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Halo Wars getting four new maps, four new achievements
Are your miniscule, impressionable Spartans developing powerful cases of wanderlust? Are they growing antsy and restless -- sure signs of boredom with their tired stomping (and shooting) grounds? You'll be able to whisk them off to new, yet-to-be-bloodstained areas soon enough -- on July 21, Microsoft is dropping four new maps and four new achievements for Halo Wars.The "Historic Battles" map pack (which will cost 800) includes two 1v1 maps, a 2v2 map, a 3v3 map and four new achievements which tack 100 extra gamerpoints to the strategy title. We've got descriptions of each map and 'cheevo listed after the break for all you cautious consumers.
Halo Wars title update 3 details revealed
Robot has revealed specific details regarding the third title update for Halo Wars. Most of the changes being implemented are for the sake of balancing the game, and there are also a handful of bug and exploit fixes. It looks like the effectiveness of the Gauss Warthog will see a reduction, with the unit doing less damage to tanks and receiving more damage from grenades. The Warthog will also take three seconds longer to build (25 seconds). Anders has also seen her research speed bonus reduced from 50 percent to 25 percent.There are a smattering of other changes, the most significant perhaps being that stockpiled units in a locked-down base will now release much faster when the base is unlocked. Very good news for anyone that has seen their stockpiled units killed one by one as they emerge from an unlocked base.Check out all the changes after the break.
New Halo Wars Achievements reveal new maps (again)
For all you negative Nancys out there who just couldn't believe it when we told you that Halo Wars itself had revealed some upcoming maps, here's some more proof for you. New achievements have popped up on the Xbox.com Halo Wars page in the UK, and they reveal -- wait for it -- new maps. The names of the maps just so happen to be the very same names we discovered back in May: Barrens, Blood River and Memorial Basin.If you still aren't convinced that new map DLC is on the way, you'll just have to wait for the official announcement. The rest of us will just sit here and act smug for a while.[Thanks, Richard]
Former Halo Wars dev bites into Apple
When Ensemble Studios closed its doors earlier this year many of its staff landed behind a desk at either Robot Entertainment or Bonfire Studios, a pair of outfits that rose up from the Age of Empires and Halo Wars dev's splintered remains. Not Graeme Devine, however -- he's far too trendy for that business. Instead, the Halo Wars lead designer revealed to Kotaku's @crecenteb via Twitter that he opted for a job at Apple, working for the company's iPhone group. It's unclear exactly what he's working on at the popular fruit company, though given his experience perhaps Apple is looking to bring game development in-house. We've reached out to Devine for more, though whatever he's up to we're sure there's an app for that.[Via Develop]
Amazon tactically cuts one third off Halo Wars price for today only
Amazon's daily deal features Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars, offering the game at the discounted price of $39.99 for the standard edition. It's a game that many on the Joystiq staff find to be "the tops," though others on the staff have found it to be "mildly satisfactory." It's caused a rift, one you need not bother involving yourself in because, hey, cheap game! And, should you decide to pick this up, you could always apply those saved duckets toward some of the new DLC. Just saying ...
Halo Wars 'Strategic Options' DLC available now
The advanced AI known as Major Nelson informs us that Halo Wars' "Strategic Options" DLC is available now for 800 ($10). The pack includes three new game types and 100 points of Achievements (no maps?).If the price seems a bit steep for a few game types, we've got that covered too. We've got a post up now to win one of five free codes. Good luck![Add Halo Wars Strategic Options DLC to your queue]%Gallery-50724%
New Halo Wars maps revealed by Halo Wars
click to Halo-size Of all the places we expected to hear about new Halo Wars maps, we didn't think it would be within the game itself. If you're very, very patient -- seriously, it takes around half an hour -- the information crawl that scrolls across the bottom of the main menu will show the names of three upcoming maps. The crawl also mentions the recently revealed gameplay modes from the upcoming "Strategic" Options DLC. The three maps mentioned are Barrens (1v1), Blood River (1v1) and Memorial Basin (2v2).We've contacted Microsoft to see if the maps will be part of the upcoming DLC or if they are intended for a separate release. If you're still not convinced, you can check out some shots we snapped of the map names in the gallery below.[Thanks, FJ!]%Gallery-63262%
Ex-Ensemble Studios devs form new studio, working on the iPhone
It appears as though Bruce Shelley's words will not go unfounded, as the fourth Ensemble Studios-spawned development house has outed itself in Newtoy.The studio is already developing its first game, World War Robot, in collaboration with comic book and game industry veteran Ashley Wood. In fact, the studio says it's trying to foster this kind of behavior, "a new kind of game development," by creatively collaborating with "world class game makers from around the globe," such as Wood. The few pieces of art available so far appear rather conceptual in nature and do little to help explain the gameplay. We do know, however, that it's based on the Ashley Wood paperback of the same name and the concept shots share a distinct look with the art of the book. No matter what, it's always a pleasure to see new studios popping up in the current economy.
Halo Wars 'Strategic Options' DLC adds new multiplayer, achievements
If your real-time strategy needs have been fulfilled ever since you took care of business in Halo Wars, then know that Microsoft is preparing some DLC for deployment. The DLC pack will be titled "Strategic Options" and will contain 4 new achievements for 100 points and 3 new multiplayer modes.First up is Keepaway, a CTF variant featuring 3 different flags for capture. Next up is Reinforcement, a mode that provides support in waves, disabling your ability to build armies. Finally, there's Tug of War, which Microsoft has not divulged any info on, though our own pre-school experience with the gametype causes us to assume it will involve a rope, and take place near the jungle gym. We're kidding: the winner is decided based on total volume of assets, including units, buildings, and resources. The new achievements are: "One and Done" (30 points): Score the winning point in a game of Keepaway against Legendary A.I.'s "Pull Hard, Pull Deep" (20 points): Win and never trail in a Tug of War game "Freak on a Streak" (20 points): Gain at least 15 population from a single wave in a Reinforcement game "Living Loving Bug" (30 points): Obtain a Scarab during a Reinforcement game Microsoft has not commented on a price for this DLC, but we've put in word to Microsoft for confirmation.%Gallery-50724%[Thanks Patrik K.]
New Halo Wars dev blog talks unit balance
click to Spartan-size In the latest Halo Wars developer blog, lead technical designer Tim Deen discusses the game's unit balance. Most Halo Wars fans are probably familiar with the game's "Rock, Paper, Scissors" (or RPS) balance, but Deen goes into extreme detail, even providing the complex chart seen above. If you'd like to move beyond RPS basics and start learning the difference between a 'soft' kill and a 'hard' kill -- and which units do which -- it's definitely a good read.Sadly, Covenant fans out there are left in the cold, as the chart itself only addresses UNSC units. Hopefully, someone at Robot will be kind enough to put together a new chart for our Covie friends. Then again, we only build Brutes anyway.%Gallery-50271%
Halo Wars title update incoming, new details
A post on the Halo Wars website has announced that a title update for the Halo RTS is on the way. The update looks to address some matchmaking bugs, fine tune game balance and implement a new feature. While the bulk of the update remains a mystery, community manager Aloysius does mention two changes.One, the Prophet of Regret will have his land speed reduced to match the speed of the other Covenant leaders, thus balancing the Prophet rush tactic (which is a lot of fun, by the way). Another fix will allow users to enable the Honor Guard Wraith and Fireball Warthog units (available to collector's edition owners and those who pre-ordered the game, respectively) inside of multiplayer matches with other players. We're not sure why that wasn't included in the game in the first place, but it's a welcome addition.No details are given regarding when the patch will release, but Aloysius promises more info will appear on the official Halo Wars site.
iQuarterback 1.1 from former Ensemble Studios devs
The folks at FuzzyCube Software dropped us a note that their first game, iQuarterback, is in the App Store now, and it looks all right -- rather than actually quarterback a game, you mostly just try to hit passing targets. And while the game is pretty barebones right now (it's only 99 cents, and they're planning to add new modes to it in the next version), the most interesting thing about the game isn't what it is, but who's making it: the guys behind FuzzyCube are a few refugees from Ensemble Studios, the legendary developer of Age of Empires that got shut down by Microsoft on the eve of their recent Halo Wars release.Now that's interesting -- a big time studio forced to close by their corporate overlords is finding new life in iPhone development (FuzzyCube isn't the only studio to come out of the Ensemble breakup -- Robot Entertainment, Bonfire Studios, and Windstorm Studios are all being started by ex-Ensemble employees right now, though FuzzyCube is the only group to have released a game so far). Lots of game developers are facing a crunch right now, and with the iPhone easy and cheap to develop for, we might see even more of these former larger game devs turn to the smaller screen.Update: My apologies to the folks at Newtoy -- they are apparently the first Ensemble refugees to have released an iPhone game, dropping Chess with Friends in the App Store last December. But the point stands: bigger studios who've been asked to dissolve can seemingly find a nice place developing for the iPhone.
Charts galore: Halo 3, Halo Wars player comparisons; other RTS titles get in mix
Considering Halo Wars was built from the ground up to establish an RTS audience for consoles, and obviously used the Halo name to get gamers excited, we were curious to know if it accomplished its mission. With a sample size of over 150,000 mostly core gamers, we asked social networking website GamerDNA if it had any data we could work with. Not only did it give us what we asked for, but did a full comparison of Halo Wars to other console RTS titles as well. The data not only gave us a better understanding of Halo Wars' success from being associated with the Master Chief franchise, but also how it compares to other RTS games on the console.
Halo Wars sells a million, Ensemble still disbanded
Microsoft announced today that Ensemble's Halo Wars has sold one million units worldwide. According to the publisher, that makes the wars of the Halos the best selling real-time strategy game on any current-gen console -- 'cause, you know, it's such a "Flood"-ed field.As for the stats: there have been 2.6 million multiplayer matches, over 118 years of time have been spent by players in matches on Xbox Live, more than 200,000 players battle each day and 80% of them achieve wins through Warthog rushes (okay, we made that last one up). If you're looking for more stats, click here. Microsoft says more content is on the way for the game from Robot Entertainment, "so stay tuned."%Gallery-1676%
Rippy: Ensemble Studios was a 'victim of its own success'
David Rippy, founder of Bonfire Studios and a lead producer on Halo Wars, believes Ensemble's death occurred because the studio was only known for -- and allowed to create -- RTS titles. In an interview with GI.biz, Rippy expresses that Ensemble couldn't get non-RTS project prototypes approved, stating that the group represented "the RTS guys." He notes that lack of diversity is something he'd like to avoid in the future with his new studio.Rippy states that Bonfire's first project will not be an RTS game, but that the company may consider doing one again in the future. He states that the game will be different than what the team has done in the past, while still offering "a strong strategy element." As Bonfire works on the new project -- which will apparently not be published by Microsoft -- the other studio born out of Ensemble's remains, Robot Entertainment, will continue employing "the RTS guys."
Download a digital copy of the Halo Wars tech tree
To give us a better understanding of Halo Wars' units and all the upgrades available, Xbox.com posted a downloadable Halo Wars tech tree chart (PDF).The Halo Wars tech tree (not to be confused with the plantable type) is an easy-to-use reference guide that visually explains the technology progression of both Covenant and UNSC units, as well as each of their Leaders' unique powers. The chart comes in especially handy when creating the nearly invincible Grizzly and ODST combo. It's a strategy we nicknamed the "Drop Shock and Awe."[Via HaloWars.com]
Halo Wars program hits Korean TV
Siliconera reports that MBC Game, a Korean television station, is adding a show dedicated to Halo Wars to its lineup. That might sound strange, but the network already airs several programs dedicated to video games. The decision to add Halo Wars to the lineup was probably fairly simple, as the network's StarCraft program is its most popular, according to Siliconera. Details about the show are sparse -- the MBC Game website shows up as malicious on Google, no thanks -- but we assume from the images posted on Siliconera that people will actually play the game on the program.Televised Brute rushes? Count us in.
Joyswag: Halo Wars (Day Three)
This is it, folks the third and final day of Joystiq's Halo Wars giveaway. Congratulations to Steve H, who won our Day One giveaway. With so many people checking their email to see if they've won Day Two, now is your chance to enter Day Three. Hurry up, before someone gets wise.To enter: Leave a comment on this post naming your favorite RTS unit of all time (real or imagined). You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) Limit 1 entry per person This entry period ends at 2:59 pm ET on Thursday, March 5. We'll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive one copy of Halo Wars (ARV: $59.99). For a list of complete rules, click here
Video: Halo Wars universe expands yet again
The third in the Halo Wars "Universe Expanded" videos is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace (for Gold members). Again we see several voices in the gaming industry waxing poetic about Halo. The latest video focuses on exactly how Halo Wars adds to the lore established in other Halo titles. On particularly interesting tidbit, Microsoft's own Frank O'Connor notes that the new elements present in Halo Wars will show up in future titles in the franchise. Who knows, maybe we'll be hijacking Locust tanks or piloting a Vulture in Halo 3: ODST.
Play Halo Wars online and (possibly) win prizes
Microsoft is hosting another Play & Win giveaway. This time, Halo Wars is required to participate in the "odds are slim that anyone reading this is actually going to win anything" prize-winning fun.To enter, download this gamer picture, play Halo Wars multiplayer between March 6-8, then patiently wait for the winners to be announced. Microsoft is giving away an assortment of prizes, including a 52" television, a Halo Wars themed Xbox 360 (nice!), an assortment of MS points and even an overpriced Ultra Series 1000 Monster Cable.
