Tag Archives: ensemble studios

Halo Wars may not have been original, but it put a neat spin on Microsoft’s well-known franchise. For Ensemble Studios, it was never meant to be a Halo game. Founder Tony Goodman has spent time discussing the difficult situation faced by his team.

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Tony Goodman, one of the co-creators of Ensemble Studios’ Age Of Empires, has launched a new mobile start up called PeopleFun, telling VentureBeat his firm plans to create “character driven games,” and start small. “We were so successful with our first idea that we never got around to some of our other ideas. We’d like to create character-driven games, like the Nintendo games that we grew up with,” he said. The Texas-based studio includes John Boog-Scoot and Angelo Laudon, also ex-Ensemble Studios staffers. The team will focus on titles for iOS and Android.

343 Industries boss Frankie O’Connor has said that Ensemble RTS Halo Wars was a “huge success”, but insists work on a sequel has not begun.

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Ensemble Studios founder Bruce Shelley has said Age of Empires III “just wasn’t an Age game”, and described the design process as “a huge mistake”.

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Microsoft’s announced it’s to close the website for Halo Wars and wipe online player stats for the RTS.

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Update: Looks like it’s something to do with actual Spartans and not a Halo related game, according to this piece of art and further confirmation from Examiner.

Original: A survey sent out by Microsoft has the firm enlisting alpha testers for what it describes as a “groundbreaking,” “giant, revolutionary step for PC strategy games”.

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Ian Fischer, once a lead designer at Ensemble Studios, has blasted manager Paul Bettner over his claims at GDC earlier this month that the outfit was inefficient and prone to crunch.

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Ensemble Studio’s inability to hit deadlines or budget restraints led to its downfall, long-time staffer Paul Bettner said at GDC last week.

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More art from the now-defunct Ensemble Studios Halo MMO has emerged, this time from the desk of Ensemble-contracted artist Dylan Cole. He recently posted two pieces of concept art from the videogame-heaven-bound Halo title, both of which focus on what Cole calls “Halo Universe City.”

Since “Halo Universe” is capitalized twice on Cole’s page, speculation holds that “Halo Universe” was the game’s title. Or maybe it’s not. Regardless, the concept art is quite a sight, and is well worth a look.

Shame we’ll only be looking, though, and never touching. Oh well.

The Halo Wars: Strategic Options Add-on Pack is now available on Xbox Live.

It contains the three new game modes:  Keepaway which is a capture the flag game; Tug of War sees who can field and maintain the strongest army; and Reinforcements allows you to adapt your tactics with waves of troops.

The add-on will run you 800 MS Points ($10).

More from The Major here.

Rock Paper Shotgun has listed the new studios formed by now-defunct Ensemble Studios on one pretty page.

It’s a good thing, because we know most people are prone to ADHD, and lists help keep your brain cells organized.

Without further ado, here’s the breakdown:

Robot Entertainment: Started by Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman in Texas with 45 other Ensemble employees hired on as staff. Currently at work on additional content for Halo Wars, online support for Age of Empires and Halo Wars, and original IP.

Bonfire Studios: Formed by David Rippy and employs 35 staffers. Currently at work on an original, super-secret IP. Promises to have a “strong strategy element” to it.

Windstorm Studios: Dusty Monk wants to bring new life into online gaming. Says new MMO will have brighter colors, cities of glass and steel, and flying cars.

Hope that’s all straightened out.

Ensemble Studios co-founder Bruce Shelley is very happy for the ex-Ensemble vets who have moved on to form Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios.

Speaking at DICE, Shelley said the studio’s demise mostly boiled down to lack of quality, lack of quality hires and genre diversification as projects not related to RTS were canceled.

Shelley also said that the worst thing Ensemble did was to close, as there were ways to have moved on specifically downsizing and reaffirming its relationship with Microsoft.

“It’s a sad day, but this is business,” Shelley said. “Maybe we didn’t do some things very well. We were shocked, but we’ve gone through the stages of grief and now we’re looking for a new direction.”

More through here.

Bonfire Studios has been announced, the second outfit to emerge from the death of Ensemble. Robot Entertainment was formed earlier this week.

The new company’s based in Dallas, Texas, and is working on a “fast, fun and addictive game,” according to its site.

“Most of the core team from Ensemble Studios that created Halo Wars is working on this game.”

“Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams,” said David Rippy, studio president.

“We are already working on an original IP that we’ll start talking about in the next few months.”

Bonfire has taken 35 staff from the now defunct Ensemble.

Robot Entertainment is developing extra content for Halo Wars, as well as providing community support for Age of Empires.

The news was confirmed via press release this morning after word broke over the weekend that ex-Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman had formed the new company.

“The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” explained Goodman. “Not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with.

“As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry’s future.”

The studio is currently at work on an original property, and employs 45 other ex-Ensemble staff members.

Press release below.

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Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman and some of his team members have formed a new development studio, Robot Entertainment.

Ensemble worked mainly with the RTS genre, most notably Age of Empires.  Microsoft purchased the firm in 2001 and then shut it down once Halo Wars was completed.

What’s Robot working on? Undisclosed.

Thanks, Gamasutra

Ensemble’s Halo MMO, codenamed both Titan and Orion – was to be the developer’s “new focus” beyond Halo Wars, according to this Gamasutra article on the firm’s closure.

A new campus was even being built to house development for the game, but work was was halted when Microsoft finally reach a decision to close the studio.

Apparently, work started on the game as early as 1998, “when a designer named Ian Fischer started pitching a sci-fi MMO. He loved the genre, and felt it was under-served,” according to that piece.

The game first came to light in September last year, when art was leaked online.

UK site Electricpig reports that the possibility of Halo Wars having some future downloadable content is a definite possibility.

“Additional downloadable content is something we’re looking in to,” said Halo Wars producer Jason Pace.

The statement comes somewhat as a surprise to us as all reports have suggested that Microsoft is to close Ensemble Studios after Halo Wars’ release in February.

We’ll check with Microsoft now.

By Mike Bowden

Below you can see twelve new Halo Wars images showing all the weapons and troops you will have at your disposal whether you choose to fight as Covenant or the marines.

The images are super-sharp and look very good indeed for what is to be Ensemble’s first and last console RTS.

Halo Wars went gold last week. Demo’s out on Feb 5, full thing at the end of that month.

By Mike Bowden

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Sumthing Else Music Works and Microsoft games studios have lifted the lid on the Halo Wars soundtrack which is scheduled for release Feb. 17, 2009.

It will come on two discs, be over 50 minutes long and features performances by FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague.

“For Halo Wars I wanted to write music that fit both the size of the story and its sense of discovery,” said Stephen Rippy, Ensemble Studios music & sound director and composer for Halo Wars.

“Each of the various worlds in the game feels a little different; each of the main characters brings something to the mix. More than anything else, it was important that these tracks fit comfortably into the existing Halo universe. I hope they’ll take the listener to some new places as well.”

Halo Wars is an exclusive Xbox 360 RTS and is released on Feb. 27 with a demo on the 5th

Full details plus track listing after the break.

By Mike Bowden

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After the break. Although many people think an RTS can’t be adequately done on a console, we must say, this does look rather special.

Ensemble Studios’ swansong goes on sale Feb 27 in Europe with a demo due February 5.

By Mike Bowden

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