The News
It's Halo Wars News Day!
SOLUS has posted a number of articles over at HaloWars.com. Seems that Joystiq, videogamer, IGN and Xbox306Achievements all got their hands dirty with the campaign in London recently, and it looks as though they aren't holding back on the info. Check it out!
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated November 18th
Screenshots aplenty
Kotaku have some fantastic new Halo Wars screenshots up. They are (as far as I can tell) all taken from Halo Wars' campaign and a few from various cutscenes in the game. Be sure to check them out.
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated November 18th
Bits and pieces from VideoGamer
A few bits of information for you all today! VideoGamer have posted three separate articles each with a bit of Halo Wars news. First up we've got a flat out "no" from Graeme Devine with regard to the possibility of Halo Wars coming to the PC. Next up is another article contemplating the lack of a substantial covenant campaign. Finally, there's a preview article regarding VideoGamer's hands on experience with the game.
Credit where credit's due, thanks should go to HBO for this one.
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated November 17th
Forum Downtime
Just to let you all know, the forum will be down for a few days while we do some maintenance to resolve recent issues with spam-bots, you'll still be able to check the front-page for news while we do this. Sorry it's a little sudden, thanks for your patience everyone.
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated November 16th
So much news!
I'm incredibly far behind on the news-posts here, there's been loads of new Halo Wars news and gossip about since October. We've had Cobra Concept Art added to the concept galleries over at Halo Wars.com, as well as some pretty cool looking Honor Guard and "Flaming" Warthog custom paint job concepts, only available with the collectors edition of the game. The collectors edition will include a bunch of goodies, most notably a unique graphic novel, "Halo Wars: Genesis".
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated November 15th
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!
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated October 5th
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!
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated September 29th
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!
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated September 16th
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?
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
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated September 11th
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. :-(
News Source | Permalink | Posted by Mr Sprout | Last updated September 10th