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Gears 2 multiplayer patched

Long matchmaking delays eased.

Epic has released an update for its 360 blockbuster Gears of War 2, intended to help with the long waits some players were experiencing in multiplayer matchmaking.

The skill-based Public matchmaking system was the one struggling to cope with demand, especially for single-player and four-player parties.

In a thread on the official forums, senior producer Rod Fergusson detailed the steps Epic has taken to speed things along: reducing the number of matchmaking servers to increase the number of possible matches, mostly. The effect of some adjustments will be felt immediately but, Fergusson warned, some may take a few days to "play out".

Also included were fixes to stop the loss of some stats data on gearsofwar.com, and a solution to the problem caused some players to be unable to start the game's campaign if Xbox Live was unavailable.