Gears of War 3 getting update later today

Gears of War 3 will be getting a new update at 9:00AM GMT today. The patch, which will be the fourth update for the game, will auto-update when the player boots the game while connected to Xbox Live.

The update has a couple of tweaks and additions, including a “SWAT turn” for some of the creatures in Beast Mode, an “X” crosshair that will appear when a shot is blocked, and some tweaks such as the firing rate of the pistol being increased. Some annoying bugs have been ironed out as well, such as the “Waiting For Players” message when a host quits Horde during the progression screen.

The full patch notes include the following adds, fixes and tweaks:

IMPROVEMENTS

* Savage Drone and Savage Grenadier can now “swat” turn in Beast mode

• Spectator mode now starts viewing a player instead of a battle camera

• Alternate control users in multiplayer will no longer look at DBNO characters when pressing R3

• The crosshair for the Longshot and Hammerburst will now show an X if a shot is obstructed.

• KOTH – ring locators are now visible in spectator mode

• KOTH – some hill locations have been adjusted

BUG FIXES

* The Onyx Guard decoy in Horde will not drop his rifle after exhausting the Vulcan ammo

• Clients will no longer be stuck with a “Waiting For Players” message up if the host quits Horde during the progression screen

• Chainsaw audio loop will now persist for listeners who leave the audible range and re-enter it

• Fixed some instances where special event ribbons would not be properly awarded

• COG pistol firing rate has been adjusted to be equal on host and clients

• The Flaming Retro Lancer is now available for attendees of the first special event

• Fixed some issues fixed related to the destruction of meatbags

• The Slab start up screen no longer has debug text

• After a host migration in Horde, the waves will no longer go past 50

• Cover near the elevator on Hotel no longer allows players to lean outside of the visible area

• Grenade throwers that are killed mid-throw will receive credit for any kills that grenade causes

• Silverback will be disabled if hit by a smoke grenade when the driver is in the middle of the exit animation

• Team Deathmatch time limit no longer resets to 3 minutes when both teams are out of respawns

Gears of War 3 was released last September 2011 for Xbox 360, and earned an 8.5/10 score in Strategy Informer’s review.