Gears 2 matchmaking fix "top priority"

Epic has made fixing Gears of War 2's skill-based matchmaking its top priority, and hopes to have a solution soon.

"We're aware that some folks are experiencing longer-than-ideal wait times while using the skill-based public matchmaking in Gears 2 multiplayer," said senior producer Rod Fergusson on the official forums.

"We're working on some solutions but it's a complicated issue as there isn't any one problem; it's a combination of factors. Clearly, scale is one of them as we've had millions of successful matches played online so far, [but] a small percentage of players are having issues, which is unacceptable.

"We're working closely with Microsoft to address the matchmaking issues, I promise you that it is our number one priority, and we hope to have an update soon," he said.

Until then, he suggested a few workarounds. Trying different playlists can reduce delays, as can having at least two people in the party before matchmaking; a full team of five, incidentally, is the fastest way.

Re-inviting the nine other people in the game immediately after one finishes is also a top tip from Fergusson, although this will turn the match into a private affair. There's benefits to this, such as being able to pick maps and modes, although the outcome will not be recorded or ranked.

He suggests double-checking the NAT settings with your router, too.

Still, little of this seems to have put people off playing Gears of War 2, which continues to attract the most unique users on Xbox Live according to Major Nelson's charts.

Fergusson added that there have been 3 million ranked multiplayer matches played and over 1 million screenshots uploaded to the official website.

And from those stats he has worked out that Horde is the most popular multiplayer mode, River is the map of choice, and the Gnasher weapon has notched-up the most kills.

Roadie Run over to our Gears of War 2 review to find out more.