Gears' new Achievements in full

The latest free patch for Gears of War is set to go live after 9am GMT (10am BST) today, Microsoft has said, and we've also had some more Kryll-dodging light shed on the nature of the eight additional Achievements provided for multiplayer fans to unlock.

As you know, these focus on the "Annex" gametype and the "Hidden Fronts" multiplayer map pack (the latter currently costs 800 MS points, and will be re-released for free on 3rd September). The total value of the eight Achievements is 250 points, and anybody hoping to harvest some easy gamerpoints is out of luck.

That's because the "cheapest" of the lot is probably "You Down With E.P.I.C.?", which demands that you "Win a multiplayer match of 3+ rounds in any game-type on 6 different downloadable maps". That's for 30 points. The others talk about winning 20 multiplayer matches on specific Hidden Fronts maps, while the 40-point-unlocking "THIS! IS! ANNEX!" Achievement requires you to "Complete 100 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in Annex and capture 3 objectives in each match". Crikey. For a full rundown of the Achievements, scroll a bit lower.

Microsoft and Epic have also said what else the patch does in more detail. It tweaks the amount of damage done by the Lancer weapon in multiplayer; it fixes split-screen players interrupting the other player's actions when they die; it stops Annex scoring whenever a "Connection Error" dialogue box pops up; it reduces the amount of time corpses lie around when hosting an Annex match; it reduces the range of bleed-out times on offer for Annex hosts; and it addresses an unspecified number of multiplayer exploits and promises "other general housekeeping".

Let us know how you get on. Here's the Achievement list:

• "THIS! IS! ANNEX!" (40 points) - Complete 100 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in Annex and capture 3 objectives in each match.
• "Inconceivable!" (30 points) - Win 20 rounds of multiplayer matches in Annex by fewer than 5 points.
• "Nub Pwn3r" (30 points) - Win 20 rounds of multiplayer matches in Annex by shutting out the opposing team.
• "You Down With E.P.I.C?" (30 points) - Win a multiplayer match of 3+ rounds in any game type on 6 different downloadable maps.
• "Green Thumb" (30 points) - Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Garden multiplayer map.
• "Mind the Gap" (30 points) - Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Subway multiplayer map.
• "All That Juice" (30 points) - Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Process multiplayer map.
• "Purdy Mouth" (30 points) - Win 20 multiplayer matches of 3+ rounds in any game type on the Bullet Marsh multiplayer map.