Former Ensemble Studios developer Dusty Monk has founded Windstorm Studios, the third studio to emerge from the closure of the Age of Empires and Halo Wars developer.

Windstorm promises to "bring a new era to online gaming," one that shies away from post-apocalyptic destruction, dark caves, and "killing grey zombies." Its first project will apparently focus on "the promise of a hopeful future," complete with flying cars.

Windstorm Games joins the ranks of Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios, both of which are likewise staffed by ex-Ensemble employees. Robot is working on a new game and additional Halo Wars content, with Bonfire also readying a new title.

We already knew that a group of former Ensemble Studios employees had gone on to found Robot Entertainment, which will provide Age of Empires and Halo Wars support while working on a new project.

Now we've received word that a second studio has risen from the Ensemble ashes in the form of Bonfire Studios. The 35 person studio based out of Dallas, TX is working on a new game which they hope to announce in the next few months.

"Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams," said Bonfire Studios CEO David Rippy, who most recently served as producer at Ensemble.

Following its unofficial reveal last week, Robot Entertainment today announced itself to the world, confirming that the independent studio is comprised of Ensemble veterans.

Apparently picking up where Ensemble left off after it was closed by Microsoft, Robot is developing "additional content" for Ensemble's final project, the Xbox 360 strategy game Halo Wars. The new company, co-founded by Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman, will also provide multiplayer and community support for Age of Empires and Halo Wars.

Along with the Halo Wars content, the studio is working on an original property, of which no other details were revealed. At present, Robot Entertainment employs 45 staffers, all hailing from Ensemble Studios, with Goodman serving as CEO.

"The video game industry is in a state of upheaval," explained Goodman, "not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with."

"As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry's future," he added.

The closing of Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios was one of the more surprising studio developments in recent months. While a portion of the team remains at Microsoft to provide Halo Wars support, many have already moved on.

In the second category, Ensemble Studios co-founder Tony Goodman has formed a new studio, Robot Entertainment, according to Gamasutra and Shack-verified LinkedIn details.

No word on what types of projects Robot will be working on, but many former Ensemble employees have joined Goodman at the new studio. It would certainly be a shame if that PC RTS talent went to waste.

A new Gamasutra feature on the closing of Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios has revealed new details of the company's many unannounced projects.

Among the projects that never saw the light of day were "a fantasy-adventure RPG called Sorcerer; Nova, a "Diablo in space" game; a pirate-themed take on Diablo; a game called Wrench; a Ratchet & Clank-style platformer called Bam," according to Gamasutra.

"Most detailed was a game called Agent, with an art style and universe inspired by Pixar's The Incredibles, and using gameplay elements from Tomb Raider," writes Gama. "As the concept art shows, the game was instantly iconic and unique."

The story also has new details on the original version of Halo Wars. Titled "Phoenix," the game was initially a War of the Worlds, Martians vs. Humans RTS, it was eventually converted to a spin-off of the Bungie franchise.

The Halo MMO had similar origins, having started its life as an original sci-fi IP conceived by designer Ian Fischer in 1998 before eventually being converted to a Halo title. After the company began construction on a new building to facilitate MMO development, Microsoft shut the project down.

It's the developer behind Age of Empires, one of the most successful videogame franchises of all time. It's a financial success, with its flagship franchise recording sales of over 20 million copies.

The company's latest title, Halo Wars, is a console RTS based on the hugely popular shooter series. By all accounts, this was a studio poised to conquer new territory with its dependable design and a popular property.

Which is why it was so confusing when owner Microsoft announced its intention to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars.

Recently I sat down to talk with Ensemble director of technology Dave Pottinger, who quickly echoed that confusion by saying Microsoft's decision "honestly doesn't make a lot of sense."

In our conversation, we touched on how the announcement of the studio closure affected the team, where the staff is moving on to, and what this means for the future of both Halo Wars and Age of Empires. Pottinger also shed a little more light on Ensemble's cancelled Halo MMO, while revealing that a reorganized Microsoft scrapped the title after it had already been green-lit. ... Read more

The almost-closed Ensemble Studios is at work on a Halo-themed strategy game, but at one point there was also an MMO set in the Halo universe in the works.

The game was not cancelled recently, as the game was a prototype worked on at the studio from 2006 to 2007 according to the story-breakers at Gamasutra. Ensemble was known to be working on console games and MMOs in 2006 but no details were announced at the time.

A screenshot gallery has emerged of the prototype, showing concept art of locations, characters and monsters that resembled--but were not acknowledged--parts of the Halo universe. In-game mock-ups of the prototype appeared to borrow more than a few elements from Blizzard's monolithic MMO World of Warcraft.

The screenshot gallery, posted as a Flickr gallery by game blog Gone is Gone, is reproduced on Shacknews with concept art as well.

Ensemble senior designer Bruce Shelley has posted a lengthy blog on the Ensemble site describing the conditions surrounding the closing of the studio working on Halo Wars (X360) for owner Microsoft.

Noting that everyone at the company was "shocked" when the news broke, Shelley explains the reasons for the closing--as he got them from Microsoft--and tells of the fates of Ensemble's employees, but not without a lament for a studio that made all the right moves and got the axe anyway.

Shelley's explanation for the closing is in line with Microsoft's: a business decision entirely. "First, they want to divert the headcount tied up in ES [Ensemble Studios] and the costs that are expected to be required to run ES for the next few years into other projects. Second, it sounded like it cost more to run ES on a per person basis than other first party studios (Rare, Lionhead, Forza, Flight Sim) putting us at a disadvantage. ... And third, games those studios are expected to deliver in the next few years are expected to be more strategic and profitable to the company than anything we would be finishing after Halo Wars."

Halo Wars, Ensemble's final game, is now an all-hands-on-deck operation. "In August we shut down work on everything non-Halo Wars related and now ... Read more