wow omg, they fucked up! you can't play ranked matches with your friends like Sanits ROW
Gears of War suffers at the hands of Microsoft
Posted in Xbox 360, Games by Rossko UK on October 7th, 2006 at 3:41
Well, it had to happen didn’t it? After all the great and exciting news on GoW lately, there was always going to be a setback. Sadly, it’s in the multiplayer department, and sadly, you won’t be playing tactically with any of your Xbox Live friends.
Unfortunately for the guys at Epic and us gamers, Microsoft have a policy that states that all ranked matches must be based on skill. Therefore, playing ranked matches with your clan or friends is down to chance (or pretty much impossible, since getting the eight people you want in the same room would take some doing), much unlike the system of Halo 2 that everyone raves about.
The problem is Microsoft don’t want friends boosting their own rank with each other and getting achievements and so on. The TrueSkill ranking system, that matches you with other players of roughly the same ability, is there to make sure you have a fair game (supposedly). It is now required for all 360 games to come with a ranked multiplayer that picks “random” people to play against (it’s not truely random, as it picks the people closest to your skill). Games that do not feature such a system don’t ship, hence why Epic had to do it the way no-one really wanted.
Yes, it’s a cert requirement. You may not choose who you get to play with in a ranked match and you may not keep the session together. The theory is this prevents collaborative cheating (I kill you ten times, now you me, etc.)
The players you’ll meet aren’t random. They are the best fit for your skill level.
This came straight from a programmer at the official forums, named joeGraf. And if you keep reading, it sounds as if he would rather it wern’t like that:
I can put the code in. Then the game won’t ship. I prefer to ship the game. Maybe you have a different view
It’s a shame, because Gears of War sounds like the perfect game for teamwork. I do understand where Microsoft are coming from, but I think common sense is needed. With a game like this, it surely requires you to be playing with people you know, right? I can see the problem here though: every developer will claim that their multiplayer requires the teamwork, then MS won’t know what to do. I just think there has to be some other way around it. After all, the only reason I play in ranked matches is for achievements, not for my rank. Personally, I think if you just reset the leaderboards evey month, people will realise it’s a waste of time. Does rank really bother any of you, readers?
“Hmmm, there must be a way around this…”
The other thing I find strange is that Saints Row actually allows you to play in ranked matches with people you know. You go into a lobby, the host sets the game as ranked and away you go. Could GoW not have something in the same vein?
Many thanks to Mikeawesome for finding this.
http://www.xboxic.com/news/1752
GEARS OF WAR FUCKED UP BIG TIME, read now!!!!! 
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