If you’re an Xbox Live player on Modern Warfare 2, there are some big updates hitting tomorrow (March 30th) in the early morning. Included in those are:

The Stimulus Package (Downloadable Content)

The first dlc for Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer hits exclusively first on Xbox Live. It’ll be coming to other platforms at a later date as well, but tomorrow morning you’ll be able to download the 5 new maps including Bailout (seen above), Salvage, Storm, and my favorite classic maps Crash and Overgrown.

Double XP

Originally planned to do it this weekend, but we’ve decided to throw the Double XP switch early when the new maps hit. So jump online with the new DLC and check out the two new DLC specific playlists.

Stimulus and Hardcore Stimulus Playlists

These two playlists are 100% dedicated to the new maps, and are Double XP enabled. So jump on and experienced the new DLC you downloaded, get double XP, and experience all your favorite gametypes along with some hardcore variants of them.

Ranger maps added to HCHQ

We’re adding a few maps to the Hardcore Headquarters Pro playlist on Xbox Live, allowing you now play all the Ranger maps in this gametype, something I know a lot of users have been asking for!

Title Update

Along side the DLC, but something ALL of our users will get, is a title update for Modern Warfare 2. Included in this update is support for the DLC (if you choose to purchase it), as well as some tweaks to the One Man Army perk, some matchmaking updates that will help our international users find more locally hosted games thanks to how ping is now sorted, and various other code updates that will help improve the overall quality of multiplayer on Modern Warfare 2.

There is no exact time you can expect all this, I’d say early morning when traffic is at its lowest, but by the time you wake up and get online I’m sure it will be available to most of you on March 30th! See you online all this week!

Source: Modern Warfare 2 Update – March 30th fourzerotwo. GAMER. GEEK.

Ooo that update sounds good

No more n00b tube spammers

After the initial issues getting it out (the game update didn't release at the same time as the maps, so no one could use the CODMW2 online), the Stimulus Pack is now out

Official word from Microsoft on the DLC mess yesterday:

Microsoft has explained exactly what went wrong with the Modern Warfare 2 DLC.

Yesterday saw the Stimulus Package released for Modern Warfare 2 but the maps weren't actually showing up for those who bought it, as it was released ahead of the necessary title update for the maps to work with the game.

"The Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package was released this morning before the Title Update (TU) for MW2 was available," Microsoft explains on its Xbox Live Operations blog.

"Unfortunately, the Stimulus Package doesn't function correctly without the TU. Once they had been released out of order, it wasn't a simple thing for us to resolve. For a couple of hours the result was unpredictable but most people couldn't get into a game through matchmaking. In technical terms, it was a big hairball that we had to unwind."

There also appears to have been a few billing problems, due to the popularity of Stimulus Package.

"Unfortunately, we're still working through some billing issues," the blog continues. "These are primarily around the redeeming of POSA cards - POSA stands for "Point of Sale Activation". These are the cards that you buy at a retail store that they then activate for you at the checkout register. Some cards that were properly activated at the retailer are reporting back to us as not having been activated yet.

"You haven't done anything wrong, you won't lose your money, and you don't need to go back to the store - just hang in there and try again in a few hours. The Stimulus Package has been so popular that our POSA vendors that make those magic point cards work are a little backed up."

So it seems that Stimulus Package caused an untold amount of chaos on Xbox Live yesterday, all in all. The maps are working now though, so all is calm. Microsoft can probably take a breather until Infinity Ward announces another DLC pack...

Source: Gaming News, Reviews, Previews, Cheats & Tips - Official Xbox 360 Magazine