Halo Wars marches to next year

By Kristan Reed Published 15 July, 2008

Out first half of 2009, says Microsoft.

Microsoft has said Halo Wars will be released during the first half of 2009.

The Ensemble Studios-developed real-time strategy title was a notable absentee from the Redmond giant's E3 2008 press briefing last night, but an updated fact sheet on the game indicates that we'll see the 360 exclusive on store shelves before next summer. We expect to see it in some form at E3 this week.

Set before the events of Halo 1, the game kicks off on the planet Harvest, where the UNSC warship, the Spirit of Fire, comes under Covenant attack following the discovery of an ancient artefact.

Designed from the ground-up for console play, the game's campaign mode will see you order about familiar units and vehicles from the Halo universe including Warthogs, Scorpions and more. During the campaign, you will also be able to call upon "ancient Forerunner technology" to create "unique units".

Online, Halo Wars promises six-player battles and the choice of commanding either the UNSC or Covenant, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Covenant units will include Grunts, Elites, Ghosts and Scarabs. The blighters.

Ensemble Studios is famed for its work on the Age of Empires series, and is making Halo Wars exclusively for Xbox 360.

Look out for our thoughts on Halo Wars as well as new screenshots. You can find the E3 2008 trailer here.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Xerx3s #1 4 years ago

    The trailer on XBL is awesome. Too bad about the delay, I was actually starting to warm up to the idea.

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    The trailer on XBL is CRAP! Sure it looks pretty but it's little more than a pre-rendered intro movie undoubtedly and doesn't show ANY gameplay footage AT ALL!

  • mcmonkeyplc #3 4 years ago

    Doh, oh well. Might have time to play it now.

  • windowlicker #4 4 years ago

    There is the movie on Marketplace from last year's E3 which shows a whole load of the game in action. Try watching that instead.

  • Xerx3s #5 4 years ago

    "The trailer on XBL is CRAP! Sure it looks pretty but it's little more than a pre-rendered intro movie undoubtedly and doesn't show ANY gameplay footage AT ALL!"

    And? So you are saying that you've never watched a CG trailer and went "Cool!".

  • Quint2020 #6 4 years ago

    Sounds like they're aren't launching it until it's right, only a good thing imo, MS has no reason to put a half arsed game out that serves only to muddy the Halo franchise.

    Quite looking forward to this one.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #7 4 years ago

    You wouldn't think it'd be that difficult to put Halo skins on Age of Empires, would you?

  • pikemon #8 4 years ago

    What the world needs now is more RTS/strategy games designed from the ground-up for consoles. Another reason to perhaps replace my RROD box with a new one.

    PS. Goblin Commander rules!

  • Darren #9 4 years ago

    @Xerx3s - "The trailer on XBL is CRAP! Sure it looks pretty but it's little more than a pre-rendered intro movie undoubtedly and doesn't show ANY gameplay footage AT ALL!"

    And? So you are saying that you've never watched a CG trailer and went "Cool!".

    Fifteen years ago, yes, but now... most definitely not? CGI movies rarely impress me as promotional tools for games as they don't show me that game itself. Any pre-rendered movie can look amazing, that's their sole point so I've become numb to them and actually find them annoying when they're misleadingly released as so-called 'trailers'. As someone else mentioned above, the footage released last year showing the devs demoing the game was far more "cool" even in its unfinished state. :p

  • Xerx3s #10 4 years ago

    Well if you want that there is a lot of more recent stuff. I however want both.

  • miiiguel #11 4 years ago

    "Any pre-rendered movie can look amazing"
    er... yes, I guess they can (then again, I also read somewhere it's not *all* like that, just "imagine a CGI thingy and ta-ta, done!", the odd thing is that many of then look like shit. So I have to "wow" these ones (the good ones).

  • Dizzy #12 4 years ago

    >Fifteen years ago, yes, but now... most definitely not?

    You are dead inside m8.

    You can like a CGI trailer... nobody ever pretended (in this case) that it is gameplay. I just play my DoW trailer from time to time because it kicks ass. I suggest you get out of the gaming business... there must be more exciting things for you to do.

  • Darren #13 4 years ago

    @Dizzy - ">Fifteen years ago, yes, but now... most definitely not?

    You are dead inside m8."

    That's a little harsh.

    I've learned to ignore CGI movies because too many times in the past I've been duped by them into thinking the game was more exciting and better looking than it actually was. Remember those FFX advertson the PS2 that showed only the FMV sequences? Well the ingame visuals were poor in comparison and I found that extremely jarring. Ditto for other games that use FMV for cutscenes too. What impresses me more these days are real-time cutscenes that are almost indistinguishable from pre-rendered stuff so Gears of War, Halo 3, Eternal Sonata and Metal Gear Solid 4 fit nicely into that category and the whole look of the game remains consistent throughout.

    Of course, I do enjoy CGI in the form of animated movies but then it reflects the WHOLE look of what I'm watching not the intro or cutscenes. ;)

  • muscleblade #14 4 years ago

    banfoi = headbog

    Just wanted you to know. Seems like theres quite alot of PS3 fanboys on here but theres actually only one.

    And hes never giving up. But the Halo Project and Alan wake mia = good news to me i dont have time for more AAAs than whats already giving release dates anyway.

  • WinterSnowblind #15 4 years ago

    Really looking forward to this, but I'm actually happy about the delay. There's way too many games coming out this year. For those complaining about the CG trailer, go watch some of the ingame footage that's been put up. I thought the trailer was pretty cool, and you can't exactly blame them for using CG, it's pretty hard to advertise an RTS, showing actual gameplay tends to look quite boring.

  • Ryuken #16 4 years ago

    Tell that to the viewers of the E3 2006 Supreme Commander trailer. Anyway, looks like the first half of 2009 is gonna explode with strategy goodness (StarCraft II, DoW II, Empire: Total War, Halo Wars, etc.), whether it's on consoles or not.

  • muscleblade #17 4 years ago

    @banfoi

    Funny! I do know Miguel though. Hardcore portugese videogamer. Im Norvegian myself btw.