And the Halo 3 news for today is: Heroic Map Pack!

[Wondermonkey]

Available for 800 Microsoft Points exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, each map presents a totally different play style.

• The symmetrical valley of Standoff, with its entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types.
• The vast, labyrinthine passages of the Rat's Nest bring something completely new to the multiplayer experience: an indoor vehicle paradise. Strongly influenced by the Campaign mode, this map is ideal for big team battles.
• Foundry is the ultimate Forge map. Players can edit every single object in this voluminous industrial warehouse, placing stairways, walls, bridges, and tunnels to create an entirely new play space and build almost any kind of map imaginable.

All three maps will become available for free download via Xbox LIVE Marketplace in Spring 2008, just prior to the next wave of new Halo 3 multiplayer maps.

We'll have more information on the Heroic Map Pack, including how to get the pack for those who haven't downloaded content before, as the release date nears.

[Crippler]

Free content? Free. Free is key. I will sit and check if it's free shit. Nothing else.

[Epyon MX]

CoD4 (and for me AC) really killed Halo 3. I'm hoping that we can bring it back.

edit: Mass Effect will not help.

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by Epyon MX

CoD4 (and for me AC) really killed Halo 3. I'm hoping that we can bring it back.

edit: Mass Effect will not help.

I haven't played AC yet, but CoD4 was no replacement for me. I've still been playing the gem. There's actually been less dickbags in GP as of late, which is a good thing. I also went back to Halo 3 during CoD4 so I could have some good AI.

I don't plan on playing Mass Effect.

[Wondermonkey]

New Maps (Sorry Crippler!)

It was just announced that three new Halo 3 maps will be released in December. The Heroic Map Pack will contain Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry. The map pack will be available for 800 points (then free in Spring of '08) beginning Tuesday December 11th.

Link.

[Crippler]

Yawn. Wake me in spring.

[Wood Ghost]

Is this going to be one of those deals where if you don't have the maps you can't game with people that have them even if they aren't using the new maps?

[Epyon MX]

It wasn't like that in Halo 2, so I don't see why it would change. You can only play on maps you own and you can play with any one who also owns those maps (even if the maps are default in the game).

Rat's Nest


Standoff


Foundry


Standoff looks hot! And I have no idea what to think of Rat Race. I'll need to see more to judge. Foundry looks kinda boring.

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by Wood Ghost

Is this going to be one of those deals where if you don't have the maps you can't game with people that have them even if they aren't using the new maps?

Doubt it. Chances are the only thing that will change is that there will be a playlist dedicated to the new maps only, just like they did in Halo 2, and then they'll be added to the hopper once they are all free.

[Quo]

I like the looks of Standoff. Not sure about the other two. I generally dislike the dismal look (like Foundry appears in that pic). I'm not suggesting everything should be bright and happy (although there is something very "teletubby" about Standoff), I'm just not big on the grayish tint of everything. Reminds me of Gears. A great game, but the grayness got old.

[Wondermonkey]

I think they all look hot. Foundry probably has to be an indoor warehouse for every single object to be editable, including stairways, walls, bridges, and tunnels.

I would imagine to make that outdoors would be too difficult.

I'm actually geeked for Standoff though. An indoor vehicle map gets me all kinds of excited!

[Epyon MX]

I have to say $10 for 3 maps does seems pretty pricey to me.

The first Rainbow Six Map pack had 5 maps and 2 new game modes and retailed for $10. The second map pack which contained 3 maps was free.

I'll probably wind up buying the pack, anyway. Bungie has to know this, count on this. But it's frustrating that Bungie has such a huge install base (4 million something) and they still charge this much. If they charged half as much and only sold the pack to 25% of the customers they'd still make $2 MILLION! That's practically pure profit.

[The Milk Man 09]

Maybe it has something to do with bungie being a solo company now because if this was priced by standards of the map packs for halo two it would be just about a dollar a map.

[Wondermonkey]

Originally Posted by Epyon MX

But it's frustrating that Bungie has such a huge install base (4 million something) and they still charge this much. If they charged half as much and only sold the pack to 25% of the customers they'd still make $2 MILLION! That's practically pure profit.

Bungie doesn't set the price, MS does.

Seems to be the same pricing they set for the Gears of War maps too.

[Crippler]

I'm with Ep. This whole marketplace, nickel & dime, is getting out of hand. Bungie knows the Halo crazed fans will pay $10 for this. For what, 3 maps that were probably near completion when the game shipped. Marketplace content is probably part of development now. Have content ready to milk gamers dry. Look at GHIII already. Packs o'plenty. Remember the early days of early Live and almost ALL content was pretty much free. You had packs here and there that cost some coin. Now Live is just another revenue stream where the gamers are being milked for every penny. I could live with initial content offerings being free and then start charging. We already paid a bloated retail price for the next-gen game. I almost feel like I'm entitled to one freebie for each game. Look at the PC side, $10 cheaper games AND they get the content for free 95% of the time. UT3 is gonna be a nightmare on the consoles. Epic is known for offering tons of maps for the UT series. For free. With the amount of maps that previous versions have received, we could potentially see map packs costing $30 on Live. I would love to see Epic charge $2.50 for like 20 maps. Now that's a deal and slap in the face to other devs.

I'm done whining about Marketplace content again. Sorry. I'll just DL these when they are free.