Epic working with MS to speed up Gears 2 matchmaking

Epic's Rod Fergusson has put a lengthy post up on the firms forums admitting there's a time issue with matchmaking in Gears of War 2 game and suggesting ways to get round it.

He said the long waits some players are experiencing to get into games are being addressed with Microsoft, but there's no confirmation of a patch as yet.

Says Rod:

If you're experiencing long delays (longer than 2 minutes) or you're seeing your matchmaking search restarting over and over again, please try a different playlist as that indicates a possible population issue with the currently selected one.

The problem seems to be heightened for parties of 1 and parties of 4 so please try to invite at least one friend into your party before matchmaking. And of course the fastest way to play is to have a full 5 person party before looking for a match since you won't have to find any teammates beforehand. Fortunately our new "What's Up" feature makes finding Friends who're playing Gears 2 online easier.

Also, after a match, if you'd like to continue to play with the 9 people you just played with, simply press Y to look at the previous match stats and press X to invite them all to your party so you can continue to play in a Private match if they accept. Private matches, while not arbitrated, gives you the flexibility to set exactly which map and mode you want to play along with customizing other aspects of the game.

More through there.