Weekly What's Update: Maptacular!

Posted by: Jake 'ev98' Billo at 13:52 PM 

The speculated downloadable content for Halo 2 is secret no more. Head on over to Bungie.net for an incredible amount of details as to the new patches and downloadable content.

In short, Microsoft plans to make the upcoming game patch available to all users by releasing a standalone expansion pack, complete with nine new maps and special documentary content. The disc will cost $20 USD, and will be released on June 28th.

Of course, these maps will also be available over Xbox Live - in late April, two of the maps on the disc will be released as free downloadable content, and two additional ones will be released at that time as premium, paid content for $6 USD. On June 28, the remaining five maps will also be released as premium content to coincide with the release of the expansion pack disc (for $12 USD.) Eventually, in late summer, all maps will become available as free content: if you're patient enough, you won't have to pay a dime for all the content, if you're an Xbox Live subscriber.

Screenshots, detailed descriptions and a lot more are available at Bungie's site; the official Xbox PR line is at Xbox.com. Higher-resolution images are available in Bungie's Halo 2 screenshot gallery. This is an incredible amount of information - much more so than anything given out before the game's official launch - so go take a look!

• Bungie's Weekly What's Update