Is multiplayer not your thing? Well don’t worry, because remember that December 13th is the “RAAM’s Shadow” DLC that will be available for 1200 Microsoft points ($15). This will grant you about 3 hours of single-player gameplay that takes place before the events of the original Gears of War. You’ll also be able to snag a cool 250 achievement points that you can hang over your friends’ heads to show that you are better than them. Of course, if you got the season pass, both these pieces of DLC are already paid for. So just sit back and download them. Aren’t you a the lucky one?

“RAAM’s Shadow” will give you a three-hour campaign that has you trying to evacuate the citizens of llima City shortly after Emergence Day. You’ll also receive 6 new multiplayer characters, the chocolate weapon set,  and a chance to get 250 more achievement points. Oh, you’ll also play as RAAM. You know, the bad guy from the first game. That’s cool, right?

You can do all of this on December 13th for 1200 MS points ($15 in real people money). That is unless you bought the season pass, at which point you already paid for it along with the first piece of DLC as well.

If you’re playing through Gears of War 3 on co-op, you may want to read this before you get back to chainsaw-bayonetting your way to world peace. According to the Epic forums, it looks like playing split-screen with two different profiles has been causing games to freeze and worse, altering some profiles unable so that they can’t play Gears 3 at all. The guys at Epic are working hard to get a fix together, but right now it seems like figuring out the exact trigger seems to be where they’re at in the whole process. For the time being, it’s probably best to avoid split-screen co-op or to at least sign one profile out if you have to play split-screen. Alright, you can get back to your game now. Good luck and happy Hording!

SPOILER WARNING: Story spoilers are discussed from 25:51 until 42:28.

Intro: The End - The Doors

Outro: The Gears - Dethklok

If, like me, you’ve been wondering why Nathan Drake has his shirt half-tucked into his denim trousers all the time, you’ll be relieved to know that we have an answer. He hides his Sony online pass codes in a little zip pouch under there, but doesn’t want his shirt to fly up and be known as the “fanny pack” explorer. He has reason to hide them as those online passes are going to be valuable. You see, Sony is going to be using them with all first-party titles that have an online component from now on. Speaking to Destructoid, Sony stated “Online Pass will be incorporated into Uncharted 3 and future Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) games with online functionality.”

This is part of a quickly growing trend in gaming aimed at curbing the number of used games on the market. I can’t say it comes as any real surprise, but it’s interesting to see how Sony is using pass codes with its own titles, while Microsoft, we can assume from Gears of War 3, is not looking to head that direction. If they were, that would have been the game to do it with. Do you see Microsoft following suit now that Sony has instituted this policy? Let us know in the comments.

Gears of War 3 

These fortifications include a command center that allows you to call in support from snipers, mortar strikes, and multiple Hammers of Dawn. Also included is an upgrade that will turn your upgrade into an onyx guard, and a silverback upgrade that allows you to use rockets and extra levels of repair cost reduction.

The DLC pack will run you 800MSP ($10) unless you purchased the season pass, in which case it will automatically be downloaded for free.

Apparently driving a chainsaw into Locust throats is more popular than we thought. Microsoft announced this morning that Gears of War 3 has sold over 3 million copies in its first week on shelves. This was enough to push the Gears of War franchise over a billion dollars in its lifetime.

Also announced was that in one week, Gears had “grossed more than any 2011 video game to date”. This is a title I’m sure everyone will hold close to their hearts for the month and a half remaining before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 gets released on November 8, 2011. No word was given on how many million season passes they’ve sold so far.

“No, it won’t be the graphic novel, but it will have all new campaign content that doesn’t have Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird in it. Expect Barrick and more…”

I suppose this can’t be too much of a disappointment to the people who wanted to see more of the COGs they are use to, because if you’ve seen one beefy, war-hardened, killing machine then you’ve seen them all, right? The question is what other characters are you hoping will make an appearance in the DLC?

The very first Gears of War trailer drew a lot of attention when it merged the haunting “song from Donnie Darko” with the peril and violence from the Gears of War universe. Well it seems that Epic has snuck in a little something extra for fans of that trailer and of that little Gary Jules ditty. Joystiq has posted a video that demonstrates the song starting while playing on the Gridlock multiplayer map. Spawning at the right spot on the map triggers the memorable Mad World and is a pretty cool little Easter egg.

You’ll be able to slay your fellow gamer to some mellow tunes yourself when Gears of War 3 comes out on September 20th.

One of the many things that the Gears of War series is known for is its trailers. We already got one cinematic trailer for Gears of War 3 called “Ashes to Ashes,” so it seems only fitting that the second one would be called “Dust to Dust.” It has everything you would expect from the previous trailers: beefy soldiers, ugly enemies, the melancholy song that creates a juxtaposition to the chaotic action taking place on screen, and a cliffhanger of an ending where you just know some serious stuff is about to go down. Now that we have plenty to choose from, which Gears of War trailer is your favorite?

Gears of War 3 will be out for Xbox 360 on September 20th.