A second Gears of War 3 add-on has been announced. Titled "RAAM's Shadow," it's a prequel to the original Gears of War. Everyone likes prequels, right? Ahem. Unholy trilogies aside, "RAAM's Shadow" will obviously support co-op! As Epic's Senior PR Manager, Dana Cowley, tweeted to our own intrepid Nick Puleo:
Gears campaign is always co-op ready. :) In RAAM's, it's badass, whether you're playing as Zeta or as RAAM & other elite Locust.
You know what that is? That's a smiley face confirmation. You can't just get those anywhere. Bad. Ass. Iron. Clad. Co-op. The DLC will support four player co-op, just like the main game. I mean, really, what kind of insane developer would throw out a perfectly good co-op system? That'd be like a slap in the face to every co-op gamer, everywhere.
In "RAAM's Shadow," gamers will play both sides of the conflict. They'll take control of RAAM and his Locust officers for one portion of the game, and then they'll play as the COG Zeta squad, attempting to evacuate the besieged city of Ilima. Major Nelson summed it up in his blog:
Starring a cast of characters both new and eerily familiar to the series, “RAAM’s Shadow” will deliver more than three hours of gameplay set in a storyline that precedes the events of the first “Gears of War,” as well as six new multiplayer characters, the Chocolate Weapon Set and an additional 250 Gamerscore.
I hope "three hours of gameplay" isn't a 45 minute mission on four difficulty settings. They wouldn't do that to us, would they? They are trying to get on our good side with chocolate weapons. Mmm... chocolate Hammerburst... It's like a burst of chocolate hammered into your face...
Where was I? Oh yeah, weapon skins. I'd like to propose bacon-wrapped weapon skins. Did you just come up with a totally unreasonable dollar amount for what you'd be willing to pay for bacon-wrapped weapons? So did everyone else reading this. Let's make it happen. I'm looking at you, Epic.
"RAAM's Shadow" will cost 1200 MSP ($15). It's expected to release on December 13th, about a month after the Horde Commander add-on. This DLC is included in the Gears of War 3 Season Pass.
Source: Majornelson.com