Halo 3 Planet

Bungie finally gives us the full scoop on the brand new Halo 3 Map Pack (deemed the “Heroic Map Pack” going on sale December 11th for 800 [tag]Microsoft[/tag] Points).  This time, they’ve got some pictures of the maps to share.

Standoff

According to the folks over at Bungie, you can think of this new outdoor map as “Blood Gulch, except squished together, with 4000 foot satellite dishes.“  Are we excited about this so-called third installment of the Gulch?  More than ever.

Rat’s Nest

Rat’s Nest appears to take on the appearance of Crow’s Nest from Halo 3’s Campaign mode.  According to Bungie, it will be a great addition to matchmaking for Big Team Battle players.

Foundry

Foundry has been called “The Forge Level”, as it will be completely customizable to players using Forge… even more so than the levels shipped with the game.  It sounds like it can essentially just become an “Open Space” by deleting everything in Forge.  The possibilities are endless!

[Photos from Bungie.net] 

More photos of the new [tag]Halo 3[/tag] Maps will be released shortly after Thanksgiving Day according to Bungie.   They’ve also done a really great Q & A in their news post, which is definitely worth a quick glance.

[tag]Halo[/tag] 3 is getting three brand new maps come December 11th according to Xbox.com (Spring 08 for those not wanting to buy the maps).  Not sure how they were able to spill the details about the new downloadable maps before Bungie, but we’re excited that they are coming so soon!

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.

Foundry sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun!  We may need to have another Forge contest soon!

As mentioned earlier, the [tag]Halo[/tag] [tag]Wars[/tag] E3 Demo is now available for download on the [tag]Xbox[/tag] Live Marketplace!  You can start downloading it immediately if you have [tag]Xbox Live[/tag], or you can also download it directly from the [tag]Halo Wars[/tag] Official Website.

Halo Wars E3 Demo

This guided tour through 10 minutes of play time really gives us an excellent look at what Ensemble Studios has in store for us come 2008.  With the end of the Halo Trilogy so close at hand, this is some refreshing news for the Halo Nation!

[UPDATE]

Sorry Folks, Microsoft has requested that we kindly take down the images.  It seems that they are going to be monitoring this issue pretty well, so most other sites will probably follow suit.  If you really must see these leaked screenshots (they really, really are not that impressive since they are such low quality), I’d suggest searching for “Halo 3 Epsilon” on Flickr.

As many fans are well aware, the Halo 3 Epsilon Beta launched just a few days ago, and already, leaked screenshots and gameplay videos are already hitting the internetz. Although tragic that users granted the opportunity to play the new Halo 3 before anyone else would breach their NDA, it is without a doubt that [tag]Bungie[/tag] expected this to happen. It’s nearly impossible to keep things concealed when you release a build of the game to a large group of gamers.

There are 18 images available and all nicely packaged for people interested. We’ve hosted the package locally, although we believe the source to be from 360wtf.com.

Download the Leaked Halo 3 Images

There are rumors that the authors of this package will be releasing [tag]leaked[/tag] [tag]Halo 3[/tag] video footage very soon. The [tag]images[/tag] in this pack are fairly low quality, but they do have some new images of the “Forge” multiplayer feature, new halo weapons and vehicles (like the Elephant), and some other cool stuff.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft launched a website full of brand new [tag]Halo 3[/tag] Content.  For anyone who missed it, you can find all of the Free [tag]Halo[/tag] Downloads here.

The downloads include:

•  3 Halo [tag]Ringtones[/tag]
• 2 Halo 3 [tag]Screensavers[/tag]
• 3 Brand new Halo 3 [tag]Wallpapers[/tag]
• Several Halo related avatars for [tag]Windows Live Messenger[/tag] and [tag]Live Spaces[/tag]

No subscription is required or anything, they are all completely free downloads.