X06: Halo being turned into RTS

[UPDATE] Ensemble Studios making real-time strategy based on Bungie's money-making first-person shooter for Xbox 360 only; Web site now live.

Halo Wars

The Covenant and USNC mix it up, RTS style.

Earlier this month, Microsoft shut the door on Halogen, a real-time strategy game based on the Halo universe that was produced using a mod of Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour. At the time, gamers thought it was just another case of a big corporation keeping the modding community down.

It turns out the company had a good reason for closing the doors on Halogen--the RTS was a little too close to what Microsoft was already working on. Today at the X06 conference in Barcelona, Spain, the company announced that it has employed Ensemble Studios, the RTS gurus that created the Age of Empires franchise, to work on a real-time strategy game based on the Halo universe.

The game, named Halo Wars, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but has not yet been given a release date. Microsoft showed a trailer of the game during its press conference just moments ago.

It is so on!

In the opening, a fleet of Warthogs drive across a barren landscape, passing several Scorpion tanks along the way. Over a radio transmission, a space marine says his team is en route to a recon position. The view moves up ahead two marines screaming that they're under attack just before being taken down by plasma rifle fire. One of the corpses is picked up by a Covenant Elite, who is flanked by a dozen or so buddies who appear after uncloaking.

From there, all hell breaks loose as just about every vehicle from the Halo universe--Pelicans, Covenant dropships, Ghosts, Banshees--speed into action. As the battle begins, a Spartan soldier appears with his squad and says, "This is Spartan Group Omega. If they want war, we'll give them war."

[UPDATE] Moments after the conclusion of the conference, the Halo Wars Web site went live. The site has a Frequently Asked Questions section that delivers a few details about the game that weren't revealed at X06.

Concept art from Age of Empires: The Halo Edition.

The game will be set before the original Halo, when the UNSC Marine forces first encountered the Covenant. Gamers will lead the human and Spartan forces of the UNSC's Spirit of Fire as they engange in "all out war" with the Covenant. When asked if the alien forces would be playable, Ensemble would only say "stay tuned." The company also confirmed that the trailer was prerendered, based on concept art, and not running on the game's engine.

Though longtime PC specialists, Ensemble is building the game from the ground up exclusively for the Xbox 360, and promises the controls won't meet the dismal fate of other console RTSes.

"...We didn't have to make compromises or shoe-horn in artifacts from a Windows PC game," reads the site. "We were able to take all the best aspects of RTS games, make them work perfectly on the Xbox 360, and exclude the rest."

Over at the Bungie.net site, the Halo maker says that the game is "awesome" and already playable. The developer also reports that an HD version of the Halo Wars trailer will be hitting Xbox Live Marketplace soon.

"Ensemble is applying their skills to deliver a great Halo experience in a whole new genre, which is ironically where Halo began in the first place," reads the post. "If you've seen some of the very early Halo videos out there, you might recall that before it ever became an FPS, it was in fact designed as an RTS (building off of Bungie's experience with the Myth franchise)."

1022 Comments

  • martin95

    Posted Dec 22, 2007 12:50 pm PT

    l cant wait! so exciting!

  • gfile

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 1:19 pm PT

    it will be interesting...!

  • Duckers923

    Posted Jul 4, 2007 4:24 pm PT

    sweet

  • theflyinfur

    Posted Mar 26, 2007 10:07 am PT

    Don't know about that FPS/RTS hybrid. It would tip the scales a little too much in your favor. 1 vs 100 in an RTS is a death sentence. Turn that same battle into an FPS and you won't even break a sweat.

  • lord-of-gamers

    Posted Feb 25, 2007 3:42 am PT

    looks cool - shame that they arent bringing out a PC version aswell... ive just been reading the posts and i was wondering... why dont they just put an RTS and an FPS into the same game? i mean like you can choose - that way half way through an RTS battle when you have like 100 guys down there you could switch and have some fun killing lots of people then just switch back out... would need alot of power though.... looks good though

  • jaydee00003

    Posted Dec 29, 2006 7:08 pm PT

    i would like if they would make halo for pc that is RTS...

  • The_Admiral13

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 9:17 pm PT

    Ha Halo started as a RTS before Bungie was even known. It was meant for the mac, and then they changed it to an FPS when microsoft showed interest.

  • Prince_jeffery

    Posted Oct 25, 2006 8:51 am PT

    They were talking about a MMORPG Halo and I was giving an idea on it...not on Halo Wars.

  • iwishihadher

    Posted Oct 22, 2006 3:17 am PT

    "a real-time strategy game based on the Halo universe that was produced....."

    "...turns out the company had a good reason for closing the doors on Halogen--the RTS was a little too close to what Microsoft was already working on...."

    ok last time this is an REAL TIME STRATEGY GAME

    similar to COMMAND AND CONQURE
    COMPANY OF HEROS
    AND ALONG THE LINES OF
    WAR HAMMER 40,000 / STARCRAFT AND WARCRAFT

    not first person shooter

  • Prince_jeffery

    Posted Oct 20, 2006 2:47 am PT

    Ok so how about Battlefield 2142 with a Halo coating on it? I'd love a Titan mode, 64 players, multiple warthogs, Spartan-Covenant filled title. Just think....they could achieve so much more by expanding the player limit and making it more like Battlefield.....you'd be able to pilot a pelican too.

  • xX_WEASEL_Xx

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 6:47 pm PT

    i know its just my opinion and i dont picture it like WoW. it would basicly be halo multiplayer with just alot of people. like when you look at this trailer you of couse think wow that looks awsome. but when your actually playing the game you just send in your soldiers and watch em fight and thats not to much fun for me. i think everyone of us wants to pilot a pelican. all of us want to fly a longsword(or whatever its called) and all of us want to have space battles. the reason this doesnt work in halos current multiplayer is because the maps are to small. just throw halos great multiplayer in a huge open ended world with multiple planets(maps) to fight on it will work. as you can see ive put alot of thought into this(i have alot of spare time on my hands)LOL

  • rattail19

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 6:32 pm PT

    By the way, an MMORPG for the Halo universe isn't something that I could see having much success. It'd be like WoW, but for military geeks. (Sorry to offend the geeks, but it's a decent analogy, no?)

    And Weasel, the Spartans looked 'stupid' because those were the original designs.

    I apologize for the double post, and I realize I could've edited... But where's the spamming fun in that?

  • rattail19

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 6:26 pm PT

    I must say, that those of you who are going 'OMG I WANT THIS NOW!', stop for a minute and THINK.
    This is what made Halo 2 a degeneration of what it could've and should've been. This is why so many people, like myself, are disappointed with Halo 2. Give it a rest, and let them release it on their own time.

    That said, I look forward to this. It's good to see Bungie going back to its roots of RTS'.

  • xX_WEASEL_Xx

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 6:17 pm PT

    I wish they would make a massively multiplayer halo game and the fighting would be like that but in first person. i hate RTS games. id much rather actually be in the fight. plus i think the spartans looked kinda stupid

  • sktre44

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 5:08 pm PT

    is it first person

  • LucasAW

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 3:01 pm PT

    cammanderg said:
    PLZ LET IT BE A STRATEGY GAME!! =) lol! Well durrrrr!! what do you think this games gona be??

  • blakintellikt

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 12:44 pm PT

    hope that it is a lot better than BFME...BFME was a good game but could be better

  • renock

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 9:41 am PT

    I hope it has a cinematic mode like in Empire at war. That would be amazing I would just clash a whole bunch of troops then watch it in Cinematic mode.

  • 2ndproof

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 9:17 pm PT

    Wow I dream come true omg im so exited im calm

  • derekadam1989

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 6:34 pm PT

    sooo cant wait for this to come out thought i was dreaming when i saw it and im thinking it could take some scenes out the novels. this is soooo friggin awesome!!!

  • derekadam1989

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 6:32 pm PT

    Holy crap i saw this and thought i was dreaming cant wait so sleeping in line to grab this and cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gonna be sweet!!!

  • shawn305

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:37 pm PT

    CAN'T WAIT I WANT IT TO COME OUT VERY SOON

  • cammanderg

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:32 pm PT

    PLZ LET IT BE A STRATEGY GAME!! =)

  • Furan-San

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 3:54 pm PT

    Looks so damn sweet! My 360 DIED no thanks to the 3 Lights of Doom...so if this comes to the PC then I'll stick with it.

  • EtriusQuill

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:31 am PT

    yeah, Cpt_amazing is right;
    PC gaming is a lot more expensive. But worth it if you have the cash to waste.

  • Cpt_Amazing

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 3:16 pm PT

    SHOTGUN_ORG!!!!

    IF SOMEBODY GOT A GOOD COMPUTER THAT COULD RUN A GAME LIKE THIS IT WOULD COST MORE THAN A 360!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • mdavis999

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 8:19 am PT

    hey arch-legend the only reason there is one spartan left in the halo series is because of the battle of reech where all of the spartans were killed cept a few and halo wars is set b4 the halo series.

  • VanStrummer99

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 7:11 am PT

    Why is everyone so confused as to why this is an X360 exclusive? Halo is Microsofts #1 franchise, that they cannot afford to lose. Did you really think they would not use it to support the 360 even more with 2 consoles launching on the horizon?

  • shotgun_org

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 4:59 am PT

    From just looking at the trailer, i could say it's wonderful. The problem is why the hell Xbox 360? or probaly add pc. Not too many people can afford a Xbox 360.

  • Cpt_Amazing

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 5:16 pm PT

    yupers

  • arch-legend

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 3:57 pm PT

    this is gona be awsome, i'm really curious of how only one "spartan" lives

  • devxwill

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 11:22 am PT

    looking forward to it...

  • elwhite

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 8:11 am PT

    Halo Wars is an XBOX 360 Exclusive, if you go to www.Halowars.com and check out their FAQ is say it a 360 exclusive. That really sux though i would buy it for pc, since i don't have an 360.

  • eljono

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 6:33 am PT

    people are saying it looks great........................ITS NOT GAMEPLAY geez they are gonna milk this franchise for every penny and burn it into the ground before its over with or until all the fanboys get older.

  • Chaos_Daro

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 6:10 am PT

    "if they want war...we'll give 'em war" so damn cheesey! We can't really tell anything from tha vid but I hope this game turns out to be good.

  • dickoball

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 1:55 pm PT

    mmm.

  • ra7krz

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 10:14 am PT

    f'n a that is very nice

  • Proctar

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 5:09 am PT

    Very cool, i got shivers watching it!!!!

  • NakedGlowX

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 9:27 pm PT

    Fscking sexy!!

  • macnink

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 8:23 pm PT

    YEAH!

  • pcanepa

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 4:12 pm PT

    this is gana be great. im a big halo fan but h2 just doesnt do it for me n e more. Halo Wars looks awesome so i cant wait when it comes out so that i can put it next to all the great games the 360 is coming out with. RTS is awesome and its amazing that they are doing it for Halo. this is gana be great.

  • Gingtin

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 2:04 pm PT

    this looks amazing...i'm going to buy a 360 next weekend so ican sit and wait for this badass mother of a game.........bo!

  • Long_Wang

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 11:07 am PT

    Its UNSC (United Nations Space Command) not USNC

    I kno its sad but i love everything halo even tho i want a ps3

  • Monthir

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 3:20 pm PT

    it will be a coll and awsome game!!!!!

  • KevMachine

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    wow, this should be a wonderfull addition too my favorite game. i cant wait to play it, i wonder if there will be an on-line aspect to the game. that would be alwsome!

  • linknprkfan

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 11:40 am PT

    koool will get to see what happend befor halo 1

  • volpexpress

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 9:39 am PT

    pretty kool

  • pwner-peters

    Posted Oct 8, 2006 3:05 am PT

    i think that if microsoft and ensemble want to get a good game a keyboard and mouse connected to the usb would make a great accesory to make this game more playable

  • Geybrel

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 5:39 pm PT

    halo+rts=the best game in the world

  • 7899878977

    Posted Oct 7, 2006 5:36 pm PT

    hhaa just get a 360

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