully, Epic is aware of the issues and is working diligently to push out the first post-release patch to amend the problems. In the meantime, though, the company has offered a few temporary solutions. Senior Producer Rod Fergusson sent out some suggestions, and here's what he had to say:"
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Gears of War 2 released on November 7th with great anticipation. Unfortunately there are some aspects of the multiplayer experience that disappointed a lot of Gears 1 fans. Read inside for what we think Epic should do to improve the multiplayer mode in Gears 2 and rightfully take its place at the top of everyone's most played list.
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It didn't take too long for DLC to hit the marketplace for the blockbuster hit, Gears of War 2.
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Rod Fergesson of EPIC Games has spoken regarding the Matchmaking issues.
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Has Epic leaked out one of the upcoming maps for Gears of War 2 downloadable content?
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Wave 50 of Horde beat on insane just 8 days after games release.
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Daily Star writes: "WATCH out, gamers! Luscious Lucy Pinder can seriously damage your health.

The 24-year-old beauty slipped into her sexiest army fatigues for our shoot in honour of the release of red-hot Xbox 360 game Gears Of War 2.

But the all-action Bournemouth babe, 24, is a real-life Xbox fan herself. She regularly takes on internet players from across in the world in her favourite "shoot-em-up" games.

A source close to the busty star said: "Watch out next time you go online with your Xbox for a battle – you could be fighting Lucy. She takes NO prisoners and she takes it seriously."

Gears Of War 2 was released on Friday to a rapturous reception in the multi-billion pound gaming world..."
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A St. Louis modder/reseller brazen enough to advertise early copies of Gears of War 2 out in the open on Craigslist just got his ass handed to him in court. Technically, it's a settlement, but looking at the terms, this guy sued for peace with an unconditional surrender to Epic Games.
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"Microsoft announced today that Gears of War 2 has sold over 2 million copies since its release last week.

For comparison, the first Gears of War game took two weeks to hit just 1 million copies sold (which is still a lot of games). In that same time span, around 800,000 online players got 7 million achievements."

TheGameReviews
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Ripten writes: "A few weeks ago, we ran a story about LittleBigPlanet's Metacritic user score: a measly 6.3. We spoke to the site's founder Marc Doyle about the matter and were informed that it was only that low due to rampant fanboys on the warpath, attempting to sabotage the PS3 and its games. This inevitably continued with more low user scores: Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2. Well, it seems that now, fanboys have started trying to influence the critic's score, by flaming LittleBigPlanet on the site's forums.

While posting on this thread, an unnamed Metacritic user and certified fanboy claims they were wrongfully banned for what the cite deemed "crude and rude" statements. The complaint was then carried over by the user as an attempted news post on gaming news site N4G.

In the Metacritic thread itself, a series of users voiced concerns that not every 10/10 score for Sony's huge IP LittleBigPlanet had been posted to the site. The users kick and scream because their favorite system's biggest game isn't scored as high as they'd like - beaten only by GTA4. We spoke to Marc about the matter, and he summed up the idiocy neatly:..."
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Microsoft's confirmed that Gears of War 2 sold more than 2 million units in its launch weekend.
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MCV: Gears Of War 2 has averaged a very respectable 93 per cent on Metacritic – giving a good indication of its critical reception in the UK and US.
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Xboxer360.com writes: We're getting reports that the Microsoft Ban Hammer has crashed down again, this time targeting Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty 5 pirates.
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Epic Community Manager SixOkay has published a list of known problems for Gears of War 2 on the official Epic forums, including acknowledgement for the slow matchmaking issues that many gamers have been experiencing.

"Please help us out. If you see someone posting or asking about something on this list, direct them to this thread. Also, if your issue isn't on this list, please add it in this thread. It'll help everyone stay organized, and help us track things down MUCH faster."
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CinemaBlend Writes:

"The boss of EPIC Games talks about the alternatives that could be utilized to combat used video game sales. One curious option is to develop a game where the final boss battle or ending has to be purchased for second hand buyers and renters. Such measures would hamper the used game market greatly.

Used video game sales are a delicate part of the video game industry eco system in the US. Various video game brick and mortar chains rely on such transactions like EBGames, GameStop and GameCrazy. Killing the used video game market could be detrimental to most of the retail chains. Some retailers such as GameCrazy have reported that up to 30% of the total sales were due to used video games.

"Used video games also offer customers an alternative option to purchasing a game that they might not have considered acquiring at full price. However, the argument from the developers have been that none of the profit earned from the used video games trickle down to the studios or publishers."
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From OXCGN:

"Thank you Epic.

Thank you for the effort and intelligence to work out to bring back the bots to both online and offline multiplayer with Gears of War 2.

Since Perfect Dark Zero bots have gone missing this generation on the 360, with only Live Arcade titles like the simple but enjoyable Age of Booty integrating AI as opponents into games.

The focus this generation has been squarely on finding Live online 'community' members in lobbies or on friend's lists to play against in multiplayer and owning Gold Live membership."

A list of reasons why Gears 2 bots rule after the link:
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