Xbox Live Update: Gears of War 3 beta, Section 8 Prejudice

Leading the charge this week is the beta for Epic Games' Gears of War 3. The sampler is now available for owners of the Bulletstorm Epic Edition and will open up to those who preordered at GameStop beginning April 25.

The beta will show off the game's Team Deathmatch mode playable on four maps: Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches, and Old Town. Additionally, gamers who play the Gears of War 3 beta will earn exclusive content that will be transferred to retail copies when the game is launched this fall. These items include the Flaming Gnasher Shotgun, a Gold-Plated Retro Lancer, a Thrashball Cole character variant, and others.

Debuting tomorrow on Xbox Live Arcade will be Section 8: Prejudice (1,200 Microsoft points, or $15). The game will feature online multiplayer modes with up to 32 players, as well as a four-player cooperative mode called Swarm. The game also makes concessions to offline gamers with a five-hour single-player campaign and full bot support, ensuring all the game modes can be experienced without going online.

Also hitting XBLA tomorrow will be The Fancy Pants Adventures (800 Microsoft points, or $10). An action-adventure game published by Electronic Arts, the title has players adventuring from left to right in a 2D world, stomping enemies along the way. The game also sports a multiplayer component, where up to four gamers can either compete against each other or work together.

Switching to the Games on Demand hub, Microsoft added three new games to that download space today, the first of which is the well-reviewed Fallout: New Vegas ($40). Also now out on the full-game space is 2K Czech's Mafia II ($30) and Capcom's Lost Planet 2 ($20).