Halo 3 Map Pack Released Today

Bungie and Microsoft have released the first downloadable content for the smash hit Halo 3, turning the "Heroic Map Pack" loose on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Available for 800 Microsoft points, the "Heroic Map Pack" offers three unique multiplayer maps: "Standoff," a symmetrical valley with boulders and entrenchments, "Rat's Nest," a massive indoor vehicle arena, and "Foundry," described as "the ultimate Forge map," in which every single object can be edited to create virtually any kind of map a player can think of. To keep things hopping, all three maps can be customized via Forge.

The "Heroic Map Pack" is the first in a planned series of downloadable content from Bungie which will help keep the game "fresh, exciting and evolving." The next batch of Halo 3 multiplayer maps is due to hit in spring of 2008, at which time the current "Heroic Map Pack" content will be released free on the Marketplace.