Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack announced and dated

by Dustin Burg { Nov 19th 2007 at 12:45PM }

Microsoft just sent out a press release announcing what we figure to be Bungie's super exciting Monday surprise revealing details about Halo 3's upcoming multiplayer map DLC.

The Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack will consist of three new maps (Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry) and be available for download off the XBLM for 800 Microsoft points on December 11th. And later, in Bungie tradition, the DLC will become a free download in the Spring of 2008 when Bungie releases the second round of downloadable goods (more DLC confirmed!) But we're sure you're just full of map excitement and want to know more about them ... so let's get to it.

The Heroic Map Pack consists of three multiplayer maps including Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry. Standoff is a mid-sized map set in a symmetrical valley with foliage, orangy colored boulders and bases entrenched on each end. It sort of looks Mars'esque in color and feel. Rat's Nest is the second map and features a labyrinth of passages, an indoor vehicle stomping ground and is said to be strongly influenced by the game's campaign. Finally, Foundry is billed to be a Forger's dream map that'll allow for complete customization within' the industrial warehouse. Boxes, ramps, staircases, walls and bridges can all be moved around in Forge with ease to create the ultimate Halo 3 map. Take a look at the gallery below to get a glimpse at what each has to offer.

Also, we're sure Bungie will be chiming in today about the Heroic Map Pack announcement, give out some more factoids and explain how the new maps will fit in with matchmaking. Here's to seeing a new playlist featuring Heroic maps exclusively. W00t!

Gallery: Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack

Tags: bungie, bungie-studios, halo3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Keith @ Nov 19th 2007 12:50PM

In the immortal words of fanboys everywhere...

woot

Gemini Ace @ Nov 19th 2007 12:53PM

Finally!

DjDATZ @ Nov 19th 2007 12:54PM

Damn, and I thought I had the break on this one... :(

Sorry for spamming ur inboxes Dustin, David n Rich!

Mmm...like I said in the messages I sent to friends on XBL, December 11th can't come soon enough!

Rod @ Nov 19th 2007 12:55PM

800 points for 3 maps... god thats a steal. At least for Gears of war it was 800 points for 4 maps :)

David @ Nov 19th 2007 12:55PM

More variety is almost always a good thing, so this is great news. I'm assuming that the only ones who buy these can play the maps, so how would this work in matchmaker? I'm an xbox newbie, so forgive me if that's a stupid question.

BobTheMonkey @ Nov 19th 2007 12:56PM

Foundry looks like the inside of that warehouse in Gears.

Josh @ Nov 19th 2007 1:04PM

Sweet! I'll definitely be getting these when they come out.

Stan @ Nov 19th 2007 1:13PM

I'll wait for them to be free. All my DLC money will be going to Rock Band for a while.

TORO @ Nov 19th 2007 1:16PM

That's cool, I hope people buy these so we can play them in matchmaking more frequently.

vanhelsingh @ Nov 19th 2007 1:28PM

800 M$ for 3 maps! Over.Charge. I'll stick with COD4

c4v3man @ Nov 19th 2007 1:31PM

I think 800's a little high, but on a cost per hour, it's not bad. Still, I hope they don't screw everyone over and make them required for the ranked slayer playlist, that's just lame.

Synapse49 @ Nov 19th 2007 1:31PM

This map pack should be entitled, "Bungies masterplan to pay for all of the marketing dollars they wasted on this game."

/spit

Give me my free content back! Microtransaction can suck it.

Swede33 @ Nov 19th 2007 1:37PM

$10 isn't that bad. You can't almost make that by cleaning change out of your car.

Ben @ Nov 19th 2007 2:08PM

what stinks is that, if it's like Halo 2 DLC, yeah, you can wait until they're free, but you won't be able to play online until you have them. so yeah, they're free, if you don't mind not playing for 4 months.

Iliad Force @ Nov 19th 2007 2:09PM

That is ridiculously expensive. Obviously nickle-and-diming is Microsoft's master plan.

mike @ Nov 19th 2007 2:13PM

Depending on how broke I am from other games at that point I'll decide on whether to buy or not, but you gotta love that they are staying true to their model of making them free later on. This way they can still make some bank, but us cheapskate Halo lovers are not totally screwed.

KilgoreTrout XL @ Nov 19th 2007 2:18PM

I was really hoping for either a remake or a small, symmetrical map for TS. I think Halo 3 really suffers from not having what Halo 2 had 3 months ago, which as I see it is:

4 fantastic, symmetrical small maps: Midship, Sanctuary, Longest, and Warlock;

2 pretty good ones: Foundation and Derelict; and

Arguably the best small halo map ever created: Lockout.

I realize that Halo 3 will have a ton of maps over time- it's just tough for me not to think about how much better I thought the arenas were in the prior game.

Napkin Sketch @ Nov 19th 2007 2:25PM

I was the uber Halo3 fanboy forever but wont be purchasing these DLC packs. Halo 3 was a major let down and I wont support it until they can actaully innovate their products or retain what made the game fun in previous editions.

ogvor @ Nov 19th 2007 2:27PM

If they do the gears thing and make it impossible to play online, then I may have to buy them. Other wise all may Halo 3 time goes towards Big Team Batte (Capture the Flag FTW!) and Rocket Race, and unless one of these is a great Rocket Race map, I can wait.

Justin @ Nov 19th 2007 2:27PM

Sorry....playing too much Cod 4 to care

xImmortal007x @ Nov 19th 2007 2:44PM

Bungie and Microsoft have one of the largest games ever created. And here's what they do. They ship it with limited number of maps, limited number of gametypes, limited number of armors. They knew damn well that people were going to play the hell out of this game when it was released and it's like...the userbase was there, but the content wasn't......

I'm over Halo pretty much, they ruined something that could have been good when within the first month they had nothing new for it, except for some OUTSTANDING ASTONISHING *sarcasm* playlist updates.

What were there like 2 or 3 big team battle maps? Pathetic.

And then on top of the lack of content, the first breath of new content gets a nice ole' 800 point pricetag on it.

Granteezy @ Nov 19th 2007 3:11PM

All my MS points are going towards Rock Band DLC, I'll wait for these to be free in the Spring.

dunnypop @ Nov 19th 2007 3:41PM

for myself and my friends Halo 3 has gotten a bit stale. considering Halo 3 was a huge success, they should have given away a map or two for the users that made the game a success. I'll wait for spring, considering I'll be busy with the other releases...

Paul @ Nov 19th 2007 4:32PM

so is everyone here (and on other sites for that matter) saying halo 3 was a letdown/bust/etc saying that because they don't like the multiplayer maps or the multiplyaer in general or what? i really enjoyed the campaign however my biggest complaint with the multiplayer is how easy it is to level up. i am a level 44 and i don't really play that much and was never that high on halo 2. the levels don't mean what they used to it seems like. anyways, hopefully new maps will add to what seems like only a few maps (its really 11, but 3 were in the beta so only 8 new maps to me) and will help the multiplayer experience. granted it sucks that they cost but the bottom line is people are going to pay for them. also i do have one more question. when the first 2 halo 2 map packs came out, were the maps immeadiately put into alot of the playlists or were they just put into one separate playlist so that we don't all have to buy them? i know the most recent map pack (with tombstone and desloation) was added into all of the main matchmaking playlists pretty quick after it came out....

The Small Bear? @ Nov 19th 2007 4:54PM

Look,
In Bungie's official posting they stated that the maps will be put into the ranked and non-ranked playlist first thing. There won't be months of delay. The system will pair people who have the maps with other people who have the maps. And if you don't have the maps you will get paired with...well you get the idea. They also said there will be a new playlist with just the new maps for people that just wanna play the new hotness. So don't fret, we aren't getting screwed like with Halo 2 DLC being primarily for custom game use.

Not to mention the map where we can add different forge items is great. Such as, man cannons! That's great, playing man cannons and shield doors will greatly open up the options for mayhem.

Peace