If you’ve been playing Gears of War 3, you’ve probably noticed that Epic Games has been holding special “Gears Weekend” events for a few months now.  So far, these have been silly limited-time playlists for stuff like “sniper rifles + shotguns only” or “Diggers + shotguns only.” For the most part, they’ve been fun for a few rounds, but a bit too conservative to be worth more than a passing glance.

This changes right goddamn now.  Prepare to have your retinas blown off with sheer awesomeness, because the grown-ass adults who gave us chainsaw-machine guns just woke the hell up.

On Thursday November 24th, Gears of War 3 will introduce the “Thanksgibbing” event.  It’s a King of the Hill–the best mode–playlist where shotguns are replaced with the “Cluckshot”… a rocket launcher that shoots explosive chickens.  Logically.

You can play it by downloading the free “Versus Booster Map Pack.“  This pack features five multiplayer maps:

• Bullet Marsh
• Clocktower
• Azura
• Rustlung
• and Blood Drive

These maps were previously included in the paid “Horde Command Pack, but are now finally available for use in public versus multiplayer.  Don’t whine.  Just download them.  In fact, this is how your face should look as you read this:

So put down the Call of Duty and Battlefield for a bit and play some damn Gears with me.  See more details at Epic’s website.