Gears of War 2 News: Horde Mode and more

Horde Mode:
Gears of War 2 will feature a new multiplayer game type known as "Horde Mode." 4 players will be thrown into a small map that must work together to survive until level 50. After all 4 players die, it's over. You're able to restart from the last stage, but you start in random locations and the scores are set back to 0. Of course, whoever gets the most kills will have their gamertag placed above the others in the scoreboard, but teamwork is essential.
After level 10 it's supposed to be turned up a notch. The Horde will start coming from all directions of the map in order to flank you and make whatever great system you and your buddies had seem so futile.

Unlockables:
You start with default MP characters, but there's more characters to unlock, through playing the campaign.
-Dizzy Wallin: Unlock by completing Act 1 on any difficulty
-Kantus: Unlock by completing Act 2 on any difficulty
-Tai Kaliso: Unlock by completing Act 3 on any difficulty
-Flame Grenadier: Unlock by completing Act 4 on any difficulty
-Skorge: Unlock by completing Act 5 on any difficulty

You can also unlock a few characters for Gears of War 2 by playing Gears of War 1.
-Complete Act 1 in “Gears of War:” Unlock Anthony Carmine multiplayer skin in “Gears of War 2”
-Find 10 COG tags in “Gears of War:” Unlock Minh Young Kim multiplayer skin in “Gears of War 2”
-Defeat RAAM in “Gears of War:” Unlock RAAM multiplayer skin in “Gears of War 2”

New Activities to play in the grave:
-Smoother cameras and the camera will automatically zoom in on the closest action
-A new "Ghost Camera" will allow you to freely move around the map
-You'll still be given the ability to follow behind your teammates
-There will also be an option to take screenshots using any of those cameras, there will also be a score system based upon the quality of your screenshot, and then you'll be able to upload them on gearsofwar.com

New Party System:
A new party system will let players party up and stay together, even after quitting and joining games.

What's Up?:
Epic is giving players of GoW2 the ability to contact and party up a lot easier with a new feature called Whats Up. With one button you'll be able to view all your friends and with the click of another you can invite all your friends to join you. You won't even have to pull up the Xbox Guide.

New MP Competitive Game Types:
-Guardian: A modified version of Assassination, where players will have to protect their leader, and if they don't they will lose the ability to respawn.
-King of the Hill: KotH was in Gears of War for the Windows, but is making a return to the consoles. If your team has the point, you won't respawn and will have to wait for a new point to spawn or the opposing team to take it if you're waiting to respawn. You will also have to stay within the hill to control it. Execution rules in effect.
-Wingman: 5 teams of 2 players each will compete to reach the set amount of kills to win. It's 1 point for a kill, and 1 point for each team that survives the round. Execution rules in effect.
-Submission: Players must down an opponent and take him as a living shield, and then will have to take the hostage back to a designated point.

Maps:

10 new maps, all 10 will feature all MP gametypes.

-Avalanche
-Blood Drive
-Day One
-Hail
-Jacinto
-Pavilion
-River
-Ruins
-Security
-Stasis

Plus the Flashback Map Pack will come with every copy of "Gears of War 2" starting with the first to last copy sold. The FBMP will feature 5 maps from the original "Gears of War" to download free of charge. Each map's graphics will be updated, and the FBMP consists of:
-Canals
-Gridlock
-Mansion
-Subway
-Tyro Station

Golden Gun:
A token will be available exclusive to the limited edition of Gears 2, which will unlock a gold lancer assault rife.