Next Halo 3 map pack coming April 15, includes Sidewinder remake

50 Comments by Justin McElroy Mar 19th 2008 9:15AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

For the next Halo 3 batch of content (the "Legendary Map Pack") Bungie is going a bit more old-school. The pack will include "Avalanche," a spiritual remake of Halo 1's "Sidewinder." It won't be exactly the same, Bungie cautions, but its U-shape is definitely going to remind you of the old stomping grounds.

If you have more questions about the addition -- and we're sure you do -- some Bungie staffers took time to answer some of them. What we also learned today was that "Avalanche," "Ghost Town" and one other mystery map will drop April 15 for 800 points. Speaking as people who like to hold on to their $10 bills, we look forward to playing them a few months after that.

Gallery: Halo 3 DLC: Legendary Map Pack

Tags: breakingnews, bungie, dlc, halo-3, halo3, maps

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

yoink: Mar 19th 2008; 9:27AM

The first three new ones were cool and all. I broke down and bought them but other than the dlc hopper you never get to play them so I definitely felt like I wasted ten bucks. I think this time ill wait until they're free.

too busy playing brawl anyway. jerks.

mike: Mar 19th 2008; 1:08PM

I knew that was gonna happen and never bought them. Still waiting for them to become free. Im not against paying for DLC, but in a game like halo 3 where its just matchmaking and I like to play big team battle, the ods of ever playing new maps with 16 players is next to impossible. I bought the maps for perfect dark zero tho. I remember as soon as I bought them I just hsoted a 32 player match and was able to play on them with 32 players. Those were worth the money to me, not to mention I got 4 maps for only 400 ms points.

No point in spending money on these. Ill wait for them to be free to. Its a shame bungie milks the halo 3 cummunity with maps like these while other developers release maps to extend the life of their game, not milk a franchise (Eg, Epic with gears of war).

I mean bungie even has a "bungie pro" which you can buy for like 1200 MS points or something that gives you more file share slots. Come on.

umm....hello???: Mar 19th 2008; 1:31PM

same here yoink....although I don't think they're jerks--they said from day 1 that they'd be free after a few months. patience....that's the key.

MarkHawk: Mar 19th 2008; 2:37PM

400 Point isn't bad, you continue support for a mere 5 dollars and you d not have to be a hardcore fan to pay for some really nice looking maps. Unfortunitly you want to keep players from trading in your game and I feel you should always have 1-2 free maps if you plan on selling 2-3 in the future. It keeps up a chain of balance for friends who do not to spend more money on a game they spent 120 dollars on for a special edition. We get to [;ay some new maps for free and maybe I can convince them to drop 5 dollars for 2 more.

But the way Live works you dont seem to be able to give anything away. MS charges for it don't they? Didn't GOW have 2 free maps and 3 maps free after 3 months? Anyone?

Craig: Mar 19th 2008; 3:31PM

This reply is actually to mike, but there's no reply link under his post when I view it. So:

Mike, they actually don't set the prices for the maps. Microsoft sets prices on DLC, not the developers....So M$ should be the target of flames, not Bungie. They're too cool for that; see the story about them shipping the guy a box of Halo stuff after his custom-artwork'ed 360 got wiped in repair?

Dannybuoy: Mar 19th 2008; 9:27AM

Brrrrrrrrrrr.....

Obie: Mar 19th 2008; 9:30AM

Remake of Sidewinder??
Damn, that almost made me shell out $10 bucks...but sorry the COD4 maps will get that instead.

Good thing these will be free someday.

Fosssil: Mar 19th 2008; 2:10PM

The third map will in all likelihood be a real remake of Lockout (read: not Guardian); that alone is worth $10.

Roxxorsmash: Mar 19th 2008; 11:02PM

Yeah, with the CoD4 pack you get a remake of Carentan.

bobby d.: Mar 20th 2008; 7:30AM

besides the fact that this has nothing to do with cod4 and everyone loves turning halo 3 threads that direction...

anyone who has played halo (sic) and has seen the warthog pictures they released before they said anything about the maps, knew this had sidewinder written all over it.

DangerMouse: Mar 19th 2008; 9:45AM

There's whole games i never got the chance to play that cost 10 dollars or less. Cool if you're hardcore, but if i've learned anything from hardcore players, they f34r (sic) change. Chances are, the maps are only good for a week.

Markez: Mar 19th 2008; 9:53AM

I'm pretty so-so at Halo 3 multiplayer, am I likely to just get murdered repeatedly at an obscene rate if I were to jump online with these? Also, when does the other map pack become a free download?

Like the above commenter, I'm also a little too consumed with Smash Bros, but don't want to forget about my ol' pal Halo.

Too bad I can't use Wario in Halo online and just fart on people. Sigh.

Vcize: Mar 19th 2008; 10:13AM

I generally have no problem paying 10 dollars for new maps, but paying for them in Halo 3 is just a waste because they never come up in matchmaking, whereas in a game like Gears they were plenty worth it since those maps were immediately added to the rotation. I know they are supposed to show up if everyone in the game has them in Halo, but that has literally not happened to me a single time.

The only way to play them is to play the unranked DLC playlist, and then you play ONLY those maps and there's no way to play them in a ranked game.

They should've just split the community. As it is they only become useful when everyone has them, and that only happens when they become free.

Vcize: Mar 19th 2008; 10:15AM

I thought I remembered hearing that the last set of maps become free when these one ones release (so April 15th), but I could be wrong about that.

Vcize: Mar 19th 2008; 10:15AM

Ugh, that was supposed to be a reply to markez. Is this comment system ever going to get fixed?

Co: Mar 19th 2008; 10:26AM

Go Gators! We whooped up on FSU last night in baseball, and will dominate with the pigskin in the fall, like every fall.

Jerk Face: Mar 19th 2008; 1:24PM

More like GAYtors, amirite? OSU FTW!

Vcize: Mar 19th 2008; 1:51PM

Jerk Face,

I would reply more directly but I think we've already hurt you guys enough...

john paul: Mar 19th 2008; 3:44PM

jerk face

gators
my bro goes there
3-1
your call

Just to start a flame war: OSU is outdone in almost everything by the gators

Bleu: Mar 19th 2008; 10:29AM

I think I will spend my money on COD4 map packs insted. You see them a lot more often than the halo map packs.

J: Mar 19th 2008; 11:16AM

Do you already have the COD4 map packs and play other people who have them as well? I don't understand what you're saying.

Bleu: Mar 19th 2008; 11:24AM

What I meant was in halo when u choose a specific type of match only a certain set of maps are available instead of all maps being available. In COD4 all maps are avaiable to you in all types of matches, therefore I will be gettin the COD4 maps when they come out instead of Halos, and lets not kid ourselves COD4 is a better online game than Halo in all aspects.

natsfan7: Mar 19th 2008; 11:53AM

"and lets not kid ourselves COD4 is a better online game than Halo in all aspects."

Really??? I think you could make a defensible argument that Halo 3 is the overall better online game. In my opinion the only way COD4 is clearly better than Halo 3 in the Leveling system (EXP, Challenges, custom classes, ect.). I think in every other category Halo is almost as good, if not better than COD4. Now let me say a) Im not trying to undermind your opinion and say your wronge, and b) I love COD4 alot; it's a close number 2 to Halo in my heart. However, I don't think you should blindly proclaim one game better than the other; it's your opinion, not fact.

Bleu: Mar 19th 2008; 12:41PM

Your right its my opinion I cant speak for everyone else. I am sorry if I wasnt clear. But I have both games so games this is how I based my opinion. I believe halo has major issues with its match making taken rediculous amounts of time to find a game at times. The connection issues being that its P2P so you will have lags out the ass because of others with their weak connections. But to each his own I guess. Good point Natsfan.

Jerk Face: Mar 19th 2008; 1:25PM

That was an incredibly civilized conversation! On the INTERNET!

Roxxorsmash: Mar 19th 2008; 11:06PM

Wow, has hell frozen over already???

Bleu: Mar 19th 2008; 11:16PM

LOL I dont think so.

vidGuy: Mar 19th 2008; 10:46AM

I'm getting them on tax day then. I've been wanting a remake of Sidewinder so bad that I mention it just about every time we play Capture the Flag. It's always been my favorite map.

Matt: Mar 19th 2008; 11:12AM

I'll gladly shell out $10 when they release blood gulch/coagulation. I really don't play halo 3 because I feel the maps on halo 2 are much better, and my friends and I always switch to it after a half hour of so of halo 3.

JonFitt: Mar 19th 2008; 11:19AM

Blood Gultch/Coag is Standoff. That's it. In most ways it's much better, without the annoying rush to the sniper rifles to win the game.

Sidewinder/Avalanche will probably be related in a similar way.

343 Guilty Fart: Mar 19th 2008; 1:08PM

The rumor is that the 3rd map will be a remake of Lockout. There's some pretty good evidence supporting it too.

I'll take the bait and buy the maps, too bad I won't get to play them ranked until prob. September.

umm....hello???: Mar 19th 2008; 1:49PM

ugh....here I was really pulling for a remake of Prisoner. that was by far one of the best maps in the original Halo....well, that and just about all of the other Halo1 maps....

JonFitt: Mar 19th 2008; 11:16AM

Small map packs should be free to keep the game selling and keep the multiplayer community playing.

Paying for 3 maps just encourages developers to release games with anemic map selections so that can finish the ones they already got and charge you for them later.

Munkcy: Mar 19th 2008; 11:29AM

Why can't these be free from the beginning?

To cover the cost, can't they (Bungie/Microsoft) just put some ads in the maps? Not like a "hey you have to watch this commercial to play this map" ad, but more of a poster on a wall or something.

The "gamer" demographic is already an advertiser's dream demo, so Bungie/MSFT shoud be able to get a decent deal (decent in relation to other ad deals).

I think this would shift the focus for Bungie/MSFT from "let's make new maps every 3 months or so" to "lets change game types to keep people playing." It might spur more innovation.

I'd be willing to put up with dying in front of an "AXE Body Spray" ad if it meant the maps were free from the beginning.

vidGuy: Mar 19th 2008; 11:47AM

Please god no. In game ads work when the gamers are in a life-like world, like Skate where they work great. But they shouldn't be shoehorned into any game. I'd rather not see ads on a battlefield, whether futuristic (Halo 3) or modern (COD4). Ads don't belong in platforms games like Mario or Ratchet and Clank.

I'm already disgusted by the ads on my 360's blades. I don't want any more in my games.

Munkcy: Mar 19th 2008; 11:59AM

Maybe you're right. I don't think I've ever played a game that actively put ads in it like that, so maybe they are too annoying/out-of-place to put up with.

I just don't think there's any way to justify $10 for 3 maps. With the Heroic and now Legandary map packs, thats 6 maps for $20. I believe there's around 11 maps in Halo 3, before the DLC. So at this rate, $36.67 of the price of Halo 3 was just for the Multiplayer maps. That's nearly 2/3 of the price. That just seems way too much to me.

vidGuy: Mar 19th 2008; 12:09PM

That's a good point, but it's really the problem with all DLC. $2 per song in Rock Band? That price would put $116 of RB's $169.99 MSRP (68%) on the 58 included songs. Considering they are selling the drums alone for $80, something's wrong here.

I agree that the maps should be more like $2 than $3.33, but each gamer has to decide if its worth it.

Munkcy: Mar 19th 2008; 12:27PM

It's a lot easier to see how the DLC prices are favoring the game manufacturer/distributor when you look at the prices in bulk like that.

I just want things for free. Is that so much to ask?

Kodros: Mar 19th 2008; 12:22PM

Yeah, I have a huge issue with this. DLC should always be priced so that it covers the cost of making the DLC plus a little bit of profit. 3 Halo maps for $10 is so fucking mind blowing. You know that at least 500k of the 7.5 million Halo 3 players are going to buy it.

BMErdin: Mar 19th 2008; 1:15PM

I also wish map packs were free. To demonstrate this, I don't buy map packs. If/when they become free I download them.

Mr.ESC: Mar 19th 2008; 1:15PM

I bought the Heroic pack just to give the game a little life since I haven't play it since October of 07 then I play it January and I have to say I totally forgot how to play online so it was a disastrous experience until I finally remember how to pwn again (Git teh shutgun,crouch nd pwn teh n00bs thin procede 2 teabag) well I totally waste 800p and now they are giving the maps for free so no thanks I guess I’m going to use these 800p for what I should’ve done in the first place..Get REZ HD

Mr.ESC: Mar 19th 2008; 1:16PM

I meant I wasted 800p.

Mr.ESC: Mar 19th 2008; 1:17PM

That was a reply to my post.

mike: Mar 19th 2008; 1:22PM

whats worse is 1 guy makes a map. suppose it takes him around 3 weeks of work @ 8 hours a day to make a quality map. 8x15= 120 hours. Suppose his salary is like $80 000 a year, which its probably not, Then your looking at 15 days work out of around 250 work days in the year = $4800 to produce one map. If it sells for $10 for 3 maps, Total cost of map pack is around $14400. Once 1440 people purchase the map pack, its profit time.

Lets assume at least 50 000 people download the map pack (and im sure more then this do), Thats $485 600 Of profit. Well lets take away some for bandwidth fees to host the map for download, We are still looking at $400 000 profit from only 50 000 downloads.

Now lets assume the map packs get 500 000 downloads. Thats nearly $5 Million pure profit.

They are deffenitly overcharging for these maps.

umm....hello???: Mar 19th 2008; 1:52PM

umm...yeah, welcome to Commerce 101 and Microtransactions 101. the only part that really sucks is the suckers (yes, myself included) that download them for $10 when a little patience the new maps will all be free.

but as I said before, they at least state on Day 1 that these maps will be free in the future.

Kodros: Mar 19th 2008; 2:16PM

btw, 1 guy doesn't make a map. Need at least 1 guy to make the map, a few artists for new textures, a few bosses to make sure everything is running smoothly, a few weeks and a few QA testers to make sure its ok. Then I'm sure it has to get sent to MS for them to run some QA tests on it. Then there's the various behind the scene people such as the networking team, various management, etc... It's not cheap to make a map, but $10 for 3 halo maps is greedy.

Doug: Mar 19th 2008; 2:13PM

Don't buy these maps!

DLC matchmaking is horribly broken. There aren't enough players, so you get totally destroyed by roving bands of bored generals and brigadiers.

My k/d tanked after buying Heroic DLC. Even ranked games are more balanced.

Mike: Mar 19th 2008; 2:17PM

Remakes should be FREE folks. If they are releasing NEW maps that have never been seen.. ok maybe $2 a map.

WAKE UP SHEEP!!

343 Guilty Fart: Mar 19th 2008; 3:37PM

So what you're saying is that 80% of the games available on Live should be free, considering they're all remakes? Let's just make everything on Virtual Console free too.

Bucfann: Mar 19th 2008; 4:14PM

REMEMBER,

MS is the one who is controlling the prices. Bungie has stated this. The way they said it, basically hints that they dont agree either but what can you do?

I was very disappointed with the first Map Pack. Sorry, but to me it turned out to be a waste of money. I didnt spend much time playing that playlist because frankly, it got boring and I just didnt enjoy the maps much.

Rats Nest is decent. Nothing special.
Foundry is cool.....when you play on some user created maps. Definately not cool the way Bungie has it set up.
Stand Off seemed like the best of the bunch, but after playing it several times, something just isnt right about it. Its okay but definately something Ill be vetoeing when it makes it to all playlists.

The new maps LOOK like they have potential. At least the 2 shown to us. I am not sure if ill buy yet. I might wait and get some opinions from buddies of mine. Definately not from here because it seemed too many people thought the last Map Pack was actually good.
And if the Moonlight map does turn out to be Lock Out, man I sure hope they dont screw it up. I loved that map on Halo 2. I have a feeling this will be like a movie sequel and "Lock Out 2" will come up way short when compared to the original.