Epic's Cliff Bleszinski has rather candidly stated that Gears of War 3 cannot afford to suffer the notorious online issues that plagues Gears of War 2's multiplayer. The Gears series has earned itself an unfortunate reputation for its hosting, lagging and matchmaking problems, and it won't be accepted in Gears 3.

"If we release Gears 3 and it has the same launch as Gears 2 online then the franchise is dead," said St. Clifford in a rare moment of humility. "So you can't afford to make that mistake twice, right? And to be fair over the course of the six title updates, we got Gears 2 in a very good position. And we need to take it to great. And that's what this will help do."

I loved Gears 2, but it seemed to me that the issues just got worse and worse the more I played. Here's hoping Gears 3 pulls it off, because it truly is a fine series that deserves more than to be remembered for terrible matchmaking.

For Gears 3 Multiplayer, Failure Is Not an Option [IGN]