Aww, thanks Ubisoft!

Earlier this week Rainbow Six: Vegas fans were teased when the new Player's Pack: Black Edition map pack was made available on Xbox Live for 800 MS Points and then unceremoniously yanked from the service within hours.

As it turns out, the reason for the pack's removal was that Ubisoft intended for it to be free. Whether this is truly the case or a reaction from fans, angry at the fact that the PS3 version of Vegas includes all 10 bonus maps that 360 owners had to pay for, we may never know.

In any case, the maps are available right now for the oh-so-right price of 0 MS Points. Added bonus? If you haven't downloaded the Player's Pack: Red Edition yet, Ubisoft will be making it free as of July 6th.

Those few people who managed to sneak in a download of the Black Pack before it was pulled will be reimbursed in 8 to 10 weeks. (ouch!)

This is all around great news, since while I am not opposed to paying for multiplayer content in principle, it all too often results in a split playerbase, making it harder to find people to play with. As someone who paid the $10 for the Red Edition and regretted it, I would not have been making the same mistake with the Black Edition. I'm looking forward to a Rainbow Six community where everyone has all the maps. Bravo Ubisoft!

[via Xbox Live's Major Nelson]