Gears of War developer Epic games offered a couple of revelations over the weekend at PAX East. Designer Cliffy B told GameSpot in an interview that an unannounced game titled Gears of War: Exile had been cancelled, and that that was all he had to say on the matter. During an earlier panel at the expo he also promised that the studio is now working on a new PC game. The Netflix app for the Xbox 360 received an update today that promises more vivid colors and deeper blacks along with a few other nice-to-have improvements. And it's a digital download sort of week for new releases with Fez, Skullgirls, and Tribes: Ascend leading the pack.

Check out today's episode of Shacknews Daily.

Watch: Shacknews Daily: April 9, 2012 »

If you do a lot more than game online with your 360, you're not alone. Turns out you're in the majority in fact. Microsoft says more time is spent online with the 360 for entertainment than playing multiplayer games. That figure came alongside the launch of MLB.TV and HBO Go for the service. In this edition we also take a look at the new Gears of War 3 DLC pack "Forces of Nature" and learn about some of the plans in the works to use the Unreal game engine for government applications.

Check out today's episode of Shacknews Daily.

Watch: Shacknews Daily: May 28, 2012 »

Gears of War 3 is finally preparing to release its final map pack, titled "Forces of Nature." The pack follows a theme of environments being ravaged by natural disasters and harsh weather, and includes three new maps with two familiar to long-time fans of the series. It will hit on March 27.

Read more: Jacinto and Raven Down returning with elemental twists »

Microsoft and Epic Games released the third major DLC pack for Gears of War 3 today, Fenix Rising. The pack includes five new multiplayer maps related to the life of protagonist Marcus Fenix, along with four skins, and a new experience system that lets you rank up multiple times for rewards.

Read more: Maps, skins, and more »

Now that Gears of War 3 has been out for a while and Christmas is behind us, Epic's shooter has seen off the rush of people who'll buy it sight unseen. Now it's time to court those strange and unusual people who prefer to "play" video games before coughing up cash, and so publisher Microsoft has released a demo.

Read more: Packs first act of campaign's second chapter »

Oh, you thought that the industry had finally escaped the grasp of the Spike TV Video Game Awards? Not quite. Here are a few of the "acceptance speeches" that couldn't make it into the program--not because Spike TV decided to ignore most of the winners, but because these digitally rendered characters didn't win.

The Joker won the award for "Best Character," but here are the potential speeches you would've heard had Portal 2's Wheatley or Uncharted 3's Nathan Drake had won.

Watch: Character acceptance speeches »

The next Gears of War 3 downloadable content pack has been announced for release on January 17. "Fenix Rising," as it's wittily named, will bring five new multiplayer maps based upon areas from the campaign, plus new player skins and a way to "prestige," ranking up to level 100 over again to unlock exclusive weapon skins.

Read more: The campaign areas coming to multiplayer »

Gears of War 3's RAAM's Shadow downloadable content launches today, but some Season Pass users have been running into hitches along the way. Tweets from Epic's Rod Fergusson referred to trouble with the Season Pass owners unable to get their prepaid DLC "for free," and Microsoft is offering refunds to Season Pass owners who bought the DLC separately by accident.

Read more: Accidental purchasers should contact Microsoft »

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to beat the Gears of War 3 campaign on Insane difficulty by December 25th. If you succeed, you'll be awarded the "exclusive Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocoal Weapon Skin Pack," which includes five extra weapons skins: a "Ghost Protocol" Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Gnasher Shotgun, and Sawed-off Shotgun.

If it wasn't obvious, this free DLC giveaway is part of a promo for the new Mission: Impossible movie.

Read more: Prizes for watching a trailer »

As reported, next week, on November 24, Epic is launching the 'Versus Booster Map Pack,' for Gears of War 3. The DLC will be absolutely free, and adds five maps to the game's multiplayer rotation. A fly-through trailer of one of the included maps called 'Bullet Marsh' has been released for ogling.

Watch: A fly-through of 'Bullet Marsh' »

Between Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and now Halo Anniversary, it's a busy year for shooter fans on Xbox 360. You could hardly be blamed for forgetting that Gears of War 3 was first out of the gate in September, but players are still slamming into cover and curb-stomping with the best of them. Today Epic is issuing the second title update for the game, offering a few improvements, and fixes to bugs and exploits

Read more: Detailed patch notes »

Yet another piece of Gears of War 3 DLC has been announced today. Unlike the others announced so far, this will be the first free update for Epic's popular shooter.

The "Versus Booster Map Pack" will be available on November 24th, and will add five maps into the Gears of War 3 multiplayer mode. Its Thanksgiving Day release is intentional, as Epic says it's meant to "give thanks" to fans that have supported the franchise so far.

Read more: Horde Pack now available »

[Update] The DLC is now available.

[Original Story] Gremlins have "temporarily" delayed the release of Gears of War 3's multiplayer-expanding Horde Command Pack, which was due to launch today. Techies are scrambling to chase the blighters out, but there's no word yet on when it'll be ready for release.

Read more: Unspecified 'technical issue' to blame »

Epic Games' Mike Capps has revealed that Epic is already discussing the Unreal Engine 4 tech with hardware manufacturers, about sixteen so far, including console manufacturers. And while no one knows when the next generation will begin, Epic wants to make sure they're ready from the beginning.

"I want Unreal Engine 4 to be ready far earlier than UE3 was; not a year after the consoles are released," he said.

Read more: Unreal Engine 4 plans »

Having teased that Gears of War 3 campaign downloadable content wouldn't star series mainstays Delta Squad, Epic has revealed just whose metal boots you'll step into. The developer today announced the DLC 'RAAM's Shadow,' a prequel to the series starring a new squad with some familiar faces.

More surprisingly, though, you'll also get to play as Gears of War 1's final boss, General RAAM.

Read more: Who's in Zeta Squad? »