Australian gaming site
Mygen.com.au has let slip a little bit of secret and heart stopping information: We might be getting brand new Gears of War maps this week for free. The maps are supposedly sponsored by the Discovery Channel, and the network will also be hosting a contest with millions of Microsoft points as prizes.
There is not yet any official word from Microsoft's or Epic's websites, but there are some lovely screenshots of the two maps. "Raven Down" will borrow from the Black Hawk Down scenario, with the gameplay focused on an intersection where a large helicopter has made a not so soft landing. "Old Bones" takes place in a museum that the Locust Horde is trying to destroy, to wipe out human culture (or to save school children from horrible field trips.)
The site did not explain whether or not these are multiplayer-only maps, though the description of "Raven Down" includes the words: "gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors." That makes it sound like a mission oriented map, but it could just be a backstory for the design. [EDIT] This is most certainly not a hoax as confirmed by Epic's Mark Rein. The following images are real:
Old Bones
Raven Down
