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.
With the announcements of StarCraft 2, it got me reminiscing of the good old days of the original StarCraft. The game was developed by our good friends over at Blizzard and is perhaps one of the best real time strategy games ever made and definitely paved the way for many more strategy games like it. StarCraft first came onto the video game scene in March of 1998 for Windows and then a year later for Mac (back then Mac got no love). The story of StarCraft revolves around three main races: the Protoss, the Zerg and the Terrans. Each of the three races was fighting for dominance of the universe and would stop at nothing to achieve this.
The events of StarCraft unfold in the 25th century where certain humans have been exiled, because of overpopulation during the 21st century, into space and encounter the Zerg and the Protoss. The Terrans were the exiled humans with their Earth technology to aid them in battle, such as tanks, jets, floating buildings and the ever popular marines. The Zerg were an alien race that was part insect and part bad ass. They would spawn their armies from cocoons and could even infect the other races to use them against themselves. The Protoss were the alien race with superior intellect that was a cross between the noble samurai and the cut throat ninja, using their psychic powers to destroy their enemies.
Lately I have had Starcraft on the brain and was even thinking about re-buying the old classic to get a few rounds of Big Game Hunters in, you know what I am talking about. With talks of Starcraft 2 in the air and a possible announced street date, which I think is far too aggressive and will be pushed back.
I did came across some pretty awesome Starcraft inspired shirts. My favorite is the Zealot grill, who knew the Protoss liked to grill?
Looks like controlling your video game with your thoughts is not as far from reality as some may think. A couple of companies have already worked on moving digital objects in a video game and then applied that to even controlling robots. This is pretty awesome and would make for some awesome gaming potential, wonder how this could be applied to FPS games and sports games, just use your thoughts to move and fire.
Starcraft II looks to be setting the standard for next-gen RTS games again, just hearing the sounds of the buildings warping in and the Terran buildings landing envoke some serious memories of hanging out in a comp lab playing for hours. This game looks to have alot of the gameplay mechanics of the original, one concern I do have is if this new version will be treated as an expansion or a brand new experience, a lot of it does look just redone, but awesome!
The Protoss are by far my favorite race in Starcraft and I am looking forward to seeing the new and old units in action, the morale of this video is that Protoss Zealots > Human Marines. LOL
EA sent an owl over with a press release to let us know that Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 is indeed coming to the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
“It’s been too long.” said Chris Corry, Executive Producer at EALA. “Fans have been waiting for a new Red Alert game for seven years, and we’re working hard to ensure its well worth the wait. The team is staying true to the series’ roots while adding new elements like a co-operatively played story-driven campaign, an astounding new faction that will shake-up the Red Alert universe as we know it, and units that will help make Red Alert 3 everything our fans have been waiting for. And by bringing naval combat into the heart of the game design, we’re transporting that fast, fun and fluid C&C gameplay to the high-seas in ways that you’ve never seen before.”
A PC-only Beta period for the game will run later this year. To get into the Beta, pick up a copy of Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath or the Command & Conquer 3 Limited Collection. No Beta will run on consoles.
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.
This 10 minute plus video gives you an in depth look at Bungie’s upcoming RTS and new take on the Halo Universe. Notice the detail on the in this game. It’s almost uncanny. I absolutely suck at RTS’s but this demo has some serious possibilities. If you have read any of the Halo books, you will really enjoy all of the weapons and mythology that do not always make it into the mainstream game.
Could it be true? According to Harter Ryan, Ensemble Studio’s executive producer, it is. In an interview with GameSpot at Liepzig, he indicated a demo is ready and would be released in the next couple days.
If you’re unaware what Halo Wars will bring, it will be a real time strategy game based in the Halo universe. You’ll get to command troops of marines and Spartans against the Covenant.
Demos for RTS console games are a must since the controls are what really makes the game. The team at Ensemble indicated at the game’s announcement that they plan to make the controls better than any console RTS to date.
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
