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Bonfire Studios hires former Halo Wars lead David Pottinger
Bonfire Studios, the development house that emerged in the wake of the Ensemble Studios closure, has picked up another ex-colleague: Dave Pottinger, lead designer of Halo Wars. He rejoins his peers as the director of technology, assuming the same responsibilities he held before Ensemble was shut down. Bonfire Studios is currently working on several unannounced projects for 2010. Pottinger has been with the company since its formative days back in 1996, and contributed to the development of Ensemble's key real-time strategy titles, from Age of Empires all the way up to the former studio's last game, Halo Wars. "Bonfire is a team full of old friends that I am looking forward to working with again," Pottinger said. "I think we're going to blow people away once they see what we're doing."
Further details emerge on the canceled Halo MMO
Shacknews had the chance to speak with Ensemble director of technology Dave Pottinger, who had quite a bit to say about the Halo MMO. The biggest surprise revealed was that the game had gotten a green light and was in development for a good length of time before leadership changed at Microsoft, and the title was canceled. Pottinger also acknowledge the fact that conceptual screens leaked were in fact designed with a very World of Warcraft mentality, although he stressed that what Ensemble actually ended up with internally at the time had more emphasis on feeling like the traditional Halo universe.Combat was also a topic of discussion. Pottinger says the game's combat had a very classic MMO feel to it, but there was a leaning towards an "actiony" feel. Whether or not Ensemble's Halo MMO was or is a good idea, there's no denying the fact that a properly made title could still appeal to a lot of people.
