A new multiplayer map for Halo 3 (360) will be released as a free download on July 7, now-independent developer Bungie announced on its site today.

A remake of the original Halo's Chill Out map, the revamp is known as Cold Storage.

In addition to the free map, Bungie revealed that the price of the recently released Legendary Map Pack will be permanently lowered from 800 Microsoft Points ($10) to 600 Microsoft Points ($7.50) beginning that same day.

Accompanying our hands-on impressions of the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack, Shacknews is proud to present a series of exclusive screenshots and video captured during our recent sessions in the multiplayer maps.

The first shots and video are below, the rest follow after the break. Included in all three are the humorous and shameful antics of the Shack's editors.

Due out April 15, the downloadable Legendary Map Pack will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). It features three new Halo 3 (X360) maps, two of which are reimagined versions of classic Halo and Halo 2 arenas. For more, scope out our preview.

Avalanche

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With the second Halo 3 (X360) multiplayer map pack due out April 15--better known in some circles as Tuesday--the Shack editors recently took the three new maps for a spin. Aaron Linde's got the word on the new arenas, along with exclusive screenshots and movies.

"Internally we were calling [Ghost Town] the Counter-Strike map for a long time, mostly because of the choke points and the sight lines," said Bungie multiplayer designer Lars Bakken. "It plays really differently from the other maps we've had." Read more...

Another batch of screenshots from Bungie's upcoming Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack have been released, giving us a view of the various arenas in a more action-packed format.

The map pack--which is comprised of Blackout, Avalanche, and Ghost Town--is set to appear on April 15, for the price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Bungie Studios has released a new trailer of its upcoming Legendary map pack for Halo 3 on Xbox Live. The video is available for download on FileShack, or in streaming format below.

Included in the Legendary pack are three new maps for multiplayer fans—Blackout, Avalanche, and Ghost Town. The pack is due for release on April 15 release on the Xbox Live Marketplace, priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

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Bungie today revealed the last unknown map in its upcoming Halo 3 (X360) map pack to be Blackout, a remake of Lockout from Halo 2 (Xbox).

The remade map lifts the familiar level structure from its original Forerunner architecture and situates it in a USNC Antarctic research facility. Speaking on Bungie's community page, the developers emphasized the importance of creating a map that reflected the original Lockout, tweaked and built around the new features in Halo 3.

Blackout will be accompanied by the previously revealed Avalanche and Ghost Town in the Halo 3 Legendary map pack, aimed for an April 15 release on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The pack will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Bungie's previous Halo 3 DLC effort, the Heroic map pack, is available for download free of charge as of today on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Clarifying earlier reports, Bungie has announced that the Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 will become a free download starting this coming Tuesday, March 25, at 2 AM Pacific time.

The Heroic Map Pack includes the maps Rat's Nest, Standoff, and Foundry. It was originally released on December 11 of last year, at a price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

"Remember, as of the April playlist update, the Free Heroic Maps will be required in Ranked Big Team, Social Big Team, Team Slayer and Rocket Race playlists," wrote Bungie's Luke Smith.

"We're requiring these maps in the following playlists to give players more options with the map rotations and by including a high population playlist like Team Slayer, we hope that the maps will permeate through the Community, resulting in more games played on these maps in Matchmaking."

The upcoming Legendary Map Pack is still on target for an April 15 release. Much like the Heroic Map Pack, it will initially sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), though Bungie claims it is unaware if or when the Legendary pack may become free.

The second downloadable map pack for Bungie's Halo 3 will arrive on April 15, publisher Microsoft and the now-independent developer have announced. At that time, the previously released Heroic Map Pack will, according to Microsoft, become a free download.

Selling for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the Legendary Map Pack includes three new multiplayer maps. One will be a retooling of the original Halo map Sidewinder titled Avalanche, with the developer issuing several screenshots of the revamped map.

Bungie had previously released several screenshots of another map in the pack, Ghost Town. The third map, code-named Moonlight Sonata, remains shrouded in mystery.

"Remember, we just make the maps, we don't get to price them," Bungie community manager Luke Smith wrote on the company's website.

Coming with the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack this spring, Ghost Town is a map that Bungie refers to as the "O.K. Corral."

"As an asymmetric map it's designed for things like One Bomb, and One Flag. It also creates a great environment for FFA and team slayer," says Bungie artist Cameron Pinard.

Check out some stills of the arena below.

Riding a wave of strong software releases and still-fresh hardware offerings, the North American console video game market grew a massive 43 percent in 2007, according to new numbers released today by the NPD Group.

Overall industry sales totaled a record $17.94 billion--compared to 2006's take of $12.53 billion--with software making up $8.64 billion of the pie. The highest-selling games list, which doesn't factor PC software sales into the mix, was unsurprisingly lead by Bungie's Halo 3, followed up by Nintendo's remote-including Wii Play.

The top ten software titles follow, listed in order of units sold:

1. Halo 3 (Bungie, Microsoft Game Studios, X360) - 4.82 million
2. Wii Play with Wii Remote (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.12 million
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward, Activision, X360) - 3.04 million
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Neversoft, Activision, PS2) - 2.72 million
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, Nintendo, Wii) - 2.52 million
6. Pokemon Diamond Version (Game Freak, Nintendo, NDS) - 2.48 million
7. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts, PS2) - 1.90 million
8. Guitar Hero II (Harmonix, Activision, PS2) - 1.89 million
9. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft, X360) - 1.87 million
10. Mario Party 8 (Hudson Soft, Wii) - 1.82 million

Consoles hardware sales topped out at $5.12 billion, with Nintendo again leading the competition. The yearly numbers are as follows, with life-to-date totals... Read more

Microsoft plans to train fans of Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) and then pit them against one another in the game's first official tournament, with the sponsorship of the U.S. Army.

Starting on January 19, three training sessions will be held: Sniper School, Heavy Weapons, and Vehicles, with registration for Sniper School now open at the official site. Those who register their Xbox Live gamertags and then play an online Halo 3 match will also be entered into a sweepstakes to win a framed Master Chief print or 800 Microsoft Points.

Registration for the championship tournament itself will open in March, with the games to begin in April.

Xbox Live user and sales data recently unveiled on Major Nelson's blog shows Halo 3 (Xbox 360) at the top of the heap in terms of unique users through 2007, while TMNT 1989 Arcade (XBLA) won the #1 spot in sales of downloadable games on the platform.

Released in March, TMNT 1989 Arcade beat out Worms, Bomberman Live, Uno and other marquee releases for top sales on Xbox Live Arcade. Halo 3's lead in regards to unique users online was followed by Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 as second and third place, respectively.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the data also lists Halo 2 retaining its place as first on the list of the most-played original Xbox titles. A complete list of the top titles in all three categories follows. ... Read more

The Xbox 360 has sold in excess of 17.7 million units worldwide, Microsoft revealed today in a statement that included several other sales figures.

The company also announced that Bungie's Xbox 360 exclusive Halo 3 has sold over 8.1 million copies since September 25, 2007, with BioWare's fellow Xbox 360 exclusive Mass Effect moving more than 1.6 million units after its November 20 release.

The figures follow proclamations made by Microsoft VP of corporate marketing Jeff Bell last December, in which he claimed that Halo 3 had sold in excess of 5 million units and Mass Effect sales totaled over 1 million copies.

"When we look back at 2007, we'll say this was the best holiday lineup in video game history," Bell stated at the time.

Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) has sold more than 5 million copies since the game debuted in late September, Microsoft corporate VP of marketing Jeff Bell told GameDaily BIZ.

In its first month of availability, Halo 3 totaled over 3 million copies according to sales figures from September. Shortly after its release, developer Bungie broke away from owner Microsoft, though it will still develop exclusively for the Xbox 360. A new set of multiplayer maps for the game, said to be the first of many, was released this morning.

Bell also noted that BioWare's hotly anticipated sci-fi RPG Mass Effect (X360), which Microsoft published, sold over 1 million copies within its first three weeks on the market.

"When we look back at 2007, we'll say this was the best holiday lineup in video game history," claimed Bell.

The Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack, consisting of three brand new maps for Bungie's mega-blockbuster shooter, is out in just a few hours--but in case your frothing demand for this map pack increases, we've captured dozens of screenshots. Hit up our brief Heroic Map Pack impressions for more details about each map before you buy.

Ever wanted lots of cars you could drive inside (as opposed to a nut you can play outside)? Check out Rat's Nest, a base similar to the second level of Halo 3's campaign, but full of vehicles. Next up is Standoff, a fairly large outdoor map suited to objectives, with underground tunnels similar to those of Snowbound.

Finally, crate-strewn FPS haven Foundry is billed as the ultimate Forge map, with nearly all of its geometry in the form of removable objects. It introduces new Forge objects such as ramps and walls, which can be used in all three new maps.

The Heroic Map Pack will be available later today for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), with plans to be free some time in spring 2008, just before the next round of maps. Perhaps that will be called the Legendary Map Pack. You think?

San Diego resident Randy Nunez has filed suit against Bungie and Microsoft, alleging that the company's recently released Halo 3 (X360) "does not function with the Xbox 360" as claimed by its creators. Nunez filed a complaint acquired by gossip website TMZ this week in a Southern California U.S. District Court.

According to the text of the complaint, Nunez purchased the game in October but could not play the game because he claims "attempted use of Halo 3 consistently causes the Xbox 360 to 'crash,' 'freeze,' or 'lock up' while the game is being played."

The claim alleges that Nunez is not alone in his plight, and that "Many consumers have reported that the Halo 3 video game has caused their Xbox video game console to crash and remain totally inoperable after playing the Halo 3 video game." As such, the suit has been filed as a class action and open to others in Nunez's similarly bizarre situation.

Nunez seeks unspecified relief for his troubles, otherwise he claims others will be hurt by Halo 3's mischievous marketing as well. "Unless equitable relief is granted, the sale of Halo 3 video games for exclusive use on Xbox 360 game consoles will continue unabated," the complaint concludes.

When contacted for comment, a Microsoft rep said the company "just received the lawsuit and are not in a position to comment on it at this time."

While direct sales of Bungie's Halo 3 led to the first profitable quarter for Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, royalties from Halo-related properties will surely solidify its financial position. The newest novel in the Halo series has taken its place on the New York Times Bestseller list in its first week of sales, Bungie announced today.

Halo: Contact Harvest went on sale October 30 and took the number three spot for trade paperback fiction, although it's slipped to number four since the announcement. It's the fifth novel in the series of Halo-related writings, but it's the first by Bungie's own Joseph Staten, who wrote the story and directed the cinematics for the Halo games.

The novel apparently explores the first contact made between humankind and the evil Covenant.

Beginning December 11, three new multiplayer maps will be available for players of Bungie's Halo 3 (X360). Titled the Heroic Map Pack, its three maps--Foundry, Rat's Nest, and Standoff--will be downloadable from the online Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Microsoft describes Standoff (pictured here) as "ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types" due to its symmetrical layout and boulder-filled battlefield. Rat's Nest (pictured here) is said to be "an indoor vehicle paradise" best suited for big team battles, whereas Foundry (pictured here) is "the ultimate Forge map" as players can manipulate and replace every object object within it to create their own custom arena.

The maps will eventually be provided free of charge, similar to Microsoft's efforts with Halo 2's downloadable content as well as that of Epic Games' Gears of War. According to the publisher, players can expect the Heroic Map Pack to be free in spring 2008, "just prior to the next wave of all new 'Halo 3' multiplayer maps."

Update: The promotional site for the offer has been reactivated, providing more details. Apparently, only original Xbox owners who have a current Xbox Live account and migrate their subscription to a new Xbox Live Gold membership after purchasing an Xbox 360 during the specified period will be eligible.

Original Xbox Live subscribers with an active account as of as of November 20, 2007, will be considered eligible. Though it's an online promotion, it's also only valid for subscribers living in the United States.

Original story: Want a copy of Bungie's Halo 3 for free? Microsoft will apparently be giving free copies of Halo 3 to anyone in the U.S. or Canada who purchases an Xbox 360 between November 21 and December 21, according to a page spotted by Evil Avatar on the official Xbox site that was quickly taken down.

The registration site for the offer is still up, requiring buyers to log in with the Windows Live ID linked to their gamertag. The site requires a valid Xbox 360 serial number and instructs applicants to enter the code XBX7777 on the online form.

Unfortunately, interested parties may have to wait until after Christmas to join their Halo 3-playing friends, as the site says Microsoft will ship out the games by January 18. Shacknews contacted Microsoft for comment, but has not yet received a response.

And lo, upon hearing the anguished cries of the gamers, this day the thirteenth of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, did Bungie Studios bestow upon its Halo 3 online Xbox 360 multiplayer playlists the sacred rite of Rocket Race, lifting the glorious vehicular battle of two-man teams out of the dismal pit of Custom Games and into the ranks of matchmade Social gaming.

So too has the Lone Wolves player count been raised to six (yea), and so too have flag-based gametypes become more common in Social Skirmish (verily), and so too have a variety of map and playlist tweaks been made across the board (forsooth).

For the fullest of details, clicketh this link to Bungie's abode, then join us in a joyful exultation of "Rocket Race," a psalm from the book of Remo.