XBL annexes Gears of War update

One week ago, Gears of War fans got in a tizzy when Epic Games vice president Mark Rein revealed that the game's next update was "almost here." Rein said the update was out of Epic's hands and in the final stages of Microsoft's certification process.

Today, Microsoft announced that it has given the update the thumbs up and will release it over Xbox Live Marketplace at 4 p.m. PDT.

Not just a few tweaks to bugs, the update will add a new multiplayer mode called Annex. In Annex, two teams will battle to occupy key map locations like a standard King of the Hill or Domination match. Each map contains two to five key locations, and throughout the match the area to be controlled will move.

Also included in the update is VGA cable support, tweaks to the Boomshot and Hammer of Dawn weapons, and several bug and exploit fixes.

The update is free, unlike other Gears of War content that was recently revealed to be offered initially at a "reasonable price" before becoming free months down the line.