The gaming industry has certainly seen a lot of trends appear, especially in recent years. The launch of new content in the form of either expansions, map packs or new characters through the Downloadable Content method has certainly gained mainstream success with fans, especially due to the Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam online services.

Out of all these, the Xbox 360's Live service is one of the most popular, which led to a lot of companies releasing any form of content for the titles they had launched for this platform. The end of March and beginning of April will provide plenty of reasons for gamers to swap their new games for older ones, as a variety of titles will be getting new DLC.

The two most important ones are the map packs for two extremely popular shooters, Gears of War 2 and Halo 3. Epic Games' title will receive the Snowblind map pack, consisting of four maps, three new ones: Grindyard, Under Hill, Courtyard, and a remake of the popular Fuel Depot map from the first game. As the name suggests, the maps will be covered in snow, bringing a new twist to the multiplayer matches.

Bungie's Halo 3 is next, with the Mythic Map Pack dropping on April 9 onto the Xbox Live Marketplace. Set to deliver three new maps: Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox, the new content is certain to make a lot of players start up Halo 3 and enter many more multiplayer matches than before. Both DLC packs will be retailing for 800 MS Points.

But Microsoft isn't done with bragging about its DLC offerings, as it also mentions that the Xbox 360 is the only console that will be getting new content for Fallout 3, as The Pitt will be released on March 24, much to the anger of PlayStation 3 owners. On April 21, Left 4 Dead owners will also get the Survival Pack, a free add-on to Valve's critically acclaimed title.

All in all, Xbox 360 owners will certainly have a lot new things to test in the following weeks and the Xbox Live will see some very big sales for all these DLC packs.