Halo Wars achievements detailed
Ensemble's gift to you: Halo Wars units and structures revealed
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
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
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
- 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.
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: Halo Wars Limited Edition
Video: Halo Wars TGS video now in hi-res
Downer: The Flood not playable in Halo Wars
It's a sad reality, and one we're not willing to accept. Already, we're contorting Ensemble's promise of future DLC to mean that maybe, just maybe the Flood will be added in the future. If not, well, there's always Halo Wars 2.
Video: Halo Wars demo (with the Flood!)
Without a doubt though, the most intriguing part of the video happens right at the end of the demonstration, when we get our first glimpse at the Flood. We only get a general idea of how the Flood base is structured and also a brief look at the Infection Forms as well as what look like (former) human Combat Forms.
Now, if we can just get this time machine working, we can play it right now.
TGS 08: Halo Wars in early '09, Flood confirmed!
It was just revealed at the Tokyo Game Show that the long, long delayed Halo Wars (whose developer has had a bit of a struggle) will be releasing to the Xbox 360 EARLY 2009. Got that fellow fanboys, EARLY 2009 and you can bet we're going to hold Ensemble and Microsoft to that.
Also confirmed (after months and months of speculation) is the inclusion of the Flood in Halo Wars. No specifics yet, just know that they'll be part of the Marine and Covenant party.
Video: Halo Wars 'Field Trip to Harvest' trailer
Just as Mr. Geoff Keighley promised, a new Halo Wars trailer titled Field Trip to Harvest recently aired over on Gametrailers (it's their exclusive, don'tcha know) and it gives us our first taste of what the Halo Wars storyline is all about. And in typical Halo fashion, the trailer is hella' entertaining, visually impressive and quite the informative piece of video. Check out the trailer embedded after the break.
We also wanted to say that if the presented images are the actual in-game cut scenes, then man oh man will we be impressed. It's freakin' beautiful! Oh, and for the geeky Halo folks in the crowd, our own Richard wanted to point out that the the main Elite towards the end of the video is wearing the Arbiter's armor. That means he'd be the Arbiter Elite that was bestowed the "honor" prior to the Arbiter we came to know in the Halo games. Geektacular!
Continue reading Video: Halo Wars 'Field Trip to Harvest' trailer
First Halo Wars footage releases this Saturday
Halo Wars fanatics, listen up. This Friday night (technically Saturday morning at 1:00AM eastern), GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley will be airing in-game footage from Halo Wars, introduce us to the cast of Halo characters and debut some cut scene footage. Not only that, but Keighley will sit down with the Ensemble crew to discuss their feelings (Dr. Phil style) about being shut down by Microsoft. And just from watching the GTTV teaser trailer, we can't wait to see the informative Halo Wars cinematics that they're going to share. Joy!
[Via HBO]
Former Metal Gear 4 producer joins new Halo team
Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that former Konami employee Ryan Payton will be joining Microsoft Game Studios. Payton will join a newly formed team that is responsible for all current and upcoming Halo titles.In response to a rumor that Payton had been tapped as the lead producer for the long awaited Peter Jackson Halo Project, Microsoft would only confirm Payton was one of many employees recently hired to make up the new team, according to EDGE Online.
Among the other members of the Halo team announced is fan favorite ex-Bungie employee, Frank O'Connor. as well as former members of Gearbox, id and Pseudo Interactive.
Payton, who is best known for his work as an assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, left Konami in August.
[via Joystiq]
