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Halo: Spartan Strike goes top-down on PC, mobile in December
Microsoft announced a new top-down Halo spinoff today for PC and mobile: Halo: Spartan Strike. Developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games, Spartan Strike will arrive on Windows 8 devices and Steam on December 12 for $6. Spartan Strike bears strong resemblance to the developers' other third-person shooter that launched in July 2013, Halo: Spartan Assault, though it is not a direct sequel. Rather, the upcoming shooter is set during the events of Halo 2 and has players guiding a Spartan through cities, jungles and other environments while using an "all-new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles" such as the series' popular Warthog vehicle. Spartan Strike will include 30 missions filled with Covenant and Promethean enemies. Head past the break for Halo: Spartan Strike's launch trailer. [Image: Microsoft Studios]
Halo: Spartan Assault now available on Xbox One
Halo: Spartan Assault is now available on Xbox One, just in time for the holidays. The top-down shooter is $14.99 and out one day earlier than it was expected to launch on the next-gen platform. The game is still coming to Xbox 360 in January after it already arrived on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices in July. Developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games, Halo: Spartan Assault is set between the events of Halo 3 and those of Halo 4. In it, players take control of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis, completing more than 30 missions against Covenant forces. The game includes online cooperative multiplayer as well, though it will not be cross-compatible between Microsoft's two home consoles. [Thanks, Chum!]
Halo: Spartan Assault storms Xbox One, Xbox 360
Microsoft has announced Halo: Spartan Assault is coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox One this December. Multiplayer between Xbox One and Xbox 360 is not supported. Halo: Spartan Assault is an omni-directional top-down twin-stick shooter originally unleashed on Windows-based PCs, tablets and phones by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. Set between Halo 3 and Halo 4, the game chronicles covert Spartan Ops missions during the period of ceasefire between the UNSC and Convenant.
Halo: Spartan Assault expansion bringing Xbox 360 controller support this week
Halo: Spartan Assault, 343 Industries' top-down mobile shooter, will receive an expansion on Thursday called "Operation: Hydra." The expansion adds five new missions and more achievements on Xbox Live, and includes support for wired Xbox 360 controllers. Operation: Hydra has players investigating an intercepted alien signal on the planet Draetheus V's moon. Halo: Spartan Assault is available now for Windows 8 PCs and tablets for $6.99.
Halo: Spartan Assault out now for Windows 8 devices
Heads up, soldier. Halo: Spartan Assault, the omnidirectional shooter spinoff set in the Halo universe, is now available on Windows 8 devices. That means Windows 8 PCs and tablets, including Surface. You can also nab the game on Windows 8 phones – so long as Verizon is your carrier, that is. If you prefer your spinoffs with a little more context, Microsoft and Dark Horse have also produced a prequel comic series, Halo: Initiation. You can find a preview of the first issue on the Dark Horse website.
Halo: Spartan Assault breaks off peace for Windows 8 PCs, tablets and phones
Microsoft has announced the impending arrival of Halo: Spartan Assault, an omni-directional top-down shooter for Windows 8 devices. Set between Halos 3 and 4, the space-hoop stopgap will be available this July for an "estimated retail price" of $6.99, though the Windows 8 version (supporting PCs and tablets) will be sold separately from the game made for Windows Phone 8. As with other twin-stick shooters, Halo: Spartan Assault hinges on maneuvering your character out of harm's way while aiming and firing back in 360 degrees. The game retains controllable vehicles, established franchise weapons (see: canon canons) and covenant enemies, but moves the perspective to high above the battlefield and replaces the controls with a touch-screen interface. It's obviously more simplistic than Halo proper, and certainly more likely to be mentioned in an article with Microsoft's range of Surface tablets. Halo: Spartan Assault is developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games (Greed Corp, Gatling Gears), and comes complete with leaderboards, weekly challenges, and connectivity rewards for Halo 4, firstly in the form of new Spartan emblems. It will also be accompanied by a three-part prequel comic series called "Halo: Initiation." If dragging thumbs across a capacitive screen isn't ideal, you can play the Windows 8 version of Spartan Assault with a mouse and keyboard. According to Microsoft, "Halo: Spartan Assault will add support for the Wired Xbox 360 controller for Windows on Windows 8 PCs, tablets and Surface devices shortly after launch, via a title update."%Gallery-190251%
EA Indie Bundle challenges your definitions, is live on Steam now
The EA Indie Bundle (yes, we assure you, it is barely-100-percent-mostly-ish possible for EA to have an indie bundle) is live on Steam, offering 70 percent off a package of six titles from four indie developers, or half off each individual game.Included in the sale is Warp, Shank, Shank 2, DeathSpank, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue and Gatling Gears. The DeathSpank titles are $7.50 individually and are available on PC and Mac through Steamplay, while the rest of EA's indies cost $5 and are PC only.Indie Game Magazine first spotted the bundle in the super-secret Steam registry files this morning. The sale is now officially on, set to disappear from Steam in one week on May 9.
Gatling Gears, a Greed Corp followup from EA Partners and Guerrilla co-founders
Well, that didn't take long. Less than two months after announcing their new studio, Vanguard Entertainment, Guerrilla Games cofounders Martin de Ronde and Michiel Mol have announced their first project, Gatling Gears, to be published by EA Partners. A followup to this year's downloadable Greed Corp, Gatling Gears is "set within the same Mistbound universe featuring signature elements like collapsing land, walker units and warring factions, but now with twin-stick shooter controls and a new hero, Max Brawley." Vanguard was formed by combining the duo's Karami studio with Greed Corp-developer W!Games. And like Greed Corp, Gatling Gears will be coming to three platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC. With a Spring 2011 release planned, it shouldn't be long until we hear more about this particular Gears (the other one got delayed, remember?). In the meantime, you'll have to take what you can get: the postage stamp-sized image above that we nicked from Vanguard's humble website.
