The 'Legendary Map Pack' comes out soon (April 15th) for Halo 3.  The third map, 'Blackout', was just revealed to be a remake of the Halo 2 map Lockout.

Now, I love the Bungie guys as much as anyone, but I'm seeing a disturbing trend.  Most of the maps that they release are refreshes or remakes or inspirations from maps in their previous games.

In some ways it is like high concept films in Hollywood: it's "Spider-man 3" meets "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Cruise attached.  [English translation: I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I like money and I'll sleep with you to advance my career]

The problem isn't just the high concept nature of the recent Halo 3 Map Pack maps, but how many of them seem to be remakes of past maps.  It is one thing to remake 'Blood Gulch' with each release.  However, it was kind of odd that Halo 3 shipped with a remake of 'Zanzibar' from Halo 2 (along with a bunch of other 'inspired by' maps).  And now I'm worried that Bungie has started down a slope that is both slippery and sloped.

At their current rate, the next Map Pack for Halo 3 (assuming there is one) will contain a remake of an existing Halo 3 map:

The first map in the Iron Skull Map Pack for Halo 3 is 'Snowunbound.'  Snowunbound is a remake of 'Snowbound' from Halo 3 but with mancannons and a Forerunner theme.  [English translation: I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I like money and I'll sleep with you to advance my career]

You can see where this is going.  Soon there will be Map Packs for Halo 3 (assuming there are more) that contain remakes of Halo 3 maps that ship in the same Map Pack:

The third map in the Grunt Love Map Pack for Halo 3 is 'Dustblast.'  Dustblast is a remake of 'Dirtblast', the first map in the Grunt Love Map Pack for Halo 3, but with mancannons and a Forerunner theme.  [English translation: I once rode my bicycle to the mall and ate an Orange Julius.  Merry Christmas]

Of course, then it'll get really weird, and there will be a Map Pack for Halo 3 (assuming there is one) that contains a remake of a Halo 4 map (assuming there is a Halo 4) before the latter game comes out!

The second map in the Banshee vs Hornet Map Pack for Halo 3 is 'Gyrotime.'  Gyrotime is a remake of 'Laserspace' from the forthcoming Halo 4 game.  But without mancannons and a non-Forerunner theme.  [English translation: it's the normal version of the map]

Although, what will really blow everyone's mind is when they make a map in a future map pack (assuming there is one) that was the inspiration for a map that has already shipped in the original Halo game.

The first map in the Gravemind to the Max! Map Pack for Halo 3 is 'Boarding Mancannon'.  Boarding Mancannon is the inspiration for 'Boarding Action' that shipped in Halo: Combat Evolved six+ years ago.  But with mancannons and a Forerunner theme.  [English translation: GWAHahaaaaAaa]

In conclusion: I'm still going to download them all if I'm not too busy playing Grand Theft Auto IV's Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content.