The free update for Gears of War on April 9th will not only fix several glitches (Including 720p support for VGA users at 1280x1024), it will also add a new gametype called 'Annex'. Apparently, 'Annex' will play similar to Halo's 'Team Crazy King' gametype, in that there will be between two to five control points near key weapon points, as well as 15 second respawn times and unlimited lives. Xbox360Fanboy posted the remainder of these details:
Control points are shown on the map with a ring around the weapon's area, and on your HUD with a waypoint, using the weapon's icon as an indicator, showing the direction, who's in control (Red: Locust, Blue: Cog, White: Neutral), and how many of the 60 points (given at a rate of 1 point/second) are available for the taking. After the points have been distributed, another "Hill" will be randomly selected next. The speed at which a team gains control of a "Hill" is dependent on how many member of the team are within the ring on screen. A full team can capture in 1 second, three in 2 seconds, half your squad in 4 and a lone cowboy with his chainsaw in 8 seconds. Once you capture it, you can defend it from wherever you see fit on the map, you're not restricted to staying in the ring of death.
The gametype is still round-based, and rounds are won when a team reaches the host determined number of points. This can be somewhere between 120 and 480 points, with increments logically being multiples of either 15, 30 or 60 points. Annex can be played in both player and ranked matches, which brings us to our next thought. How will this affect the "Seriously..." Achievement? Couldn't a group theoretically ignore the control points and simply frag each other until the cows come home? That being said, playing legitimately also seems to be an answer to expediting the process, especially if you have 19 round games at 480 points per round.
Control points are shown on the map with a ring around the weapon's area, and on your HUD with a waypoint, using the weapon's icon as an indicator, showing the direction, who's in control (Red: Locust, Blue: Cog, White: Neutral), and how many of the 60 points (given at a rate of 1 point/second) are available for the taking. After the points have been distributed, another "Hill" will be randomly selected next. The speed at which a team gains control of a "Hill" is dependent on how many member of the team are within the ring on screen. A full team can capture in 1 second, three in 2 seconds, half your squad in 4 and a lone cowboy with his chainsaw in 8 seconds. Once you capture it, you can defend it from wherever you see fit on the map, you're not restricted to staying in the ring of death.
The gametype is still round-based, and rounds are won when a team reaches the host determined number of points. This can be somewhere between 120 and 480 points, with increments logically being multiples of either 15, 30 or 60 points. Annex can be played in both player and ranked matches, which brings us to our next thought. How will this affect the "Seriously..." Achievement? Couldn't a group theoretically ignore the control points and simply frag each other until the cows come home? That being said, playing legitimately also seems to be an answer to expediting the process, especially if you have 19 round games at 480 points per round.
