Over at the Halo Wars community site I ran across some new concept art of the warthog and wraith that will be included in the collectors edition of the game. Actually, the wraith is included in the collector’s edition of the game. The warthog on the other hand is acquired by pre-ordering the collector’s edition. Now you have a reason to run down to your local game store and pre-order your copy of Halo Wars today so you can sport a warthog with flames when the game roles out sometime in February of 2009.
Also check out the Halo Wars community site concept art page. They have some fantastic high resolution backgrounds to be displayed in full 1080p glory.
We have more Halo news coming out of the McFarlane toy factory. A whole new series of action figures will be released in March of 2009 based on Microsoft Studios upcoming RTS Halo Wars. The figures will be in an all new miniature size of 2.5 inches. Each pack will include 3 figures with weapons and retail around the $9.99 - $11.99.
It looks like this holiday season you will have to spend less on friends and family to save up next year for your own little Halo gifts. A list of all the products after the jump.
Microsoft Game Studios has announced that the much anticipated Halo Wars from soon defunct Ensemble Studios will be arriving at retailers sometime in February 2009. There will be both a standard and limited collector’s edition through participating retailers. The most exciting part of this news is what is included in the collector’s edition:
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 Spirit 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
As an added bonus, fans eager for their chance to battle the Covenant will be able to pre-order “Halo Wars” and receive a pre-order card to download a special in-game Warthog vehicle with flame decals from select participating retailers.
The standard edition will retail for $59.99 while the collector’s edition will be $79.99. I know what you are thinking about the collector’s edition pricing but don’t forget you get the Mythic Map Pack, a $10 value. I just can’t contain my excitement, I am going to run out and pre-order myself a collector’s edition immediately.
The much anticipated RTS that pits the UNSC forces against the invading Covenant armada should be out early 2009. Just like in Anchorman, this is going to be a bilingual bloodbath. The Flood are confirmed to be in the game. Not confirmed yet if they are 100% playable or just a presence, but I’m sure they will have more of a role than a NPC. Can’t wait for a playable demo of this.
A new trailer for Halo Wars was finally unleashed last night on GameTrailers TV. In it, we get to follow the UNSC to Harvest, one of the major human home worlds in the Epsilon Indi System. The game is set 20 years before the first Halo event, but they’re still fighting the Covenant. Sure, the trailer is all CGI, but it looks great and gives you a great idea of the story behind what’s going on in the game. Too bad it’s such a tease. I would love to see an entire movie or series of movies like this based on the Halo Universe.
Microsoft and Ensemble dropped the final box art for the upcoming Halo Wars RTS. Looks pretty cool, very much in line with the covers of the Halo novels. I’m a fan.
Now if we only knew for sure that the controls worked really well…
I have to admit that I did not have much faith in Halo Wars or any RTS on a console for that matter, just seems like consoles and RTS games do not mix. After watching some more clips of Halo Wars for the Xbox 360 I think the folks over at Bungie are doing things right and the UI and control look very suited for an RTS on the console. One main problem when you try to play RTS games on a console is that you lose the control that you normally would have with a keyboard and mouse because grouping characters and executing strategies becomes tough. In the LOTOR RTS game the battles just became who had more units and no real strategy was involved, Halo Wars looks to solve a few of these issues with the paintbrush style selection of characters.
One thing I do notice more and more as I watch the clips for Halo Wars is that this is directly inspired if not even a rip off of Starcraft. If this is done well this could steal some serious thunder from Starcraft II especially if it does very well on the 360 since it wont require gamers to upgrade their computers to play. I dont think it will offer the depth of Starcraft II since there are only two races and one type of resource, but we will have to keep an eye on this one and see how it continues to shape up.
MS fanboys were dealt a swift kick in the junk today when it was revealed that EA has taken control of the Mass Effect franchise and will take the game to the PS3. No word on when the first game will come out for the PS3 and whether Mass Effect 2 will be a simultaneous release, but the game will be on a Sony console one way or another.
Fans of the Halo Wars will have to wait until 2009 to get their hands on the anticipated RTS. The game has fallen out of the limelight and MS has made no major announcements about the game releasing anytime soon. Ninja Gaiden 2, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and Fable 2 are all on time. It sucks we won’t get a new Halo game in 2008.
Everyone knows about Halo Wars, the RTS set in the Halo universe being developed for the Xbox 360. Well rumor has it that the game will be coming to PC as well. That’s not all folks, as the rumors say there will be cross platform play between the PC and Xbox 360.
We haven’t seen many cross-platform games. In fact, UNO and Shadowrun are the only two. It looks like Halo Wars might be the third.
I have to see, I see an insane advantage to the PC here. Even though the game is set to use a simplified control scheme, using a keyboard and mouse for RTS games is a big plus over a controller. If the rumors turn out to be true, there better be either keyboard and mouse support for the Xbox 360 or some way to balance the playing field.
We’ll keep you posted on any concrete news that comes out surrounding the game.
Coming next year, fans of the beloved Halo series, will get their first chance at controlling the armies of the UNSC and Covenant. This time, you get to control everything. From the battle cruisers to the soldiers, you are the masters and they are the puppets. The game will take place right around the time of the invasion of Harvest. The back story is still unknown, but it will most likely follow the Halo universe religiously. When asked about the progress of the game by Gametap, the head developer said this:
I think we’ve got magic in the disc. We’ve worked on the controls, gameplay, and story for this game being very much aware of what has gone before us. I was down in playtest yesterday and actually did not get to sit down and play because folks were spending their lunches playing the game. I know we’re doing well when that happens. More than that, I believe we will be huge not just because I believe, but because when we put the controller in your hands, you will believe too.
Grandstanding maybe? He is not the first developer to say his game is great, but when Bungie talks, I and the gaming world tend to listen.
We're like Spaceballs... we're making Loot Ninja everything. Coming soon we'll have hats, shirts, hoodies, possibly banana hammocks if one Editor has his way...
Check out the shirt prototypes here and the hats here
