The Gears of War 3 Horde Command Pack's delay was short lived - it's available now, and available for COGs and Locusts alike on Xbox Live. For 800MS points you get new Horde fortification upgrades, exclusive playable characters and weapon skins, and three new multiplayer maps (Azura, Rustlung, and Blood Drive). It's a good deal, but they're also offering an even better deal: to thank their loyal fanbase, they're sneaking another downloadable content pack into the rotation, unlocking goodies on Thanksgiving for no cost at all.
On Thursday, November 24, the "Versus Booster Map Pack" will be made available for free to all Gears of War players. For the inciting price of nothing at all, you'll be able to download the pack, which gives access to Swamp, Clocktower, Azura, Rustlung, and Blood Drive for use in public matchmaking playlists. Three of those are from the Command Pack (Azura, Rustlung and Blood Drive), while two (Swamp and Clocktower) are classic Gears of War maps. In other words, you're getting all of the good stuff in the $10 Command Pack and some extra stuff... just without the Horde upgrades, characters, or Achievement points.
Oh, and you get to save $10, and who doesn't like to save money?