Halo Wars is one of those odd games that should be better received, an RTS set in the Halo universe featuring tons of units and vehicles from the expanded Halo canon and told with an interesting series of cut scenes and some fairly fun RTS missions. Unfortunatley I think far to many of the twitch oriented Halo gamers out there just can’t wrap their heads around strategy like an RTs and the RTS fans don’t live on the console, even if Ensemble Studio’s game does a pretty good job of translating the traditionally PC oriented experience to the console.

Regardless, those who found the swansong of the studio an enjoyable diversion will have more maps to play around with. The latest downloadable content pack includes 4 new maps and 4 new achievements for you achievement hounds out there – totaling 100 additional points. The new pack, called – “Historic Battles” will be available July 21st for 800 MS points.

800 Points for 4 maps? Seems a bit steep to me… maybe its just because of the extra achievements.

On February 3, New York Times bestselling author of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx blends will be releasing his latest book Mortal Coils, an urban fantasy mixed with ancient mythology and published by Tor Books. This will be the book one of five for his epic new series.

Eric Nylund is best known as a writer and story consultant for Microsoft Game Studios ans was instrumental in developing the Halo franchise and for Epic with the Gears of War franchise. In the past, he has also worked with BioWare, and Ensemble Studios and is the author of three of the five Halo novels which sold over two million copies which are: Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. Together, his novels have sold over two million copies.

His upcoming projects, which should be of interest to gamers and graphic novel/comic fans alike are a mini-series called Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War which is a prequel to television show due out in January 2009. Also, a graphic novel titled Halo: Genesis will be published in the spring of 2009, and will appear in the Limited Collector’s Edition of Halo Wars.

Storyline for Mortal Coils is listed after the jump.

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The release date for Halo Wars got a bit more specific today as Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 exclusive RTS will be released worldwide in February. Naturally, given that it’s a Halo game, you’ll get to dish out some extra cash for the Limited Collector’s Edition which is full of Halo goodies. Just don’t expect anything quite as substantial as a helmet for a small, cat-sized animal of your choice.

Among the contents of the collector’s edition is Halo Wars: Genesis, a graphic novel detailing a mission involving the Convenant’s interest in Harvest; a unique Honor Guard Wraith for use in-game; early access to the three new Halo 3 maps that comprise the Mythic Map Pack; and two other slightly more ambiguous items. One of them is the Spirit of Fire patch, which the press release explains lets you “start the journey as an official Spirit of Fire crew member.” The other is a collection of six Leader cards — that’s not a particularly clear description. We know Leaders are essentially the game’s Hero units, but it’s unclear if these are simply trading cards with the Leader units plastered on them or something more significant. We asked Microsoft and they let us know they’re simply trading cards and that they won’t have any impact on the game.

This package will run you $80 — not a terrible deal if this actually gives you the actual Mythic Map Pack, since that’s likely to cost $10 on its own. As an extra incentive to preorder, certain retailers will offer a download for a unique in-game Warthog sporting flame decals. That seems a bit out of place in a Halo game, but people do love them some flame decals.

You’ve probably heard the unsettling news that Ensemble Studios, developer behind Age of Empires, would be closing its doors following the release of its newest game, Halo Wars. Apparently though, an RTS wasn’t the only Halo game that the company had in the works. Gamasutra recently learned that the studio was also at one time working on an MMO set in the Halo universe. But this one’s cancellation had nothing to do with Microsofts decision to dissolve the developer; it seems the game began development in 2006, before ultimately being canceled later in 2007. All that’s left now though is a collection of concept screenshots of what might have been. Of course, “what might have been” looks an awful lot like a World of Warcraft ripoff, so maybe this is for the best.

Via Gamasutra

Since the announcement that Ensemble Studios would be closing after Halo Wars’ release, many gamers have been asking one specific question: is the game going to suck now? It’s a very legitimate question given the circumstances, and now lead designer, Dave Pottinger, has stepped up to address that very topic on the official Halo Wars site:

That’s a totally fair question. The Ensemble Studios’ closure announcement certainly affects the perception of Halo Wars. Despite that risk, we put our people first. Telling our employees ASAP was the right thing to do. I give Microsoft quite a bit of credit for letting us do that.

We’ve worked with Microsoft to create the best set of options for every employee’s future. For example, there is a deal in place for a new company that will employ some people from Ensemble. It’s premature to announce much about that venture, but it is definite that the new company will pickup and support Halo Wars going forward.

That said, I’m sure some folks will leave before Halo Wars ships. I’ll applaud them for doing what is right for their happiness. Ensemble has always been about our commitment to employees. We’re not going to forget that at the last minute.

We’ve done everything possible to retain everyone through the end of Halo Wars. Any reports about people already being laid off are 100% false. Full timers are still employed and have a job until well after Halo Wars. Contractors still have their contracts. Our goal is to keep everyone here until the game is done.

Halo Wars is going to ship. We want Halo Wars to be awesome. If you’ve read any of the E3 or Leipzig press coverage, you know the game is good. Plus, the new company will support Halo Wars via title updates and DLC.

Finishing the game will be harder now, but it will get done and be great.

Dave Pottinger
Halo Wars Lead Designer

I’m still a little skeptical. The thing is, while the game might be excellent when it does come out, the chances are pretty good that any future patches or online support will be stymied by a smaller development team. So if you were planning to pick up the game for it’s online components, you may want to consider just how much bang you’ll actually be getting for your buck.

Via Halo Wars Site

We are all aware of the impending closure of Ensemble Studios, but what we have not heard is Microsoft Game Studios head honcho Phil Spencer’s take on this. Therefore, I will post the email he sent to Microsoft and Ensemble Studios employees in full, which says it better than I can reiterate.

“Today, we shared with our employees at Ensemble that we have plans to close the studio after Halo Wars RTM. Such a decision is never easy. Like any business, we’re accountable for making tradeoffs and the right level of investments that will drive profit and future growth. However, as we reviewed our first-party portfolio and where we need to invest and divest our resources to achieve our long-term strategies, it became clear to us that closing the studio and redeploying those resources to other more scalable ventures is the right thing for our business at this time.

Unfortunately, our decision to close Ensemble will adversely impact many of the studio’s team members. Following the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new entity and have agreed to partner with Microsoft to develop future products and provide support for Halo Wars post launch. While the new company will be hiring a portion of the Ensemble employees, its size and resources prevent it from offering positions to the entire Ensemble team. We hope to integrate much of this creative talent into MGS or the broader IEB team, where we have relevant openings.

Ensemble Studios has produced many notable games over the years – including the Ages franchise – that have helped MGS become a leader in interactive entertainment. And now, Halo Wars is already proving to be a hit by people who have seen and played early versions of the game. The Ensemble team is committed to continuing its development, testing and support of Halo Wars through to the completion of halo wars. We’re also working closely with the studio’s leaders to ensure a smooth launch of the game in early 2009 and continuing support thereafter. We will support the studio in every way possible as they work to deliver this highly anticipated game.

This action notwithstanding, I want to emphasize that the overall investment Microsoft is making in video game development is not diminished, and we will continue to bring in talent to work on titles and franchises where we’ll see the most ROI. Our priority is to continue to nurture the creative freedom that allows us to successfully drive our business strategy forward. Meanwhile, we’re launching some outstanding games over the next few months. We’ve just launched Too Human and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, and soon we’ll see many other games hit retail store shelves, including Scene It! 2, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Lips and, of course, Halo Wars.

I want to thank you for your hard work and focus as we head into the next few months and make this a blowout year for first-party games. Please be supportive and respectful of our Ensemble colleagues as they go through this tough time.

Phil

Thanks: GI.biz

Following a number of reports that indicated Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios would be closing following the release of the Halo-themed RTS yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that it would be closing the developer best known for its work on the Age of Empires series.

An official statement (via Gamasutra) confirming the news reads in part:

“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 Ensemble’s 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.”

It’s reassuring to hear that at least some of Ensemble’s staff will continue to support Halo Wars even after the company is closed but it doesn’t make the announcement of a storied developer closing its doors after more than a decade any less shocking.

If a rumor being reported by Shacknews proves to be true, Halo Wars and Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios will soon be closing up shop in a move eerily similar to FASA Studio last year as it approached the release of Shadowrun. The story claims that multiple independent sources have indicated that Ensemble will be shutting down following the release of Halo Wars, currently slated for sometime in early 2009.

Ensemble staff who aren’t at work on Halo Wars have reportedly been laid off today, while those who are on the project “have been offered incentives to stay on the project until completion.” This certainly throws the game’s post-release support into question, especially considering Ensemble is a developer that traditionally favors releasing expansion packs.

The Microsoft-owned developer was founded in 1995. We’ve reached out to Ensemble for comment but have yet to receive any word back at this time.

New details on the upcoming Halo Wars are few and far-between; probably because the game’s release still hasn’t been set in stone yet. But at least Ensemble Studios has revealed the official box art for the game whenever it does hit store shelves. The cover was also designed by the same team behind the box art for Halo 2 and 3. So basically, now you know what to look for next year when this game is finally released; that is, a box that says “Halo Wars” on the front.

What a week it has been! More accusations of GTA related crime sprees sweeping the globe, sadly losing the hilariously astute Bernie Mac, the Olympics starting off with a huge bang and a stabbing in China, Clay Aiken’s record producer giving birth to his child, and rumors of a curse surrounding “The Dark Knight” were flying across the internet like a banshee. What awaits us next week in the world of gaming and other things not as important (I jest) who knows.

What I DO know, is that only five demos hit FileFront this week and while that is a paltry sum, a couple of them seem to be pretty popular believe it or not.

So, without further ado, here they are:

• Ironclads: American Civil War: Playable demo of the historical naval simulator Ironclads: American Civil War

• Drakensang: The Dark Eye German: DTP Entertainment has released a playable demo of Drakensang: The Dark Eye, allowing you to try out this PC adaptation of Germany’s most popular pen & paper RPG.

• Lights of Dreams: The Angelical Blade 2.30: Xilvan (Xylvan) Design has released an updated demo of Lights of Dreams: The Angelical Blade.

• Candy World The Golden Bones Tome II v1.30: Xilvan Design has released a new demo for Candy World: The Golden Bones Tome II.

• Birth of America II : Wars in America: Birth of America II: Wars in America 1750-1815 follows the successful historical strategy videogame Birth of America, AGEOD’s American Civil War and Napoleon’s Campaigns.

The patches were aplenty as usual, and I have listed the most downloaded ones below. There were 17 in all, so check the full list on FileFront to see if one is available for your game.

• The Guild 2 Patch 1.4 – Protected
• Myth War II Online v1.0.4.23 Client Patch
• Halo Custom Edition 1.0.8.616
• Halo 2 v1.01 Revised Patch
• Atlantica Online Beta Patch

As always, for the full list of both demos and patches, click here and here. See you next week.