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Epic to Swat Gears 2 Bugs

Studio VP Mark Rein details fixes for "a bunch of online exploits."

November's Gears of War 2 has proven to be a critical and commercial smash with over 3 million copies sold, but the game does have some problems, particularly with online gameplay. Developer Epic Games intends to fix these problems in a "major" upcoming patch.

Epic Games VP Mark Rein wrote in a Tuesday blog post that an update addressing certain issues is expected to go live sometime in January. He offered a rundown of just a few of the upcoming changes:

  • Nixing the ability to: wield an invisible shield; melee through some walls; gain infinite Lancer ammo; equip a shield and a two-handed weapon.
  • New Achievements added related to downloadable content.
  • Increased penalty for dropping out of matches mid-game.
  • "Additional spawn protection against planted grenades and chainsaw attacks."
  • Adding ability to see destination of the Submission flag carrier via the game's Tac/Com.
  • Adding Achievement progress numbers to the War Journal.
  • Increasing frequency of in-game Achievement progression notes.
     
Rein also made special note of online shotgun exploits. "We fixed the client-side hit detection on the shotgun so that in a high-latency (i.e. 'laggy') match, the shotgun will be more reliable. We’ve also fixed another bug whereby shotgun and boomshot rounds could strike the ground when firing from the hip."

A more detailed list of fixes is on the way, he added. "...We’re working hard to get this out the door and once it’s done we’ll start working on the next update."