This month Best Buy have started offering a FREE month of Xbox Live with a pre-purchase of "Halo Wars" in a members-only promotion for Microsoft.
Anyone interested in the pre-order deal can print an in-store coupon at "http://myrewardzone.bestbuy.com" for their FREE 1 Month Xbox Live Gold Card with their pre-order of "Halo Wars". A 1 Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription normally costs $7.99.
“Halo Wars” is a strategy game based on the legendary “Halo®” universe. In campaign mode, players will command the armies of the UNSC warship “Spirit of Fire,” consisting of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. “Halo Wars” will immerse gamers in an early period of the storied “Halo” universe, allowing them to experience events leading up to the first “Halo” title for Xbox®.
The Xbox Live online service now has over 17 million members globally so get involved with 360-HQ's online gaming clans, community and more now!.
One of the season’s most anticipated games is "Halo Wars," a real-time strategy prequel to the popular "Halo" series.
Dave Pottinger, lead designer for "Halo Wars," describes what’s up with the game, which is being developed by Ensemble Studios for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console. The game is due to be released on March 3.
“Halo Wars” is a strategy game based on the legendary “Halo®” universe. In campaign mode, players will command the armies of the UNSC warship “Spirit of Fire,” consisting of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. “Halo Wars” will immerse gamers in an early period of the storied “Halo” universe, allowing them to experience events leading up to the first “Halo” title for Xbox®.
The switch from first-person shooter to strategy is only one of the changes in the series, which until now has focused on Master Chief, the lone remaining Spartan in the interstellar war against the alien Covenant.
With the guidance of Serina, a spirited artificial intelligence (AI) persona, gamers will direct legions of UNSC soldiers, Warthogs, Scorpions and more, each group having its own strengths and uses in battle. Adventurous commanders can also call upon ancient Forerunner technology, if they are fortunate enough to find it hidden throughout the battlefield.
Covenant forces are also waiting for players to lead them into battle in multiplayer skirmishes via the New Xbox Experience. Call upon an arsenal of new and familiar Covenant units such as Grunts, Elites, Ghosts and even Scarabs to defeat foes on the battlefield. Strategic-minded players who react well under pressure will emerge victorious.
Created from the ground up for the Xbox 360 console and controller, “Halo Wars” is being developed by the veteran real-time strategy developer Ensemble Studios, the team responsible for the best-selling and critically acclaimed “Age of Empires®” franchise on the PC. “Halo Wars” can be played online through the New Xbox Experience® and the single-player campaign. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, “Halo Wars” is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system.
If you are on the our homepage be sure to click the link to view the entire story and interview after watching the latest Halo Wars Trailer/Documentary.
Bungie have just released new screenshots from two of the yet to be released arenas found within the forthcoming Halo 3 multi-player Mythic Map Pack which should become available sometime around March, 2009.
The Halo Wars Limited Collector's Edition is due for release in North America on March 3, 2009 and will include the three (3) new multi-playermaps among it's extras.
ORBITAL SCREENSHOTS
ASSEMBLY SCREENSHOTS
More screenshots are planned to be released this Friday on the bungie site!
Microsoft Game Studios announced today that Ensemble Studios' action-based strategy game set in the Halo universe, Halo Wars, will be available in U.S. stores on March 3. Pre-orders for “Halo Wars” are taking place at participating retailers nationwide now. Fans who pre-order will receive an exclusive in-game Warthog with flame decals.
The game will also ship on March 3, 2009 in Canada, Mexico and South America. A few days earlier, on February 27, 2009, the game will be released in Europe and the Middle East, while Japan and other countries in Europe will get the game on February 26, 2009.
Microsoft also confirmed that there will be a Limited Collector’s Edition of Halo Wars that includes a special in-game “Honor Guard” Wraith, a graphic novel, six Leader cards and a “Spirit of Fire” patch. As an additional exclusive, limited edition owners will get early access to the in-game “Halo 3” Mythic Map Pack.
The Limited Collector’s Edition retails for an estimated retail price of $79.99, while the standard edition is available at $59.99. A first for a “Halo” franchise game, “Halo Wars” is rated “T” for Teen.
This was all started as a rumor that was posted by ShackNews but it ended with pure fact and Microsoft has even started to drop some of the employees that are not working on Halo Wars, as soon as Halo Wars is complete Ensemble Studios will close there doors.
Here is the post that started it all from ShackNews: "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, 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."
With that said Microsoft responded to the rumor with this E-mail that was sent around to all employees of the company: “Today, we shared with our employees at Ensemble that we have plans to close the studio after Halo Wars RTM. Such a decision is never easy. Like any business, we’re accountable for making tradeoffs and the right level of investments that will drive profit and future growth. However, as we reviewed our first-party portfolio and where we need to invest and divest our resources to achieve our long-term strategies, it became clear to us that closing the studio and redeploying those resources to other more scalable ventures is the right thing for our business at this time.
“Unfortunately, our decision to close Ensemble will adversely impact many of the studio’s team members. Following the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new entity and have agreed to partner with Microsoft to develop future products and provide support for Halo Wars post launch. While the new company will be hiring a portion of the Ensemble employees, its size and resources prevent it from offering positions to the entire Ensemble team. We hope to integrate much of this creative talent into MGS or the broader IEB team, where we have relevant openings.
“Ensemble Studios has produced many notable games over the years – including the Ages franchise – that have helped MGS become a leader in interactive entertainment. And now, Halo Wars is already proving to be a hit by people who have seen and played early versions of the game. The Ensemble team is committed to continuing its development, testing and support of Halo Wars through to the completion of halo wars. We’re also working closely with the studio’s leaders to ensure a smooth launch of the game in early 2009 and continuing support thereafter. We will support the studio in every way possible as they work to deliver this highly anticipated game.
“This action notwithstanding, I want to emphasize that the overall investment Microsoft is making in video game development is not diminished, and we will continue to bring in talent to work on titles and franchises where we’ll see the most ROI. Our priority is to continue to nurture the creative freedom that allows us to successfully drive our business strategy forward. Meanwhile, we’re launching some outstanding games over the next few months. We’ve just launched Too Human and Viva Pińata: Trouble in Paradise, and soon we’ll see many other games hit retail store shelves, including Scene It! 2, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Lips and, of course, Halo Wars.
“I want to thank you for your hard work and focus as we head into the next few months and make this a blowout year for first-party games. Please be supportive and respectful of our Ensemble colleagues as they go through this tough time.
I been watching allot of G3TV so i could keep an eye on all things E3 and about half way in to it i was saying to myself "What about Halo?" since Bungie always makes a splash at E3 you would think they would be going off about Halo Wars or even announcing a new game and i found my answer here in this GameRush report.
Today, details are coming in about what Bungie intended to reveal at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. While specific information about its upcoming Halo project remain a secret, the developer reportedly planned to show a sixty second “knock’em down” teaser trailer, only to have it pulled at the last minute.
“Bungie had a sixty second knock’em down teaser trailer made that was going to unveil the game and it was going to be the close to Microsoft media keynote at E3,” Jacob Metcalf explained. “This was going to be followed up by Bungie doing their separate press event later on in the week on Wednesday to show off the new game.”
“Microsoft has never really explained why they prevented Bungie from going on with their media event on Wednesday at E3. It has to be a new Halo game since if it was an new IP Microsoft would not have their hands on the control of the brand and would not have had the power to silence Bungie about it.”
Bungie informed fans that plans had been changed on Tuesday, later promising something “further down the road.” Meanwhile, Microsoft maintains that the announcement was held back for a “more dedicated event.”
“So soon Bungie and Microsoft will come to terms about when and how Microsoft is going to unveil this new Bungie developed Halo game and then show it to the public,” he said.
HQ Network: 8,767 | 
Guests: 4691 |
Members: 0
