Details, price of Halo 4 Map Pass and DLC revealed

Just a couple of weeks before the release of Halo 4, Microsoft has announced the season pass for Halo 4’s multiplayer map packs. According to Gamespot Asia, the Halo 4 War Games Map Pass is set to cost $25 (approximately Rs 1,341) and will include nine maps in total that will be released between December 2012 and April 2013. The map packs are set to cost $10 (approximately Rs 536) individually. An added bonus for those who purchase the Maps Pass is the inclusion of two in-game helmets called the Scanner and the Strider, and an in-game emblem – the Falcon. The Map Pass will be included in the Limited Edition of Halo 4.

The first map pack for Halo 4 will be released in December and is called Crimson. It is set to include the maps Wreckage, Harvest, and Shatter. The second map pack will be released in February 2013. Titled the Majestic map pack, it will include the maps Landfall, Monolith, and Skyline. The last map pack included in the Map Pass will be the Castle map pack in April 2013, which will include the maps Daybreak, Outcast, and Perdition.

Getting the Map Pass will net you all three map packs

Earlier this month, Halo 4 had been leaked online on torrent sites and was available to download and play. The game is available on torrent sites with all uploaders having their own versions of the disks. Some have single ISO files for each disk, sized 8,334MB; others have the entire two-disk game in one torrent. The torrent for the game is being seeded by several thousand torrenters, and is spreading like wildfire. This can be attributed to the fact that Halo 4 is easily one of the most anticipated games this year.

Shortly after, Microsoft had started banning players from Xbox Live who were playing pirated copies of Halo 4. Users from Reddit have stated that they have received an email from Microsoft saying that they have been banned from Xbox Live for ''prerelease title play''.

Back in September, developer of the game 343 Industries had released some screenshots that showed some of the environments and weapons that will be in the game. The new screenshots showcase the game’s varied environment and level design and hints to the die-hard fans of the series about where the story will take them in this game. The screenshots also show the protagonist – Master Chief – using some of the weapons that were shown in the Covenant weapons trailer that was released by 343 Industries recently.

The developer had also released a trailer that showed the new weapons and sound effects in August. The trailer mostly attempts to showcase the completely rebuilt sound effects for the weapons in Halo 4. The video also displays the revamped sound effects of popular weapons from the earlier games, such as the pistol, DMR, rocket launcher and shotgun. Some of the newer weapons showed in the trailer are a sticky grenade launcher and a rail gun that can kill in one hit, but has a relatively long down-time between shots.

Halo 4, Microsoft’s next iteration in the Halo franchise, will arrive exclusively for the Xbox 360 by November 6, 2012. Halo 4 takes place nearly four years after the events of Halo 3 and will mark the return of Master Chief, who was absent from both Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. Coincidentally, this game also marks the beginning of a brand new Halo trilogy.