Left 4 Dead DLC “The Sacrifice” and Gears of War 3 pushed way back

Ok so maybe I’ll be taking Halo: Reach out of my 360 a little bit sooner than I expected. With “The Sacrifice” comic that’s been running for a few weeks now (that I wrote about last week) Left 4 Dead’s latest DLC pack, also called “The Sacrifice,” will be released on October 5. Acting as a prequel to “The Passing” DLC, this latest pack will be available for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

Though we saw in “The Passing” that it was Bill who sacrificed himself so that Zoey, Francis and Louis could continue on, players will be able to make that choice themselves in “The Sacrifice.” I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if this choice boils down to whoever happens to be unlucky enough to make it to the escape vehicle last. Additionally, those who download this DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 will also get the No Mercy campaign from the original Left 4 Dead. For getting two new campaign maps, “The Sacrifice” is pretty cheap, in my opinion, being priced at 560 MS Points ($7).

But when there’s good news, bad news usually follows as well. Many websites are reporting today that Gears of War 3, the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster Epic Games franchise, is being pushed back 5 months to Fall 2011. After Cliff “Don’t call me Cliffy B” Bleszinski announced on the Jimmy Fallon Show that Gears 3 would be hitting shelves April 8, 2011 (even though, at the time, it was scheduled to be released April 5), Microsoft Games and Epic have announced recently that Gears 3 would be delayed until Fall to be one of the premier titles of the holiday season.

I’m actually a little saddened by this. Even though I barely played Gears 2 (even with the cool Horde mode), I was looking forward to Gears 3. The more colorful screen shots, the new weapons, Beast mode and the new direction the story was taking all had me very interested in this game. I wondering, though, if the game is behind schedule and this is all just a clever misdirection by Microsoft. Either way, gamers will have to wait even longer until they find out what happens to Marcus, Dom and the rest of humanity on the planet Sera.