Gears of War 3 Season Pass and Purchasable Weapon Skins Revealed, May Inspire Madness in Some

Epic’s Director of Production, Rod Fergusson, recently revealed numerous details about Gears of War 3 via a live video stream. Of chief interest are the game’s downloadable content details. First off, Epic will be selling a Season Pass that includes the first four major DLC releases for 2400 Microsoft Points. That’s a savings of $10 as the items will cost 3600 Points separately. Sure, you could wait a year and get them on sale for even less than the cost of the Season Pass, but who wants to get so far behind in Gears 3’s multiplayer? Actually, at least one piece of content will add to the single-player campaign and apparently be more significant than Gears of War 2’s “Road to Ruin” Deleted Scene.

More polarizing is the news of purchasable weapon skins. Keep in mind that Gears 3 already has numerous unlockable skins for all five weapons - the Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Gnasher and Sawed-Off Shotgun. But there will also be 21 skins for each weapon that can be bought with Microsoft Points. These will be costly if you want them all:

At this point, some readers may be tempted to gnash their teeth, wail out loud, and perhaps start trolling Gears 3 message boards. Before you allow the prices of these skins to drive you insane in the membrane, take a moment to consider that weapon skins are entirely optional. They serve absolutely no purpose other than showing off to other players when playing online.

Now then, if something is useless or extremely low in inherent value, why should it bother anyone that it's selling for a high price? You don't need it; nobody does. If Gears of War 3 suddenly started charging outrageous prices for map packs, then there would be cause for concern. However, that is not the case and this is simply a way to rake in a little extra money from a specific niche crowd.

Gears of War 3 launches this Tuesday, September 20. Stay tuned for our full co-op review.