Microsoft and Epic announced that a patch for Gears of War is expected on Xbox Live tomorrow, January 9th. The patch will fix many of the nagging issues gamers have had. The list of fixes and additions is:

• Fixed aspect ratio distortion when using VGA cable with 4:3 displays at resolutions higher than 640×480
• Fixed voice issue with new players joining Player Match games in progress
• Players can now get the Achievement for “Dish Best Served Cold” when using Troika turret to kill RAAM
• Fixed rare situation where host could loop countdown and never start match
• Fixed rare situation where players could get stuck after chainsawing in multiplayer
• Reduced Grenade Tag melee distance
• Enabled “Strict” NAT check on host to prevent possible connection issues
• Optimized server browser queries to return results more quickly and prevent scroll bars from hiding quality of service icons
• Reduced number of possible revives in Execution to match Warzone
• Removed host name from Ranked match server browser
• Disabled security cameras in Ranked matches
• Ranked matches now require balanced teams (3v3 or 4v4)
• Increased penalty for quitting a Ranked match to -50 points
• Added additional cheat detection code
• Additional housekeeping updates

The new FREE maps (yes, I said FREE) are expected Wednesday January 10th. They’re being sponsored by Discovery Channel, which is why they’re free. There is also going to be a new video from the one and only Cliffy B to talk about the update and new maps. Here’s details of the new maps.

Raven Down: A Raven Helicopter has gone down in the middle of a large scale battle with the omnipresent Locust Horde. Gears have taken out the Seeder and gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors.

Old Bones: In an attempt to eradicate any traces of human history and culture, the Locust Horde has emerged under Sera’s Capitaline Museums and has begun to destroy them brick by brick. Each gamer’s mission is to help the Delta Force recapture the museums before all remnants of humankind’s existence are obliterated.

Pics of the new maps after the jump.
Hit the jump for more…

Just to remind anyone interested that Bill Gates’ CES Keynote Address is tonight at 6:30PM PST. It’s being streamed live here.

Expect announcements of the IPTV service, larger hard drive, and HDMI version of the Xbox 360. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill talks about Halo 3 either (yeah, I went out on a limb on that one).