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Halo Wars is gold, new behind the scenes documentary
click to enlarge Microsoft announced today that the Spartan-fueled RTS Halo Wars has gone gold and will soon be winging its way to retailers the world over. The company also revealed new details regarding the upcoming demo, which will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5. The demo is set to include the first two campaign missions of the game as well as one of the game's 14 multilayer maps, Chasms, which can be played against AI in Skirmish mode. In skirmish mode, players can play as either the human UNSC or alien Covenant. Don't worry about wrapping your head around the control scheme, as the demo will contain both a basic and advanced tutorial. Curiously, the press release does not mention if the demo will feature any kind of local or Xbox Live multiplayer, which is a disappointment. Finally, Microsoft has released the first in a series of Halo Wars video documentaries. You can check out the video after the break, and don't forget to take a gander at some new screens in the gallery below. Gallery: Halo Wars (XBL Demo)
Halo Wars goes gold, demo detailed
Click to embiggen. Putting the finishing touches on Halo Wars must be bittersweet for its developers. The long-awaited RTS game for Xbox 360 has gone "gold" today, just a few days before Ensemble Studio shuts its doors at the end of the month.In addition to announcing the game's gold status, Microsoft released further details on Halo Wars downloadables. A video documentary that goes behind the scenes of the game can be downloaded from Xbox Live today. (Also available after the break) The playable demo will be available on February 5th at 5AM EST (2AM PST).The demo will include beginner and advanced tutorials and the first two campaign missions from the story mode. The demo will also include "Chasms," one of the 14 multiplayer maps included in the full game. Players will be able to battle against the computer AI in Skirmish mode, playing as either the UNSC or the Covenant. No online play was mentioned in the release.%Gallery-43008%
Real-time symphony: Halo Wars soundtrack detailed
The original soundtrack for Halo Wars will be available at supply depots and civilian stores starting February 17th. The 2-disc set is comprised of one CD -- featuring 50 minutes of music composed by Stephen Rippy (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology) and performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague -- and a DVD boasting nine more tracks, some 5.1 mixes, two trailers and one behind-the-scenes video.The soundtrack can also be downloaded from the intertubes at sumthingdigital.com. Halo Wars will have a demo available as of February 5, and ship to North American retailers on March 3.%Gallery-1676%[Via X3F]
Halo Wars gets soundtracked for Feb 17th release
The musical folks over at Sumthing Else just announced that the official Halo Wars Original Soundtrack will be available at retailers on February 17th. The 50 minute, two disc soundtrack will include 25 original tracks composed by Stephen Rippy and performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir Prague. Also, the second bonus disc will come packed with a few Halo Wars trailers, a behind the scenes vid and 5.1 mixes from the original soundtrack. Complete track listing after the fold.
Game developers sound off on industry layoffs
It's all too easy to forget that there are real people behind the power-ups we're so fond of collecting. Gamasutra has posted a sobering look at the industry, interviewing recently out-of-work employees from such companies as Eidos and Pandemic while putting faces on the disturbing number of layoffs that have impacted the business behind the games we play. "In our industry, there's a relatively high chance that once your game is finished, the studio will make some cuts," noted David Lewis, a software test engineer at Ensemble, which will close its doors after Halo Wars (pictured) rolls out the door later this year. "But I had no reason to suspect that the whole studio would be closed." Even so, some, like recruiter T.J. Summers, believe that there is work to be had for those willing to stretch beyond their comfort zones and look for work in "new growth sectors" such as web or mobile. Still, we sympathize with those impacted, especially knowing that the drop off from developing AAA titles to Flash games has to be enough to lose your stomach.
New off-screen Halo Wars footage
GameTrailers has posted some new footage of Halo Wars from CES. Unfortunately, it's off-screen footage, and portions of the screen are cut off. Still, There's plenty of interesting things to see if you know where to look. For one, you can see the system that lets you cycle through each individual unit type when you've selected a large group of different units -- the player uses it at around 0:35 to select the Warthog and ram the enemy. Another prominent feature is the circle menu, which is used to queue up new units and research upgrades. And, of course, you get to see delicious carnage. Check out the video after the break.
CES 2009: Halo Wars demo coming to Xbox Live on Feb. 5
Microsoft's entertainment and devices boss, Robbie Bach, revealed during the company's CES 2009 keynote that a demo of Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5th. Additionally, Bach announced a February 28th ship date for the full game, which fits nicely with what Microsoft had previously announced. If the demo is anything like most others -- i.e., the earliest parts of the game -- it will likely contain a lot of what we played just a couple of months back.%Gallery-1676%
CES 09: Halo Wars releases March 3, demo available Feb. 5 [update]
Update: Looks like a wire got crossed somewhere. We contacted Microsoft and the company confirmed that the official Halo Wars release date for the US, Canada, Mexico and South America is still March 3 as previously announced. The game will ship on February 25 in Japan and Asia and February 27 in Europe. Just moments ago Microsoft's Robbie Bach announced a playable demo for Halo Wars will be available on February 5 over Xbox Live. According to Major Nelson, the upcoming real-time strategy game will release exclusively for the Xbox 360 on February 28. Previous reports had seen the final Ensemble Studios release slide into an early March time frame but it looks like the first 'T' rated game in the Halo universe is back to making a February shipping date, as originally promised. Gallery: Halo Wars (11-17-2008)
Halo Wars achievements detailed
No less than two Halo titles are hitting the shelves within the next year, beginning with Halo Wars. Set before the events of the first Halo game, Halo Wars throws fans of the franchise into the real-time strategy genre. The team at X360a.org have been tipped off to the achievements for the upcoming game and it includes the usual tasks. Achievements for the single and multiplayer modes are available, eye-rolling secret achievements (because those will stay secret!) and others for career totals in hopes the game will keep spinning in your Xbox 360 over time. The only thing that's missing is an achievement called, "Pour One Out" for Ensemble Studios who were informed in September that Microsoft would close the famed developer down. Yeah, that one still stings a little.
Ensemble's gift to you: Halo Wars units and structures revealed
Late last week, the crew at Ensemble left us a present and we didn't even notice it. The company unlocked every unit and structure in both the UNSC and Covenant field manuals for Halo Wars. If you're hankerin' for some Halo Wars, you might want to browse through each field manual. After all, the game is only a few months away, so you might as well start planning your strategies now. One strange note, we're not seeing any Brute units for the Covenant. We know they're in there somewhere though. Upgrades from Elites perhaps? Source - UNSC Field Manual Source - Covenant Field Manual
Halo Wars flooding U.S. store shelves March 3
Microsoft's usually not accustomed to leaving the release dates of Halo titles unspecified -- without a firm launch window, how would Peter Moore have known what to tattoo upon his rippling biceps? That's why we were surprised the drop date for Ensemble Studio's spartan-filled RTS entry, Halo Wars, had remained a vague "first half of 2009" for quite some time -- until now. Microsoft has finally solidified the game's U.S. release date: March 3, 2009.Interestingly enough, we won't be the first region to strategically duke it out with the Covenant -- the game is dropping in Japan on Feb. 26, and in Africa, Europe and the Middle East the day after. Don't get too jealous, though, only the North American version allows you to command your troops to teabag your fallen foes en masse. We think it's worth the wait.
Forget February, Halo Wars set for U.S. release on March 3rd
Admittedly, Microsoft may have promised those of us in North America that we'd be getting Halo Wars sometime in February. But now, with the worsening economy, lower fuel costs and location of Mars in relation to Jupiter, the game will actually release to retail in the U.S. and Canada the first week March. Europe and everyone else on the globe are still set for a February Halo Wars release. Lucky monkeys. Officially, Halo Wars will release to "the Americas" on March 3rd, to EMEA territories on February 27th, and to Japan and Asia on February 26th. Europe and Japan, you win this round.
Gamerscore Blog wants your Halo Wars questions
Mr. Chris Paladino over at Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog is on the hunt for interesting questions to ask Ensemble Studios regarding their upcoming 360 Halo RTS, Halo Wars. So, he decided to turn to the Xbox community and is ever so humbly requesting that you submit your Halo Wars questions. Specifically, he wants questions from skeptical gamers who either don't think the traditionally PC focused RTS genre works on consoles or Halo fanboys who just aren't all that interested in Halo Wars. Bunny hop on over to the Gamerscore Blog to submit your pressing Halo Wars questions and earn a gold star sticker* for your question submitting participation.*Gold star stickers will not actually be awarded.
Halo MMO received green light approval before managment canceled
After hearing about the canceled Halo MMO back in September and taking a look at some of the game's leaked assets, Shacknews questioned Ensemble Studios' Dave Pottinger about the project and why it died away."We had staffed up an almost-40 person team" says Pottinger, claiming that the Halo MMO "had actually been green-lit", but that new Microsoft management axed the game's development soon after. Pottinger also explained that their approach to the Halo MMO mirrored some of the familiar concepts in games like World of Warcraft, but stayed true to the Halo art style and overall action theme. But no, Microsoft says we cannot haz Halo MMO ... not yet.
Joystiq plays first three missions of Halo Wars
Joystiq recently got the chance to play through the first three levels of Halo Wars. The game is still good, which isn't too surprising given our impressions of the game from E3. It's worth noting though, that the player in question managed to figure out the majority of the "advanced" controls before actually starting the "advanced" tutorial, which is good news for anyone doubting that an RTS can work on a console. Head over to Joystiq for full impressions and a heap of new screens to boot. Now where's that demo, hmmm? Gallery: Halo Wars (11-17-2008)
Joystiq hands-on: Halo Wars
click to enlarge We've reached a mid-way point between when we first played Halo Wars at E3 '08 and the game's scheduled release in early '09. We're not sure if Microsoft simply wanted to prove that, yes, the game does still exist despite the looming closure of developer Ensemble Studios or if it just wanted to be nice, but whatever the case we recently had a chance to sit down and play the first three campaign missions ... and partake in a bit of Skirmish mode.As we experienced at Tokyo Game Show, this is every bit a Halo title – but not your typical console RTS. It's not a PC port, and that's freed Ensemble up to design what we've found to be some very controller-friendly gameplay.%Gallery-37065%
McFarlane unveils final Halo Wars figure sculpts
Recently, McFarlane unveiled the final sculpts for the mini Halo Wars figures that they announced back in September and, with the unveil, announced the pricing will be between $9.99 and $11.99. You can view all four sets of new Halo Wars mini-figures including the traditional UNSC troops along with blue and red variants as well as a set of purple Covenant. Seriously, how adorable is that purple Grunt? Each set includes three 2.5" figures with various weapons and will release to retail March 2009.[Via HBO]
Halo Wars releases in Feb, LE comes with Mythic Map Pack
click to enlarge Microsoft has announced that Halo Wars, the Halo-themed RTS from Ensemble Studios, will launch in February 2009. Furthermore, the company has announced that a limited edition version of the game will be released and detailed its contents. Retailing for $79.99, the limited edition of Halo Wars includes: Three new Halo 3 (not Halo Wars) multiplayer maps. The maps include Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox. You might recognize those maps as the upcoming Mythic Map Pack. Halo Wars: Genesis -- A graphic novel by Phil Noto, Ensemble's own Graeme Devine and Halo novelist Eric Nylund. The novel details the first human conflict with the Covenant and "centers around the Spirit of Fire on a mission to discover why the Covenant are so interested in the world of Harvest." The "Honor Guard" Wraith in-game vehicle Six "Leader Cards." Trading cards, we're guessing, or something like them. Spirit of Fire Patch. You know, the iron-on kind. Have fun explaining what it means to your non-gaming friends. The press release also notes that those who pre-order at certain (unannounced) retailers will get a code to unlock a Warthog vehicle with flame decals. While we're intrigued by the graphic novel, we have to admit the inclusion of the Mythic Map Pack is a pretty crafty move. The announcement says that those with the Halo Wars LE will be among "the first to experience the Mythic Map Pack," which implies that they can get their hands on the maps before they become available to the general public. We get the feeling that a lot of Halo players are suddenly very interested in RTS games. %Gallery-36291%
Halo Wars CE to include Halo 3 Mythic map pack
click to enlarge It seems Halo Wars is set to become the new Crackdown, with Microsoft enticing franchise fence sitters with goodies from Halo 3. The real-time strategy game set within Bungie's sprawling, hoop-filled universe will arrive this forthcoming February in both regular form and a Limited Collector's Edition. The latter should prove tempting even to those who prefer to see their aliens on the other side of a crosshair, as it will include early access to Halo 3's Mythic multiplayer map pack. The three maps, named "Assembly," "Orbital" and "Sandbox," join Halo Wars: Genesis, a graphic novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine and Eric Nylund; a "unique" in-game Wraith vehicle; six leader cards (they "possess elite skills which can turn the tides of battle," it says here) and a "Spirit of Fire" patch, which your mom can sew onto your favorite jacket. Just be sure to pay her back the $79.99 as well.%Gallery-36281%
Video: Halo Wars TGS video now in hi-res
Last month, Microsoft demoed the upcoming RTS Halo Wars at the Tokyo Game Show. The demonstration showed off many new units and abilities, including the Cryo Bomb ability and the massive Vulture unit. The demonstration also revealed the inclusion of the Flood (though the race is unplayable, sadly). Unfortunately, the demonstration was only available in shaky-cam form, complete with icky audio. Now Microsoft has released a high resolution version of the video, free of the graininess and tinny audio. Trust us, it's much more enjoyable than our attempt to recreate the video with Haloclix.
