Tag Archives: halo wars

On CVG. Expect a promotional blitz on the Ensemble RTS in the coming weeks: it’s due for release on February 27.

Microsoft’s confirmed RTS Halo Wars for release on February 27 in Europe and March 3 in the US.

Apparently, if you pre-order, you can get some flame decals for your Warthog, which is as good a reason as any to do so, we reckon.

This will be Esemble’s last title as Microsoft intends to close the company after Halo Wars’ release.

Full release details after break.

By Mike Bowden

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Gamerscoreblog’s asking for reader questions on Ensemble’s Halo Wars, so if there’s an issue burning a hole in your mind about the 360 RTS, now’s your time to pour water on it. Or something.

There’s no news, OK? Thanks, X3F.

Just making sure you don’t miss the rest of the stuff from last week’s Halo Wars preview events in the US and Europe, following yesterday’s cavalcade.

• Hands on (IGN)
• Graeme Devine video interview (Gamespot, after the break)
• Graeme Devine interview (Kikizo)
• Halo Wars DLC already done (CVG)

Game’s out next February.

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An embargo lifted on Halo Wars preview coverage this afternoon, unleashing a ton of new previews and interviews on the Ensemble 360 RTS.

And here they are.

• New shots and art (IGN)
• “Even Ensemble Doesn’t Understand Their Closure” (Blue, via Shack)
• Ensemble: Microsoft made a mistake (D-Pad)
• Ensemble will have a successor (Videogamer)
• Hands on (Eurogamer)
• Interview (CVG)
• Hands-on (Gamespot)
• Hands on (1UP)
• Hands on (Joystiq)

Microsoft’s confirmed that Halo Wars is to release in February.

The Collector’s Edition will include the Halo 3 Mythic map pack, featuring three maps, a badge to sew on you knapsack and some other stuff you probably shouldn’t care about.

More on Joystiq.

Well, lookie here. Ensemble 360 RTS Halo Wars is seen playable in proper direct-feed footage after the break, showing base-building, unit selection and some of your heavier weapons in action against the Covenant, such as carpet bombing and a freeze bomb thing.

It does look cool, no question. There’s a bit of video right at the end showing the Flood, as well.

Halo Wars is out early next year. Take a look.

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Voice controls wouldn’t work with Ensemble RTS Halo Wars, EndWar boss Michael de Plater has told VG247, as it’s too complex a game.

“I don’t even know that voice command would even be a very good solution for that style of game because the complexity of what you have to do is so much higher, and it’s not even such a natural thing,” he said, speaking at a recent EndWar event in London.

“It’s hard to see how it would work… It’s very hard to map that more intuitive idea onto a more traditional RTS, I think.”

Halo Wars and EndWar are too far apart from control systems to marry, said the exec.

“I think Halo Wars is a very, very different game to [EndWar], and the difference between Halo Wars and EndWar isn’t so much about the voice command rather than the game itself.

“We’re a tactical war game with no resource management and no base-building: they’re much closer to a traditional RTS, which is a combination of building and fighting and resource management.”

Halo Wars is out at the beginning of next year. EndWar hits on November 7 for 360 and PS3.

Ubisoft Shanghai creative director Michael de Plater has said he believes Microsoft would have kept Ensemble Studios running if the firm has real confidence in PC games sales.

“I think it’s terrible, really a shame that Ensemble’s been shut,” he told VG247. “It’s really a bit of a shock… It just speaks of the problems with PC. I’m sure if people were confident of PC sales then Microsoft wouldn’t have done that.”

De Plater also told us that piracy was the main reason Tom Clancy’s EndWar wasn’t receiving a PC version in line with the game’s console SKUs.

Microsoft confirmed that Ensemble was to close in mid-September, saying the move was the “right thing” for its business.

IGN’s posted up three off-screen videos of Halo Wars being played at Tokyo Game Show today. You should watch them. They’re good quality and show the RTS’s controls as well as plenty of gameplay.

A few new shots here for you as well. Out in the first quarter of next year.

GTTV’s published a back-story trailer to RTS Halo Wars, showing some snowy goings on in the up-run to Ensemble’s swansong. Some phenomenal CGI, there, as you’d expect. Game’s out in the first quarter.

After the break.

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GameTrailers TV is to show the first proper in-game footage on Saturday morning, at 1am EST. Apparently there’s going to be an interview with the Ensemble chaps about the fact the sudio’s going to be shut down after the game ships, so there’s two reasons to watch it.

More on X3F.

Halo Wars writer Graeme Devine has told MTV that Ensemble’s closure won’t effect Halo Wars’ quality. Just so you know.

“We will finish Halo Wars and it continues to be a kick ass game,” he said.

“The reaction at PAX was something else to see, it was the first time I’d seen a fan response to the game, so that absolutely rocked.”

Fears had obviously arisen for the title after Microsoft announced the studio would close after completion. Sweat no longer.

Game’s out early next year.

Update: There a copy of an email sent round to MGS staff this morning from Phil Spencer here.

Microsoft has confirmed it is to close Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars.

Shacknews originally broke the story as a rumour, but Microsoft released a statement confirming the move overnight.

And here it is:

Microsoft has decided to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.

The team at Ensemble has made invaluable contributions to the games industry with their Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games and with the highly anticipated release of Halo Wars. This decision does not reflect at all on Ensembles talent or the quality of Halo Wars. in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game.

This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.

As to our overall strategy at MGS, it remains the same. We are committed to growing MGS with world-class talent both internally and with our external partners around the globe. We have recently added some well-known developers to our team and will continue growing the team. Were particularly excited about the titles we have in the pipeline and continue to evaluate additional opportunities to bring incredible games to life with the industry’s best. Our investment in games has never been greater than it is today.

Well. There we are then.

Leipzig’s the show that keeps on giving. Microsoft’s put out the pack-shot and a few new screens of Ensemble’s Halo Wars, as you can see on Joystiq, in celebration that Games Convention happened last week.

That’s it. Get strategising. In space. Game’s out early next year.

Bungie told Eurogamer at Develop today that Ensemble 360 RTS Halo Wars is coming on well, thank you very much.

“Everything we’ve seen has been very, very encouraging – we’re very excited about it. And of course, [Halo Wars is] also getting right the basics, the general roles – even fictionally,” said Bungie AI man Damian Isla.

“What role do grunts play in the Covenant fighting forces, what role do the Elites play, what role do Warthogs play, what role do Spartans play… All this kind of thing. I think they really nailed that. It’s encouraging.”

More through the link.

IGN – or “E3Avalanche.com” as it’s now known – has posted up hands-on impressions of Halo Wars, the first to do so as far as we know. Snip:

Take the level we played through. It’s a Forerunner-inspired battlefield with the UNSC camped in one corner of the map and the Covenant hiding in the other. With the marines under our control, you begin the battle with very limited resources – in this case a lone Warthog – and a ready-to-be-developed base. At the centre of the base is a HQ, which you must protect at all costs otherwise it’s game over. In the surrounding area are a number of empty plots on which you can construct new buildings. Now, as with most RTS games you’re limited to what you can build by the amount of resources you have access to and in this case they happen to be supplies. These are scattered across the battlefield and can be collected by sending out the Warthog to scoop them up, or alternatively you can generate your own by building a supply pad.

Through the link.

1UP is reporting that Halo Wars has slipped until the first half of 2009, which is a shame.

However, X3F has got some rather tart looking screenshots of the game and here’s a link to a brand new trailer.

We were looking forward to that, too. Oh well.

By Mike Bowden

After the break. Ensemble RTS Halo Wars was a complete no-show in the Microsoft E3 press conference last night, so hopefully we’ll get to see more from the showfloor later today. This trailer’s CG-only.

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Microsoft has put out a press release detailing all the game we can look forward to this year and next. You saw most of them this evening but there are a couple that didn’t make it. After the drop, if you please.

By Mike Bowden

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