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Gears PC: XP yes, cross-play no

Extras unlikely to appear on 360.

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

Microsoft has confirmed that while Gears of War will not support cross-platform play between the 360 and recently announced PC versions, anybody buying the latter will be able to play it on Windows XP as well as Vista.

As in, without having to wait for the hackers to sort it out.

"It's also worth noting," says old pal the Gamerscoreblog, "that the PC version of Gears of War achievements are separate from the Xbox 360 version. That means you can get 1250 Gamerscore from the Xbox 360 Gears of War, and an additional 1000 Gamerscore from the PC version!" Yes! Buy it again!

New features of the PC Gears include additional multiplayer maps and game modes, a game editor and five new single-player chapters. A demonstration at Microsoft's E3 conference revealed a showdown with a Brumak.

Unfortunately, Xbox 360 owners probably won't get to experience the new content, with Epic's Mark Rein telling one E3 interviewer that to do so would require a patch so massive that it would dwarf the five downloads made available for 360 to date.

The full thing's due out later this year.

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