Halo Wars Central News

New Halo Wars Trailer & Gameplay!

Wow, a whole load of new goodness for you guys to drool over today. First up, the "A Field Trip To Harvest" cinematic trailer, which gives us a nice little intro to what we can expect from the Halo Wars storyline.

Secondly, two new gameplay videos have surfaced. The "Chasm" demo showing off the VTOL abilities of the Hornets in Halo Wars and the "Beasely Plateau" demo, showing off some pretty spectacular looking explosions plus plenty of nice unit animation. Enjoy!

Field Manual Updates!

The UNSC field manual has been updated with three new units and two new buildings over at HaloWars.com.

The Airpad and Barracks add to our already solid knowledge of game buildings, while the Marine, Hornet and Flamethrower now have a special place in the Field Manual, cool stuff! Read up on it all in the UNSC Field Manual over at HaloWars.com.

Sorry news has been a little slow folks, lots of moving around as of late!

Looking Brutal

SOLUS has added two new pieces of Brute concept art to the galleries over at HaloWars.com. The Brutes shown in the two added pieces of artwork look a little different (at least to me) to the Brutes we've seen in Halo 2 & 3, but formidable nevertheless.

You can see the two Brutes in all their high-res glory here and here. Enjoy!

A Statement from Pottinger

Dave Pottinger, Halo Wars' lead designer, released a statement concerning the recent news that Ensemble will be shutting its doors after the release of Halo Wars next year. There's not really much to say here, have a read for yourself:

- Is Halo Wars gonna suck now that ES is getting closed after Halo Wars is released?

Thatâ��s a totally fair question. The Ensemble Studiosâ�� 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.

Weâ��ve worked with Microsoft to create the best set of options for every employeeâ��s future. For example, there is a deal in place for a new company that will employ some people from Ensemble. Itâ��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, Iâ��m sure some folks will leave before Halo Wars ships. Iâ��ll applaud them for doing what is right for their happiness. Ensemble has always been about our commitment to employees. Weâ��re not going to forget that at the last minute.

Weâ��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 youâ��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

Say it ain\'t so!

This hasn't actually been confirmed yet, but rumors have been flying that Microsoft will be shutting down Ensemble Studios following the release of Halo Wars next year. According to Shacknews, which was the first to report the story, there have been reports from multiple independent sources that state that anyone not involved with the development of Halo Wars at Ensemble has been "laid off", while those involved have been offered "incentives to stay" until the release of the title next year.

More on this as it develops, hopefully we won't have confirmation for you soon and this will all turn out to be a bad dream. Hang in there.

Update:

It's been confirmed, let's hope this doesn't adversely affect Halo Wars' development. :-(

Halo Wars At PAX

Graeme Devine has written us up a little look back on his experiences at PAX 08. For those of you who don't know PAX, or the "Penny Arcade Expo" has quickly become the premiere event in the gaming calendar for you, the players, since E3... lost it's appeal a couple of years ago.

It seems those who made it out to PAX were very keen to see Halo Wars in action, seats were full and fans were eagerly anticipating the two demos given by Graeme. Read all about it over at HaloWars.com.

Halo Wars August Update

Well, it's September, which means we're just about due for the August monthly update. Totally kidding, but August's update has been posted over at HaloWars.com. Among topics discussed in this month's update are upcoming goals and site changes, but more importantly the news that Thunder, long-suffering community manager has left Texas, and his position at Ensemble, to be back home in Canada. You'll be sorely missed, Thunder. Read on.

Dave Pottinger on Spartans

SOLUS has posted the latest "Diary" entry over at HaloWars.com which details the implementation of the green ass-kicking guys in Halo Wars. There's probably more thought that goes into this kind of stuff than you realize, go check it out!

The Leipzig Diaries

SOLUS has posted The Leipzig Diaries over at HaloWars.com, the Diaries cover three days worth of geeky goodness with Graeme Devine, Stephen Rippy and Bill Jackson at Leipzig, demoing, drinking and generally having what looks like an awesome time. It looks as if the folks over at halowarsaddict.com made it out there too for a hands-on with the game!

You can check day one here and days two and three here. Enjoy!

Halo Wars Box Art Released

The Halo Wars Box Art has been officially unveiled to the public! You'll want to keep an eye out for the following box on store shelves near you next year:

Here's what Microsoft had to say in their official press release:

"The crew of the Spirit of Fire are gearing up for combat and to prepare you we have a special first-look at the newest chapter in the â��Haloâ�� saga. Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios unveiled official â��Halo Warsâ�� box art and visual ID today."

No word on any special editions of the game or what they'll look like as of yet, it's still early days though!

Introducing the Wolverine

SOLUS has added new unit to the UNSC Field Manual! The Wolverine is a small warthog-like vehicle with two beefy looking Argent V Missile Pods mounted on the back. Although it can lock onto ground targets, the Wolverine's real strength is as a UNSC anti-aircraft unit. You'll have to get tactical with these though, they're vulnerable to anti-armor attacks!

Read up on it all over in the UNSC Field Manual.

IGN Hands On

IGN have a nice little write-up of their recent hands on experience with Halo Wars over on IGN.com. There's no real new information in there. The most interesting information is probably the observations made about the advancement differences of the UNSC and Covenant factions. Still, it's well worth a read.

Reactors in the Field Manual

The "Reactor" has been added to the UNSC field manual over at HaloWars.com. Reactors will provide power for your base in the final game and are deployed in a modular fashion, meaning that your power output is going to need to scale with the overall needs of your base and some heavy units. It'll be interesting to see exactly what tactical role they play when Halo Wars hits the shelves next year.

Read more over in the UNSC field manual at HaloWars.com.

Bruce Shelley on E3

Bruce Shelley, game designer at Ensemble, has offered us a special look-back at E3 on his blog. Bruce talks at length about demos given at E3, in particular those given by Dave Pottinger. Also mentioned are the numerous awards and recognizations Halo Wars recieved at E3. Check it out!

Halo Wars July Update

Another month, another update. This month it's a big look back and review on what we saw at E3 this year. Awards, game tweaking are all given a mention, but there's a particular focus on game difficulty in this month's update. Not to spoil the update, but it looks like we'll be seeing pretty tough battles in the final game! Check it out.

Note: Sorry this update was a little late folks, I've been away from the internets for the past 24 hours.

Rumor: Flood in Halo Wars?

Kotaku have an interesting post up regarding a fan's question at Comic-Con recently. The anonymous fan asked if there would be a flood appearance in Halo Wars, a few Bungie (Yes. Not Ensemble) representatives offered the following response.

"We haven't talked about any other races. All I can say is that it's a complete Halo game."

This response is pretty interesting as it neither confirms nor denies the flood rumor, but compares Halo Wars to every other Halo title thus far, which have all included the flood... More over at Kotaku.

Picking up the awards!

Halo Wars turned heads with a great show at E3 this year, and now it seems it's being recognized for it in a big way. GamePro, PlanetXbox360, GamingExcellence and ActionTrip all awarded Halo Wars a "best strategy" or "Best of E3" award. There's plenty of praise going around for the title after E3, which is very promising stuff to hear given the general unease of the gaming public with a console based RTS game. Check it out over at HaloWars.com

UNSC Info updated!

Ensemble have updated their UNSC information with two new descriptive sections detailing the Vehicle Depot and Scorpion Tank. Although it was widely known these already exist within the game, these new informative pages give us a detailed look at each unit and how they will function within the final game.

Pictures and a video of the scorpion tank are included so be sure to take a gander!

HaloWars.com E3 Roundup

Thunder has posted a nice little roundup of Halo Wars "first impressions" articles on HaloWars.com. As well as the previously posted 1up show video, GameSpy, Joystiq, Shacknews and Gamespot have had a sneak peak at the game and offered up their opinions on what they saw.

It seems feelings on the game are good, with all around praise for the efforts of the Ensemble team and a real sense of surprise from at least one site at their feelings towards the title after having played it. Promising stuff!

1up Show E3 Special

There's a little more Halo Wars gameplay footage for us today with a special E3 edition of the 1up show.

The show features two games, Dragon Age: Origins & the one we care about - Halo Wars. The 1up show is an excellent gaming podcast, so this is definitely well worth a look. Included in the Halo Wars segment is a look at the main menu, as well as a full talk through of the game's units, battle tactics and economy.

This is one you really don't want to miss, probably the most detailed look at the game we've had so far - Wow! Check it out!

Update:

I've made a local copy for you guys, it should download a little faster. I've cut the non-related stuff out too so it's pure Halo Wars goodness.

1up Show Halo Wars Demonstration WMV (Locally Hosted Backup)

Halo Wars Hands On Time

The folks over at IGN got a hands on play with Halo Wars at E3 this year, and have written up their impressions of the game on IGN.com. The article talks through their gameplay experience in detail. Each unit, building, power and control are thoroughly explained making this an excellent article to learn from.

Best of all, it seems they loved what they played! Have a look.

Update:
Gamespot have posted a similar article documenting their hands on experience. Check it out.

More Gameplay Goodness

We've got a new Halo Wars Gameplay video for you all this morning! Posted at GameVideos.com, this video demonstrates gameplay on a snowy level and introduces many of the key concepts behind Halo Wars' gameplay implementation.

Base development, unit deployment, unit tactics and enemy engagements all feature in this clip. Looking ever more polished, this is something you really need to see. Check it out over at GameVideos.com.

Halo Wars G4 Interview & Demo

Halo Wars was got some extra special attention today with a full blown interview & demo on G4TV. Halo Wars Lead Designer Dave Pottinger took the time to answer their questions while simultaneously talking us through some live gameplay. This is one you can't afford to miss!

Pottinger himself says we can expect to see the game in the spring of 2009, so you can consider that pretty much official for a release date. Enjoy!

Halo Wars E3 Gameplay Footage

Some new Halo Wars gameplay footage has been demoed at E3. The footage shows a huge amount of all round improvement on the game, and demos some awesome new weapons and units. This thing's really picking up!

Check it out over at GameTrailers.com.

Early 2009 Release?

1up have posted supposedly able to "confirm" that Halo Wars is being targeted for an early 2009 release. Although they provide no source for the information, they're quite reputable themselves, so perhaps this is an early piece of E3 news?

Take this with a pinch of salt people, best to wait for confirmation from Ensemble. More as/if it develops!

HaloWars.com E3 Info Updates

There have been some significant updates to the FAQ, Screenshots and Renders sections on HaloWars.com.

A first glance over the new media reveals a game looking better than ever, a lot of those "not quite confirmed" units now confirmed and just generally a great deal of excitement to be had! Enjoy!

Update: I've put a thread up on the forums for you guys to discuss today's releases. Go take a gander.

Five Long Years

Wow! Thunder has just posted a new trailer for Halo Wars over at the HaloWars.com. The trailer is part of a new slew of media being shown to everyone at the E3 conference this year. "Five Long Years" sets the scene for the Game's events. Looks like it's going to be one gritty affair! Enjoy!

Links Update:

Five Long Years - 720p WMV (Microsoft Hosted - Fast!)
Five Long Years - 720p WMV (Locally Hosted Backup)

1up Interviews Dave Pottinger

The folks over at 1up have posted a huge interview with Ensemble Lead Designer Dave Pottinger and it's all about Halo Wars.

The interview covers a lot about the development process for the game, cut features, the "e3 demo", and general improvements over what we saw last year are all discussed at length.

This is one high quality interview! Check it out over at 1up.com.

Higher Res Screenshots II

Thunder has posted a few more of the higher resolution screenshots originally published by GamePro. Again, these look fantastic in their new higher resolution, so be sure to take a look!

Part 3 has yet to be posted. Keep your eyes peeled over the coming days for it at HaloWars.com.

5th Most Anticipated at E3

Halo Wars has made the no. 5 spot on Next-Gen.biz's "Most Anticipated Games of E3 2008" list. Apparently everyone's excited to see how an RTS designed from the ground up for console play will fare on the Xbox 360. Whatever the reason, it's great to see so much excitement around the game. Check it out!

Higher Res Screenshots

Just a quick heads up here, Thunder's posted a few of the screenshots from the massive collection of 40 released by GamePro a couple of weeks ago on HaloWars.com. The difference here is that these are at a much higher resolution than those published by GamePro, giving you a much more detailed look and better representation of what the actual game will look like.

The game is looking absolutely stunning, head on over to HaloWars.com and take a look yourself.

Bruce Shelley on Halo Wars

Ensemble designer Bruce Shelley offers his thoughts on Halo Wars via his latest blog entry. Bruce talks about Halo Wars' controls, as well as the general pace of games.

According to Shelley, games in Halo Wars are typically over fairly quickly, with players able to get right into the action from the get-go. It's certainly an interesting read, check it out.

UNSC Page

A UNSC Page has just been added over at HaloWars.com which will gradually introduce the full range of UNSC units for the game. Thunder starts us off with the UNSC Firebase, a tactical command centre, barracks and production facility in Halo Wars. Read what Ensemble had to say after the jump.

"The UNSC firebase combines the needs of a tactical communication command center and expansion into both a barrack and a production facility capable of assembling combat vehicles. The firebase itself is a variant of the old colony starter units constructed out of polycrete and powered by a small hydrogen reactor. Because gaining a foothold quickly was key to fighting insurrection throughout the colonies, Spirit of Fire can directly deploy the entire assembly unit of a firebase"

Also on the UNSC Page are silhouettes for other undisclosed units in Halo Wars, I'm pretty sure I see a hornet in there! Have a look and see what you find.

Halo Wars June Update

Argh! The day I'm out all day would be the day this gets posted! Sorry this is a little late folks.

Thunder has posted June's monthly Halo Wars update over at halowars.com. This month it's all about the upcoming Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), where Ensemble will be showcasing a new build of Halo Wars, as well as releasing all sorts of information on the game. Also mentioned is the "Cyclops" UNSC unit, introduced as a kind of mid-point between a Marine and a Spartan in Halo Wars.

Check it out if you haven't already, and thanks to Thunder for another excellent update.

Halo Wars Screenshots and lots of \'em!

Wow! Gamepro have posted a truckload of Halo Wars screenshots over on GamePro.com. This is the most media we've had for the game in a long time, so don't hold back, dive in!

I'll be adding these to our local galleries ASAP, there's an awful lot of media here to work though. I'm also trying to establish how many of these screens are actually new, it's looking good so far though. Thanks to Ensemble and Gamepro as always, check them out guys!

Remember, you can discuss these and more on our forums. Enjoy!

Update: Thunder wrote about this at HaloWars.com.
Update 2: All the screenshots have been added (with descriptions) in the gallery.

HWA Interview Thunder

The folks over at Halo Wars Addict have had a little fireside chat with Graham "Thunder" Somers, the Community Manager at Ensemble. The interview covers much about future information releases on Halo Wars, but there are a few specific questions regarding game content in there too. A very definite 'when it's ready' on a release date for the game, perhaps we should look to E3 for that. Get in on the interbuzz here.

Update: Local backup added.
Update 2: Thunder wrote about this at HaloWars.com.

Halo Wars Confirmed for E3 2008

Microsoft have released their games lineup for E3 2008 and Halo Wars is on it!
For those of you who aren't familiar, E3 ~~was~~ is the premier annual gaming event for new announcements, demos, and media related to up and coming video game titles.

We can expect that some time between July 14th and July 17th we'll get a whole load of new information on Halo Wars, hope for another video demo people!

GamePro screenshots online!

GamePro have released a few of the screenshots from their Halo Wars article online, although I'm guessing these aren't new to a lot of you (cheaters), this is the best way to get hold of these if you don't have access to the July issue of GamePro.

As is to be expected, the shots are heavily watermarked, so I won't post them here. However, make sure you get your keisters over to GamePro and take a look.

Controls mapped

I'm not one for posting long lists of game information right on the front-page, but this is one hell of a resource. The guys over at HWA have put together a brilliant little image showing Halo Wars' controls as previewed by GamePro, see below.

I'm not a betting man, but I'd say that given the importance of getting this control scheme right, what you see above is likely to change a fair bit before the eventual release of the game. Still, it's great to see these mapped out onto a controller.

GamePro cover, screenshot and more

The guys over at the GamePro site have posted an image from their Halo Wars article for fans to drool over, It's watermarked (twice) so I don't think they want it spread around. However, you can go over to the GamePro site to see it. For now, here's the cover you should be looking for in the shops.

It's in stores now, so go get it if you haven't already! Remember, you can discuss all things Halo Wars in our forums. Have a good one!

Halo Wars - Chumpion of 2008?

It seems the guys over at GameGuru don't rate Halo Wars too highly, apparently due to an issue they had with the frame-rate. Here's what they had to say on the subject.

The demo gameplay shown so far don't have as high framerates as it should be.

Poking fun aside, this seems too small of an issue at what was a very early stage in the game's development to be drawing a final conclusion on. More at GameGuru.

Various goings on

It looks as though June will be a big month for Halo Wars news, a few lucky subscribers over at halowars.com have received their July copies of GamePro magazine two months early, complete with its 8-page section on Halo Wars. It's important that you guys remember that you can't (legally) post scans from the magazine here. There's a lot of new info in there and a couple of great new screens. Discuss all you want, but please please please don't post scans. If you don't already have a subscription to GamePro, you can set one up online at the GamePro site.

In other news, jakster02 has finished part two of her Fan Fiction "Morning" (Part one was announced on the 12th). Following the trials of one ODST Sergeant Fox, part two is action packed from start to finish. Take a stroll on down to the Fan Fiction section and get some reading!

HWA Interview Dispraiser

Halo Wars Addict have interviewed Dispraiser of Slipstream Productions. Slipstream productions are the guys behind HaloGen, a Halo Command and Conquer Generals mod shut down in September of 2006 by Microsoft, shortly before the announcement of Halo Wars.

The interview covers the shutting down of the HaloGen project and current feelings about Halo Wars, which it seems have changed a fair amount since we interviewed Dispraiser back in 2006.

Head on over to HWA and have a read.

Update: Local backup added.

Ask Ensemble

The guys over at Halo Wars Addict have an interview with Ensemble lined up for next Month. However, it seems they're stuck for that one last question to ask. This is where you come in! Email your question to them by June 3rd, and you have a shot at winning a Halo Wars Addict t-shirt, as well as having your question answered by Ensemble. Get going!

Halo Wars May Update

This Month's Halo Wars update is packed full of information (no, really) on the Alpha, the game's progress and upcoming information releases.

In short, the Alpha's over now, a huge amount of feedback has been collected via a private feedback forum for testers, and changes are now being made accordingly. It also seems we'll be getting a flood of new information via next Month's issue of Gamepro magazine, they even showed the Gamepro guys a build of Halo Wars, so you can expect an honest opinion on the game's progress. Finally, there's a nice paragraph on the Halo Wars Campaign progress, seems there's a great deal of playtesting going on!

You can read up on it all over on halowars.com. Oh... and that screenshot from May 7th - It's available in high-res now!

Update: It seems a mistake was made with the dates for the Gamepro magazine, it's actually the July issue which features the Halo Wars article, not the June issue.

Kotaku\'s \"new screenshots\"

I debated for a while on whether I should post this, but it's caused quite the stir in the community since yesterday, so this is here to clear things up for you all.

Yesterday, Kotaku posted what they claimed to be "New Halo Wars screenshots". However, only one of the "screenshots" posted is actually a screenshot from Halo Wars, and none of the images posted are new.

One image is a UNSC Sparrowhawk rendering from early 2007, seen in the background here, or here if you're looking for a clearer view. The other is actually a frame-grab from the original trailer for Halo Wars showed at x06 (Yes, 06...). Lastly, the one and only image in the article that is a screenshot was posted here on May 7th, at gameplayer.com.au on May 6th, and in an Australian magazine before that. Ouch!

Shane Kim Elaborates on SF no-show

Microsoft Game Studios boss Shane Kim has sat down with CVG to discuss goings on at the 2008 San Francisco Xbox 360 Showcase, among subjects discussed was the lack of a Halo Wars showing.

According to Kim, Halo Wars was not shown due to it not being ready to show. One has to assume this means this years demo is going to be much more hands-on than that which was shown by Graeme Devine last year.

You can read the full interview over at CVG.

Update: More thoughts on the subject over at Xbox 360 Fanboy.

Halo Wars for 2009 after all?

It seems that despite expectations of a late 2008 release, Halo Wars was nowhere to be found on Microsoft's "list of games due this year" at the Xbox 360 Spring Showcase in San Francisco.

Although Halo Wars has not yet been given an officially declared release date, it was generally assumed that it would be released later in 2008. Microsoft had the following to say on the subject:

"We have not announced a specific timeframe for this title."

\"Morning\"

Jakster02 has just finished Part One of her new Fan Fiction "Morning". Following the activities of ODST Sergeant Fox, Part One sets us up for an exciting series of events to come. No spoilers!

Head on over to the Fan Fiction section and have a read.

Gamesounds interview

WyattFNEarp of Bungie has sat down and had a little chat with Kevin McMullan and JD Smith, the main sound guys on Halo Wars. McMullan and Smith are in charge of everything outside of the soundtrack to the game, so it's their job to make sure vehicles, weapons and characters sound as authentic as possible. The interview comes in two parts, part 1 and the part 2. They're packed with info, so get reading!

Interestingly, JD Smith's daughter gets a starring role as a bird in Halo Wars. We were even supplied with before and after soundclips!

Update: Local backup added.

Devine Down Under

Well, not quite, but Graeme Devine was interviewed by Australian gaming news site www.gameplayer.com.au. The resulting article is an excellent read, covering all sorts about Halo Wars, including downloadable and user-generated content. This is well worth a look, don't miss out!

Update: Local backup added.
Update 2: Featured new screenshot added to Gallery (Direct link).

#halowars

I've set up an IRC channel for users to chat on in real time with other Halo Wars fans. For those of you savvy with the IRC jazz, the channel is #halowars on server irc.bungie.org.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm on about, you can chat live with your fellow Halo Wars fans by simply clicking this link to use our in-browser IRC client. Or set up your own IRC program by following this tutorial. It's newbie friendly, honest!

To top this all off, Thunder of Ensemble Studios has kindly given us a post on the HaloWars.com Frontpage. A big thankyou to Thunder and the Ensemble guys for this. Don't miss out on the action!

O\'Connor - Continuous Involvement

"Bungie will, however, continue to remain very much involved in multiple aspects the Halo Universe as part of our ongoing relationship with Microsoft."

Bungie community dude Frank O'Connor was recently quoted saying this in reference to Halo Wars and Peter Jackson's upcoming and as of yet undisclosed Halo Project. Some reassuring news for those concerned about lack of Bungie involvement in Halo Wars' development.

M4G interview Stephen Rippy

Music 4 Games have posted an interview with Ensemble Audio Director Stephen Rippy. The interview unsurprisingly covers musical and auditory questions for Halo Wars, as well as some great shots of their recent recording sessions in Prague, Have a read!

Update: Added to the interviews section.

Halo Wars April Update

It's up! This Months Halo Wars update covers the postponement of the "April Madness Tournament", the Halo Wars Alpha news and includes an interview with Stephen Rippy - Ensemble Studios Music and Sound Director to boot. I'm adding this to the interviews section now. Get reading!

Update: Interview's up!

You Can Run But Never Hide

jakster02 has updated her Fan Fiction "Easy Jump" with Chapter Seven - "You Can Run But Never Hide". She's worked hard on this, so don't forget to stop on by and take a read!

No Rest for Tired Soldiers

A new piece of fan fiction has been added to the Fan Fiction section for you all. "No Rest for Tired Soldiers" - by "A Reindeer" (that's a forum name), accounting the struggles of a group of Marines after an enemy Phantom closes in on their ship. Check out the extract below:

"With attempts at stealth now futile, Aidan put all power to the Pelicans engines, and the craft lurched ahead with the sudden increase in speed, its engines roaring. It wasnâ��t enough, thoughâ��the Phantom was still gaining on them."

Be sure to hop on over to the fan fiction section and have a read! Well done A Reindeer, and thank you.

Halo Wars Gallery

Hey all, I've added in a gallery page which I'll be keeping up-to-date with all the latest screenshots we get of Halo Wars over the coming months up until its release. There's nothing too new up there now, but it's worth keeping an eye on. You can get to the gallery by clicking on the link in the navigation bar, or by clicking here if you're lazy.

All doomed? Not quite.

Kotaku have cited Halo Wars as a "respectable hit" in terms of potential for the rest of 2008's video game releases. This comes after video game Analysts have predicted a current peak in video game sales due to a "lack of big releases" in 2008. Pah!

Fan Fiction Time!

I've added in the beginnings of what will be an automated Fan Fiction setting for the site. For now, the database is up and new content has to be added through me, but eventually you'll be able to add and edit your own content.

At the moment, we have one piece of content up "Easy Jump" by jakster02. She's put a lot of work into it, so be sure to give it a good read!

If you've got some content you'd like added to the Fan Fiction section, drop me a PM on the forums or email me.

Welcome to Version 2!

Welcome to Version 2 of Halo Wars Central! This newspost is here to give a brief overview of some of the initial new features we've added to the site, and to answer some questions you guys may have regarding changes made.

First off, the front-page has been totally remade to include new features. First off, articles posted to the front-page are now archived in an easy to view form on the "News Archive" page, linked in the navigation on the left. This means that you can go back at any point and have a quick browse through the archive to find a post from any point in this version's history. Then, by simply clicking on the post, you can bring the post right up for viewing in it's original form on the front-page.

Similarly, all newsposts now contain permalinks, this enables you to link to individual newsposts for direct access from other areas of the internet (sites, forums, IM conversations etc. ). You'll find the permalink link at the bottom of each newspost.

For all of you RSS users out there, we now have a news RSS feed available, you can use this with your RSS reader to receive newsposts from the site directly without having to visit the frontpage itself. If your feed reader does not autodetect the RSS feed, there's a link on the left under the "Updates" tab.

You'll notice that we now have a feature on the videos and interviews pages similar to that which we use on the archive page. We're now able to archive and store Halo Wars related interviews on site quickly and easily, for viewing by anyone. Same goes for videos.

We now have an official Halo Wars channel on the irc.bungie.org server. Yes, we know Bungie aren't making Halo Wars, but the IBO server is the best place for us if we're to chat in among others in the Halo community.

If you're familiar with IRC and have your own IRC client, the server you're after is irc.bungie.org and the channel is #halowars. Otherwise, you can use the IRC client linked in the navigation on the left of this page to jump in and chat quickly and easily.

We've also switched to a new piece of forum software to see us past the launch of Halo Wars, and hopefully well into the future beyond that. The new forum, styled to echo the aesthetic of the front-page, is faster, cleaner and a whole lot nicer to look at.

User accounts are not carried over from the v1 forum, so you'll have to re-register to post. But hey, it's good to keep things fresh! I'll be putting up an archive of the original forum, along with all its newsposts shortly.

Another thing you'll surely notice about the new forum is the reduced number of forum categories available in which to post. This is likely to remain the way it is until the release of Halo Wars itself. It's better to keep the community we have tight-knit until it grows to the point where we actually need forums, rather than to put more forums in than we actually need. This change does not mean you can't post the things you did before, simply take a look at the forum descriptions and decide where your topic is best suited.

That's all for now, folks. If you've got any questions regarding the new site I've set up a forum thread to deal with those. Enjoy your new site!

Halo Wars Alpha now in play!

The Halo Wars alpha has been spotted in play. Going under the code-name "sway", it appears a select group of people have begun testing the game. All's looking good for a release later this year!

It appears either Microsoft or Ensemble forgot to hide the true title of the game in the current status area - doh! More on this is available at Xbox360Fanboy.com.

Halo Wars Hat!

The guys over at Ensemble Studios have some new Spirit of Fire branded hats, check the picture out below.

There was a competition being run on the site to win one of these, but it was a first to email wins affair. Congratulations to "Stuart M" on winning!

Another Graeme Devine interview

This time it's halo.fr's turn to interview Halo Wars' lead designer Graeme Devine. The interview covers a broad spectrum of things related to the project, and is avaiable in both French and English versions. Check it out.

Forerunner Trifecta Concept Art

In the latest piece of Halo Wars Concept art we get a good look at a Forerunner Trifecta, thanks Ensemble!

You can see the high res version over in the Halo Wars official Galleries.

Halo Wars March Update

It's all about the music in this week's update posted by Thunder over on the Halo Wars website. Info is given on the recording and mixing of the music of Halo Wars as well as the first official Halo Wars tournament. Ensemble Employees only I'm afraid!

Check it out!

CVG Get a sneak peek at Halo Wars!

CVG have written up their thoughts on Halo Wars after a sneak preview they recieved of the game. Here's what they had to say,

"Seeing Halo Wars in action, you can't help but think that it's the perfect counterpart to the other new Halo title preparing to leap off the game store shelves and into your hearts this winter - Peter Jackson's Halo Chronicles."

Read all about it in the CVG article.

More forerunner concept art!

Thunder has posted another bit of forerunner concept artwork over at halowars.com. I'm not too sure what this is supposed to be, it's got classic forerunner angularity and lighting to it though! Looking great ensemble, check it out everyone!

Halo Wars Forerunner artwork

The first piece in what I assume is a series of Halo Wars forerunner artwork has been added to the galleries over at the Halo Wars website. Graeme Devine elaborates:

"Forerunner design has a certain vibe to it that we've worked quite hard on. In the Halo FPS games we see quite a bit of Forerunner architecture, machinery and environments. Extending that out into the RTS world, and into new environments, we had to keep the look and feel of what we've seen before but at the same time offer something new, some new function that keeps that mystery going that all Forerunner installations and devices have."