Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Is Released.

The long wait is finally over. For 800 MS points ($10) you too can play on the sweet new Mythic Maps for Halo 3. If you're a Halo fan this is a must buy, it's got: a Team slayer map, an objective map, and the best Forging map around.

Click here to buy Mythic and have it waiting for you the next time you turn on you 360.

Bungie Continues To Inovate With "Mythic".

Ok so we all know that the second-to-last map pack for Halo 3 is coming out 3-3-09 right? With the maps, Sandbox, Orbital, and Assembly right? But now Bungie has shown us how they continue to innovate and raise the bar higher and higher for other developers. Orbital and Assembly are going to be your standard run-of-mill Halo 3 levels, but not Sandbox, oh no.

Sandbox is going to be very unique and extend the life of Halo 3 even more. How you ask? First off, Sandbox has three different "planes" to it. The middle plane (pictured above) is more or less your typical level, a box canyon with two bases and objects for cover. The cool thing about this plane is that everything can be removed leaving you a blank canvas to work with, create whatever you want, a la the level Foundry.

Now for the good stuff. Sandbox has a second plane that is in the air high above the first plane I talked about.

You can basically make a floating level high in the stratosphere of Sandbox, the blue grid serves as a marker and also a "net" to set your level on.

The sky is truly the limit here, the possibility are endless for people to make a Halo 3 level as they see fit. These photos and levels are courtesy of my friends over at Tied The Leader, who got a sneak peak at playing on Sandbox.

Now the third plane, as you may have guessed, is underground in a Crypt. In the center of the map is this tiny hole in the ground and it is the only way in or out of the Crypt, and I assure you it's quiet a drop.

Once inside the Crypt is basically just a big empty room, perfect for you Forging needs or say a match of Grifball!

So, as you can see, Sandbox is shaping up to be quiet the Halo 3 experience. To top it off I'll end this with a new Forge item to play with: Killballs. Killballs (as seen above) are big orange balls of electricity that kill anything that enters them... Spartans, Warthogs, Tanks, etc... So be on the look out for Killballs, make sure to steer clear if you see them.

Be sure to check out more on Mythic Maps and Sandbox here:

Tied The Leader

Bungie.net

More Halo 3 Maps On The Way.

When Halo Wars ships March 3rd it is going to include 3 new multiplayer maps for Halo 3 inside. Pretty smart marketing on Microsoft's party... Of course you'll be able to buy the maps without buying Halo Wars but that will be a few months down the line, and really what self-respecting Halo fan could wait that long?

The new Mythic Map Pack will include three new maps: Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox. Sandbox is of course the picture above, Assembly I've talked about here, and Orbital has yet to be shown to the public.

Sandbox looks pretty cool to me, I've always been a fan of Sandtrap and this looks like more of the same. The difference with Sandbox seems to be that all the pieces could be removable, so that would make for a great sandbox to Forge around in...

You see what I did there?

Halo 3: Keep It Clean.

Update:  For a really, really, really in depth look into this trailer and Halo mythology be sure to read the Ascendant Justice article.

Today Bungie revealed the next part in their plan for world domination, a teaser trailer for what is being called a "New Campaign Experience" for Halo 3.

Everybody is speculating as to what Bungie is going to bring to Halo 3, rumors from new campaign levels where you play as a Marine (and not the Chief), to more multiplayer levels, or even both. Bungie, so far, has released maps in three waves so far: Heroic, Legendary, and Cold Storage. With the previous three maps releases there has never been this amount of hype nor something to the magnitude of a teaser trailer. So what I'm betting on is a full out Halo 3 Expansion, Halo 3: Mythic. You can either buy this on a disc or as a full download strait to your Xbox 360 hard drive.

This is a picture that was taken at PAX '08 where Bungie first revealed the new map Assembly. At the time no one knew what Mythic was, and Bungie just brushed it off as a "PAX version"

As you can see since the update to Halo 3 a few days ago, some interesting achievements have popped up in reference to the Mythic Maps.

Confused? Me too. At this point there seems to be multiplayer "Mythic Maps" coming at some point, but if you download the new Halo 3 video from your Xbox 360 on the Marketplace, the describtion does say, "New Campaign Experience". So it seems that we have multiplayer and singleplayer content coming. But just as with any Bungie products we won't know anything until Bungie wants us to know something.