New Halo 2 Maps On the Way
March 28, 2005

Bungie, authors of best-selling Xbox game Halo 2, has announced a total of nine new maps for the game. The first four will be made available by late April, with two free for download and two as premium content. These maps are:
 
• Containment – Likely the most exciting of the new maps, this huge battleground is reminiscent of Coagulation or Waterworks in scale, but with the snowy setting of Halo’s classic Sidewinder. Two large bases and lots of interesting terrain between should make for great team battles. Best of all, default Scorpions!

• Warlock – Another map from Halo makes the jump to Halo 2, as Warlock is an upgraded version of Wizard, carefully adjusted to make the most of the sequel’s enhanced gameplay.

• Turf – A sprawling urban combat zone with lots of alleys and buildings, this map is designed to take full advantage of CTF and Territories game types.

• Sanctuary – A Team Skirmish stage through and through, this symmetrical map centers on a Forerunner ruin with aqueducts and waterfalls running through it, with two larger structures flanking it to serve as bases.

The other five maps have only been announced by name thus far - Terminal, Relic, Elongation, Gemini and Backwash. They will eventually be available as paid downloads as well, and by late summer, all nine maps will be free on Xbox Live. At the same time the second batch of maps first becomes available online, a disc with all nine maps will be in stores retailing for just $19.99 (US). This disc will also contain some unannounced extra content, including at least one documentary.

Finally, Bungie is working on an auto-update patch for Halo 2, which will fix many of the errors that some gamers have been using to cheat online, including high flag bounces and standby glitching. This patch will hit Xbox Live shortly before the first four maps, and also be included on the retail disc.

For more info, check out the developer’s website at www.bungie.net.

Reported By: Tim Mitchell