Bungie and Microsoft have announced that as of 2 a.m. this Tuesday, March 25th 2008, the previously released 800 M$ point Heroic Map Pack will now be free to download on Xbox Live Marketplace. If you own Halo 3 and haven’t already paid for these maps then you should definitely grab them. They’re free, ’nuff said. Bungie will also be releasing their new Legendary Map Pack soon for the same initial 800 M$ points. Look for that to be free sometime this fall.

More info on the Heroic map pack:

CounterAgent: Announcement, CounterAgent: Pics, CounterAgent: Videos

Bungie’s official announcement

Story via Joystiq

I can’t remember if they did this last year or not but this is cool. You can download the entire 65 team tournament bracket for you Xbox 360. Go check out Xbox Live and get your bracket and play your own NCAA bracket. Of course this gonna cost you a few Microsoft points, 400 points actually.

I really think this is cool but I would only do this if I had 400 extra points just sitting around.

Thanks easports.com

The Battlefield franchise has been around for a while and has a pretty big, loyal following. The games have continued to move forward with each release (I’m talking specifically about the PC games, not the console versions), although some may disagree that the last release, Battlefield: 2142. Well, whether or not you’re a fan of the previous Battlefield PC games, they are continuing the trend of change with their latest entry in the franchise.

Battlefield Heroes not only changes everything by introducing a completely new take, labeled “cartoon shooter”, but they’ve also changed the entire payment structure, offering a completely free-to-play model. If you prefer not to, you’ll never have to drop even a single penny to play this game. The game will instead make it’s money through advertisement. Not even in-game advertisement like you may think. They will be showing ads on the games loading screens, and while you download the game and run it off of your personal computer, you will be required to launch the actual game from their official website at battlefield-heroes.com. That way they ensure not only the loading screen ads, but also any ads on their site as well.

All in all the game has tremendous potential. The look, while many may compare it to the recent hit shooter, Team Fortress 2, is done for maximum accessibility and, according to the developers, just plain fun. The system requirements are also pretty minimal, especially considering most of the latest system hogs like Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3. Look for the game to go live sometime this summer.

Gallery and Trailer after the break. Boom!
More…

Halo 3 didn’t ever get a demo, though it did have a beta. Metal Gear Solid isn’t getting a demo. Actually, there’s a lot of games that never get demos. Mostly the games publishers know you’ll buy no questions asked.

If you think about it, a demo could potentially hurt sales, if only temporarily. Say you download a demo before a new game comes out. You play it, you like it, but it’s enough to satisfy for another couple weeks or so, at least until you can pick up the game for a little cheaper used. Right?

Similarly, they could even give you a great demo, but for some reason there’s a problem or a glitch in it. Even if the problem’s not in the full retail game, that demo could definitely effect sales.

Anyway, Grand Theft Auto 4 is not getting a demo. Sorry. It’s a game people will buy, even pre-order, sight unseen. It has a proven track record. If you want it, you’re gonna get it. Period.

Boom!

Did you have a chance to download and try the demos for the new XNA created community games? They were only available for a limited time. Why? No real reason, guess it was just a test to see if there was any interest. So, was there any interest? At first, yeah, I was totally interested. Then I downloaded and played all the games.

They’re only 15 day trials, which for the vast majority is plenty enough, if not too much time. Some of the games seem very much like tech demos, not games. One of the games, Jelly Car, is a really cool little tech demo, but it kind of gets boring real quick. Probably the most fully fleshed out title was The Dishwasher. The game, Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, is actually not at all about washing dishes, more about killing stuff in the most brutal, bloody way possible. The game starts slow and builds nicely, adding new moves every once in a while to extend you’re arsenal of death. It’s definitely not for the squeamish.

Other than these, there really isn’t anything you can’t just play online at any number of flash casual game sites. We’ll have to wait and see what actually becomes of this whole community games thing. At this point nothing really compels me to grab my M$ points wallet just yet. I’m still waiting for games that are actual games, like the upcoming Bionic Commando: Re-Armed.

Boom!

Major Nelson posted a reminder on his blog today. The Xbox Live Arcade game Undertow is now free for download. Starting today you can download the game. This won’t last forever, the free offer expires Sunday, 11:59 p.m. PST. Supplies are limited so get it while they last. And remember, anyone, Gold or Silver can download this game for free.

Boom!

Any surprise that all the top downloads are all the most pop songs of the year? What was the most popular song of the year? Ready for it? Fergie with Big Girls Don’t Cry. That’s definitely my pick. I mean, I bought that song several times and gifted it several more. Check out the full list on iTunes. The list kind of proves why iTunes is the leader and not a more indie artist focused music download service like eMusic (which is great if you like stuff nobody knows about).

Boom!

The social music revolution

Last.fm is a site filled to the brim with music. It syncs to your iTunes and Windows media player to create a personalized station. Last.fm will play songs it thinks you may like. This will introduce you to new artists. I have Last.fm downloaded onto my PC and prefer playing this rather than my own library. One of my favorite things it provides is the bio of the artist. I like to have some insight into the singer’s life. This can sometimes make or break the song for me. I know, I’m that fickle. Also you can “start a station” by typing in a band. Last.fm will then start playing all songs linked up to that artist. You can share music, create playlists.

And for all the musicians out there, you can promote your music FREE on Last.fm. That’s not all! You can also get weekly airplay stats. Isn’t that incredible! Go already and sign up! And let me know what you think.

Before I send you off to another site to see the list they’ve made of the best free games of 2007 I’m gonna tell you the games I picked. While my picks aren’t exactly freeware in the traditional sense, I’d like to share them. First of all the Portal Flash game is the best alternative to the real thing. It’s great fun and you don’t even have to download anything. Second, the newly available Fury MMO. It was originally planned to be sold for money, you may have even paid for it, bummer. Thanks to the company’s financial problems you get a free game. While it may not be the best of MMO’s it’s not bad for free. Finally, it may not have come out this year, but F.E.A.R. Combat (the multiplayer version of F.E.A.R.) is totally free and pretty freakin sweet as well.

Okay I’m done, here’s the link to GameSetWatch’s top freeware games of 2007.

Boom!

First off, both of the videos above are from the RoosterTeeth series Red Vs. Blue. You may be familiar with them. They’re based on the new Halo 3 Heroic map pack. The first video ran during the Spike TV Video Game Awards. The second video shows off some of the new levels, like the empty ‘Foundry’ map built for the ‘Forge’ map editor.

That’s right, the first batch of maps are here for Halo 3. It’s the Heroic map pack, it contains 3 maps, and it’ll set you back $10 (USD) or 800 Microsoft Points. However, if you want to save a little cash, there are rumors that the pack will be available for FREE sometime early in 2008. I don’t exactly play Halo 3 everyday, so I’m just gonna wait until their free. But, if you’re getting tired of the current maps and just can’t get enough H3, then you may want to drop the money sooner rather than later.

Boom!