Gears of War 3 goes shotgun free with new 'Stay Frosty' playlist

The Fenix Rising map pack hits Gears of War 3 via Xbox LIVE on Tuesday and along with five new maps based locations from the life of Marcus Fenix, it's also coming with some extra goodies like a new playlist with no shotguns.

Stay Frosty requires the Fenix Rising DLC to play and is shotgun free mode that enhances the damage for the equipped weapons. Players start with the Hammerburst, Snub Pistol and one frag grenade and there are no pickups except for toned down frag grenades. Epic's Quinn DelHoyo compares the new playlist to Halo: Reach's SWAT playlist. That means we won't see DBNO (Down But Not Out). That final shot is a killing shot.

The Hammerburst can kill a target with four shots but no headshot bonus. The rate of fire for the Hammerburst remains unchanged for now but Epic is open to tweaking it slower depending on player reaction. Meanwhile, the Snub Pistol needs either five shots to the body or two shots to the head to drop a foe.

Because the weapons are already more deadly, there will be no active reload bonuses.

The existing Alpha playlist will stick around for a while longer and the existing Execution and Warzone playlists are being combined into a single playlist.