On Tuesday, Microsoft eliminated the charge for a series of downloadable maps for its popular Halo 3 video game.  The add-on maps allow online players to add new battle zones to the Xbox 360 title.The three maps in the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack are now available to download for free through the Xbox Live marketplace.  The maps previously cost 800 Microsoft points (about $10.00).

One of the maps, named Standoff, includes a symmetrical valley with entrenched bases and boulders for cover.  Another, named Rat’s Nest, provides players with “labyrinthine passages” to work through, according to Microsoft.  Finally, the map named Foundry includes various, editable objects such as walls, bridges and tunnels, that gamers can place wherever they like to create a custom battlefield.

Microsoft also said it would release a new series of maps on April 15 in a suite called the Legendary Map Pack, the pack will cost 800 Microsoft points.

Halo 3 features a biologically enhanced super-soldier named Master Chief who, armed with plasma rays and other futuristic weapons, has to blast his way through numerous levels to complete missions.  He is countered by an alliance of hostile aliens called The Covenant.

Halo 3 has set various video game industry sales records.  On the day of release, Halo 3 game sales reaped $170 million and $300 million worth of sales were made in the first week.  As at today, more than 5 million copies of Halo 3 have been sold.

In September, Master Chief was ensconced in popular culture when Madame Tussauds’ wax museum in Las Vegas unveiled a life size statue of the character standing 7 feet 2 inches tall.