Halo Wars, the final game from Age of Empires creator Ensemble Studios, will bring real-time strategy to North American Xbox 360s come March 3, Microsoft has revealed.

The Americas will be the last territory to receive the game, with a European release on February 27 and a Japanese / Asia Pacific debut the day before, February 26.

Per Microsoft tradition for major Xbox 360 releases, the game will be available in two forms: a $60 standard edition and a bonus-packed $80 Limited Collector's Edition that will offer early access to the long-awaited Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack.

My interview with Ensemble Studios director of technology Dave Pottinger and lead designer Graeme Devine wasn't all depressing. We did eventually cover the finer details of Halo Wars, their upcoming RTS designed from the ground up for the Xbox 360.

During our extended conversation, Pottinger and Devine described the challenging process of crafting an RTS for a new audience, and talked about the feedback they've received from their casual focus groups. They also touched on what hardcore RTS fans will like about the game, and explained key development choices--including the reason for why the Flood aren't a playable faction.

Shack: What is it about RTS games that repels new users? Is there one primary thing you can point to?

Dave Pottinger: Everyone has different answers. I think it's complexity and the obstruction. The idea of--

Shack: Just not having control of that one character?

Dave Pottinger: Yeah, the idea of not being a specific guy, and having to select and then order. That's where we've spent a lot on our controls and our teaching, and our tutorial focuses pretty heavily on that. That's where a lot of people get tripped up. They're running around the map, and they say, "I want to attack this," and they don't have anything selected, and they're pressing X like a madman. Read more..

New screenshots of Ensemble's Halo Wars have arrived from publisher Microsoft, showcasing a number of the environments and units players will discover in the Xbox 360 real-time strategy game once it arrives in February 2009. For more on Halo Wars and its soon-to-be-closed developer, check out our hands-on E3 impressions, and keep your eyes open for an updated preview later this week.

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

Publisher Microsoft today revealed the Limited Collector's Edition version of Halo Wars (360), the final strategy game from the soon-to-be-closed Ensemble Studios.

Arriving in February and priced at $79.99--$20 more than the $59.99 standard edition--the Halo Wars LCE will sport a snazzy metal case and the following bonuses:

• Three New "Halo 3" Multiplayer Maps - Be one of the first to experience the Mythic Map Pack from Bungie which includes three new maps, "Assembly," "Orbital" and "Sandbox"
• Halo Wars: Genesis- a beautiful graphic novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine and Eric Nylund chronicling the first military campaign against the Covenant. The novel centers around the Sprit of Fire on a mission to discover why the Covenant are so interested in the world of Harvest
• Unique In-game Vehicle - "Honor Guard" Wraith
• Six Leader Cards - Leaders possess elite skills which can turn the tides of battle
• Spirit of Fire Patch - Start the journey as an official Spirit of Fire crew member

In addition, select retailers will award players with a code for a "special in-game Warthog vehicle with flame decals" in exchange for a pre-order.

Microsoft has released a new batch of gameplay footage from Ensemble's RTS Halo Wars.

The video, narrated by lead designer Graeme Devine, offers the first Halo Wars glimpse of everyone's favorite alien horde, the Flood.

Halo Wars is expected to be released January 21 on Xbox 360.

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New screenshots of Ensemble's Halo-themed Xbox 360 strategy game have arrived, offering a glimpse of an UNSC base and two scenarios from the campaign mode. In addition to the new shots, developer Ensemble, which will close after the completion of Halo Wars, has clarified that the game is now due out in early 2009, instead of the vague "first half of 2009" estimate that was provided during E3.

The studio also revealed that the game will, as expected, include the Flood, the parasitic blight of the Halo universe, though it is not yet known if the Flood will be playable.

Microsoft has released a new Halo Wars cinematic trailer. The short clip introduces the main characters of the story, and teases fans with a bit of the prequel's plot.

Halo Wars, a real-time strategy title by doomed developer Ensemble Studios, is expected to be released on Xbox 360 within the first half of 2009.

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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

Confirming a story broken by Shacknews, Microsoft now says that it will shut down developer Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) following the end of work on the company's upcoming RTS Halo Wars.

Microsoft called the planned closure a "fiscally-rooted" decision, while noting that a core Ensemble team will go on to form a new studio to provide support for Halo Wars and work on fresh projects.

Though not all employees will be transferred to the new studio, Microsoft plans to find other jobs for as many workers as possible.

Microsoft's full statement follows:

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 Ensembles 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... Read more

Update: Microsoft has confirmed its plans to close Ensemble.

Original Story: Shacknews has learned via multiple independent reports that developer Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) will shut down operation following the release of its upcoming title Halo Wars.

According to sources, employees not associated with Halo Wars have been laid off today. Those attached to Halo Wars have been offered incentives to stay on the project until completion.

Halo Wars, an RTS based on the Halo franchise, was announced in September of 2006. The Xbox 360 title is currently slated for release sometime in the first half of 2009.

Ensemble Studios was founded in 1995. The Microsoft-owned company is best known for the Age of Empires series of RTS games.

Shacknews has contacted both Microsoft and Ensemble for comment, but has not yet received a reply.

While the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention is now over, that hasn't stopped Microsoft from sending over some Leipzig-branded screenshots of Ensemble Studios' Xbox 360-exclusive RTS effort Halo Wars, which is slated to arrive in the first half of 2009.

When I saw Halo Wars at last year's E3, the Ensemble-developed RTS prequel certainly looked impressive, though I couldn't say much about the game's fabled control scheme.

The entire game hinges on the success of its control scheme, on a player's ability to quickly zoom across a battlefield and issue commands to an entire army. That's really easy to do with a mouse and keyboard, not so much with an Xbox 360 controller.

Ensemble is certainly aware of this--additional control scheme work is part of why Halo Wars was just delayed into 2009, along with general balance tweaks and a crowded holiday season.

Yet even in its current state, I'm happy to report that the game's control scheme works quite well. It's not necessarily intuitive--then again, I can't imagine what button I would instinctively press to instantly select all troops--but I got the hang of it after five minutes.

All it takes is one button press to perform the basic tasks--jump back to your base, select all on-screen units, highlight all troops on a map, center on your... Read more

Microsoft just confirmed with Shacknews that Ensemble Studios' Halo-based strategy game Halo Wars is delayed until the first half of 2009. Though no release date was ever officially announced, the game had been expected to arrive later this year.

According to a rep from Ensemble, the game was delayed for additional control and balancing polish, and to avoid the crowded holiday season.

Check back with us later for impressions of the game.

In accordance with today's outpouring of announcements, demonstrations and big reveals at Microsoft's E3 press conference, the company has released several new screenshots of the titles included in today's presentation.

Gears of War 2

New Xbox 360 3D Dashboard

Fable 2

More new images from titles including Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2, Lips, and several others are viewable below... Read more

With Halo Wars set to make its playable debut at next week's E3 conference, Ensemble Studios has issued a few new screenshots from the Xbox 360-only RTS title. Beyond a vague 2008 projection, no release date has been announced for Halo Wars.

Age of Empires creator Ensemble Studios has released several new screenshots from Halo Wars, its Xbox 360-only stab at a Halo-themed real-time strategy effort.

Expected to arrive later this year, Halo Wars will be on display at this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, which runs from July 14-17. Check back then to see how the title has fared since last year's optimistic showing.

New details from Ensemble Studios' real-time strategy title Halo Wars (360) have surfaced in the latest issue of gaming magazine GamePro.

The preview reconfirmed the existence of two-player online cooperative play for Halo Wars' story-driven campaign mode, as initially revealed at the time of the title's original announcement. The game is also expected to support six players in multiplayer matchups over Xbox Live.

Also of note was the revelation of the title's resource system. Unlike other RTS games which might have you gathering wood, iron, or Vespene gas, Halo Wars only requires "supplies". The single resource system is meant to streamline action and keep things simple but stategic, allowing players to focus on battle over preparations.

"The economy is simple but meaningful," Ensemble designer Dav Pottinger told GamePro. "All the big strategy decisions remain, but the game style is more adrenaline-filled."

Halo Wars is expected to drop later this year.

Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studio wants you to remember that its Halo-themed RTS is due out on Xbox 360 at some point this year, so it has provided a few new screenshots.

For more details on Halo Wars, check out our optimistic first impressions.

It has taken a while, but Microsoft finally released the Halo Wars E3 2007 presentation showing more from the Xbox 360 exclusive strategy game. The 10 minute long video offers gameplay footage and narration by lead designer Graeme Devine.

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