It looks like you are going to have to dig just a little bit deeper into those shallow pockets of yours, if Bungie has anything to do with it. Not only were online ranked matches reset, but something a bit more sinister came to light. Without repurchasing the new maps, don't expect to access all the great playlists that you were able to use before the update. So says Bungie:
As a result of this map "repair", everyone who purchased the maps prior to Monday 5/7 will need to download them again. This
is required if you want to play the maps online - only the new versions will work in Matchmaking and they are not compatible
with the older versions for custom games or offilne play.
You will not, I repeat, you will NOT be billed a second time if you
already purchased the maps. However, do keep in mind that each purchase is tied to a single Xbox console. If you downloaded it
on your Xbox 1 the first time and try to download it again on your Xbox 360, you will be charged again. Or, if you were one of
the few who found the billing loop-hole the first time and weren't charged, you will be charged this time.
More after the jump.
Did you catch that last part? Yes, they said billed again.Tonight's update means that both new maps will be REQUIRED in order to participate in some of our matchmaking playlists. However, we are keeping several playlists in their oldschool state so if you don't have the new maps you will still have some options. Here's the breakdown of what will be available after this update:
Rumble Pit - Unranked - New Maps Required
Double Team - Ranked
Team Slayer - Ranked - New Maps Required
Team Skirmish - Ranked - New Maps Required
Team Training - Unranked
Team Snipers - Ranked - New Maps Required
Team Hardcore - Ranked
Team SWAT - Unranked - New Maps Required
Big Team Battle - Unranked
I think NamelessTed from the Destructoid forums said it best:
"I am sure there are plenty of people that payed $50 for Halo2, maybe $60 for the special edition. Maybe they bought previous map packs, maybe they waited for them to become free. And I am sure a lot of them played in ranked matches. And now they are being forced to pay $4 if they want to continue to play the same game they have been playing for 2 years. I don't even play Halo2 but this has bullshit written all over it"
So there you have it. While we may be patiently waiting to finish the story in Halo 3, it wouldn't be a bad idea to head to the local Pharmacy and pick up a case of anal salve for our brutalized backsides. Thanks, Bungie!
[Thanks Namelessted/PacoDG]
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Contest:
11:24 AM on 05.10.2007
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Seriously, I am glad that a few other sites have already caught onto the story, seems like such a rip off for such an old game. If people want new maps, that is cool, but taking away my ability to play lots of matchmaking games is screwed up.
and I'd disagree completely Mikeohara... Halo was meant for the PC and it was stolen for their ghey little xbox toy. I want my fucking Halo 2 on PC now!
Not only that, but Bungie didn't make the maps. Certain Affinity made them. They're a start-up dev led by an old Bungie employee.
$4 is nothing, I feel no shame in supporting a new dev after they've toiled for months to bring two new maps to a game that has been out for three years. What other console game receives new content three years after release? What original Xbox game receives new content at all?
"You will not, I repeat, you will NOT be billed a second time if you already purchased the maps."
Halo 3 Beta in six days, be happy.
Frankly, I think the smart people are just happy that Bungie is still catering to the fans. How many three-year-old games are still getting new content and a regularly updated online experience? And $4 isn't a big deal. I mean, come on, people. Give me a break. I'm a broke-ass loser and I have no problem dropping four fucking dollars on the stupid maps.
Having said that, though, I'm really bored by the new maps, which sucks because I loved the Halo 1 maps they're based on. Two matchmaking games on Tombstone last night and I was already hating it. Oh well. Most of us should start moving onto newer games anyway.
Yes, both the fact that
1) The download cost is PER BOX (it's the way Xbox 1 transactions have always worked, so this was actually known about three years ago), and
2) You'll need to buy them for some of the matchmaking lists.
That there are reasons to reward people who are willing to pay a small fee to have external developers breathe new life into a 2.5-year-old game is /beyond/ obvious.
This is an awfully misleading post and a particularly lame attempt to drum up controversy. I would like respect your opinion, Gameboi, but not when you've tried to back it up with this deliberately deceptive nonsense.
Bungie went out of their way to explain this stuff. and they're friggin' free in few months anyway.
You hardly ever see this kind of stuff on Destructoid, /especially/ as compared to Kotaku or Joystiq, so voila- my (hopefully) constructive criticism.
at least i'm not the only one that doesn't find this 'outrageous'. i still think its pretty sweet. the maps have been a blast in the private games i played them in, and i'm lookin forward to some rumble training tonite on the new maps.
*puts away crazy pills*
www.nolimitzetnertainment.wordpress.com
This is only $4 now. You HAVE to buy the maps if you want to continue to play the game that you already paid for. They are taking away content that everybody deserves to play. If this encourages anymore people to drop the $4 now for the maps, then Bungie will continue to do this in the future. Halo 3 is going to come out, and then 1 year later they are going to want us to pay them 500 points to get one or two new maps. And then they will say that you have to buy them in order to continue playing ranked games, that would be fawking terrible.
Even if it is for a short three month period, they are still taking away content that the gamer deserves. I can't predict that this will happen, but there is a possibility.
Perhaps, and I'm just speculating here, the $4 is going to pay the men and women of Certain Affinity who worked their asses off to bring these maps to the masses.
Halo 2 fans have wanted a remake of Hang 'Em High since Halo 2 was released. Ask any one of them, I'm sure they were glad to pay $4 for it.
Looking at the same group of people, there is an extremely high chance that plenty of them enjoy to play Halo 2 ranked matches. But because they don't buy the maps, they are forced to play a smaller selection of game modes. THIS is the problem.
I have no doubt that the devs did a good job and worked hard at releasing these new maps and yes, they do deserve to be paid. But I also assume that they have already been paid and that all of that was a predetermined value. There is about a 0% chance that the employees would get commission on how many people download the maps. They might get some sort of bonus but they won't get paid based on sales.
The problem here is that a portion of the game is being taken away from the player if they don't pay. I don't care if it was $.50, they are removing content from the game that the customer already paid for, that is wrong.
The halo 3 beta starts NEXT WEEK. it will run for 3 weeks. Guess what happens 3 weeks after its over? the Halo 2 maps go FREE, just like the old ones.
if you're too cheap to spend $4 on the maps, I'd hope you'd made some friends to play some custom games by now.
So this means that the majority of the Halo 2 players are getting screwed. Unless they buy the $4 maps, they can't play several of the ranked game modes. This is totally not fair and. You people are looking at it from the entirely wrong angle, and that is why they are getting away with this. It is unfair and wrong and people should complain about it.
These developers (well, basically Microsoft) are muscling a lot of you into buying the new maps by hijacking items you already bought if you bought an XboX 1. That's akin to having to pay for a disc you already have in your possession!
For the slow (I won't address fanboys as they consider Microsoft's poop as candy and wishes they can pay double) let me put it this way: Let's say that I transfered my info from my XboX 1 and love the maps I do have, but I don't want to get the new stuff regardless of it being "new" or "k00l" or whatever. But to play things I already own, I have to pay again. Now if they CAN tell the difference between me an someone that went through the "payment loop", then all they have to do is charge them, since they themselves obviously think they can: if they CAN'T then how do they know if ANY person use a so-called payment loophole?
This is just another sham perped on the masses by Micro$oft.