[image:9163 align=left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Xbox.com and Bungie.net have news on Bungie's map expansion and downloadable content (DLC) plans for Halo 2.

At the end of next month, there will be two maps available for free to Xbox Live subscribers, and an additional two maps available for $5.99.

[image:9162 align=right hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]On June 28, the entire collection of nine maps, plus additional materials including a documentary and a cinematic, will be available for sale in stores for $19.99; this is the item that EB Games characteristically revealed too early. On that same date, the final five maps not released on Xbox Live will be available for $11.99.

At some unspecified date at the end of the summer, all the maps will be free to Xbox Live subscribers.

[image:9165 align=left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]The first four maps are: Containment and Warlock, which will be free to XBL users, and Sanctuary and Turf, which will be for sale. The remaining five maps are called Terminal, Relic, Elongation, Gemini and Backwash.

Several sites have been carrying the news in addition to the official ones: Major Nelson linked from his blog, Major League Gaming has the press release, Joystiq has the announcement. Halo Planet, demented puppy dot com, Sector 7, and, of course, HBO all have coverage.

[image:9164 align=right hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Bungie has also placed screenshots, one of each of the first four maps, into their screenshot section. We've also added them to our Halo 2 screenshot gallery.