Gears 1 was the only game I cared about playing online, so once I quit that I let the account lapse. I'm not very enthusiastic about getting online with any more Gears, either. The first one got frustrating quickly. As soon as you were decent, really. Host advantage was just too much, and added to that was the fact that virtually every battle was a matter of rock-paper-scissors, shotgun style. When two people come face to face they start running around with the shotgun, moving one particular avoidance pattern that worked the best. Everyone did it. For decent players there was very little skill. Gears was not the deepest of shooters, unfortunately.

I hear Gears 2 is the same.