Riding Shotgun in the Halo Universe Panel

The panel started with a direct warning that earth-shattering revelations (like those anticipated at E3) were not going to be divulged at this panel. When Bungie left the Microsoft Games Studios army and returned to independent operations, many a fan may have been worried about the future of the franchise. Secretly, panelists discloses, the creators were a bit worried too. Not because the question of whether there would be another Halo entry, but who would be making it happen. Ensemble Studios took command of writing and developing a real-time strategy game set in the Halo universe. Members of Bungie Studios confessed to being, "nervous at first another studio was working on it." However, that cautionary admission soon gave way to high praise on how the game has been coming along.

Graeme Devine is saddled with writing this new take on the epic shooter series. Referring to Halo 3, he asked, "How do you follow on a Halo game?" He continued, by explaining it is a pleasure to write about it, but expanding on it needed to be done in a smart way that stayed true to the mileu. That is why Halo Wars is set in the beginning of the war between humans and The Covenant. The campaign is set to follows a ship, Spirit of Fire, as it moves through different theaters of war.

After playing the first trailer (entitled Five Long Years), the panel amused themselves by insinuating many hints and clues were buried in the trailer for those willing to go frame-by-frame to find them. During the course of the discussion, it was reiterated you can not only play as the Covenant in multiplayer matches, but also that you just might get your wish to play as the infectious Flood. When asked specifically, panelists would not divulge more than "We talked about the Covenant, we haven't discussed other races, but it is a complete Halo game" (emphasis in original statement).

Addiional questions from a regiment of eager fans yielded other details. Since Ensemble is owned by Microsoft, you can bet online access will be available for multiplayer matches. In those and local skirmishes battles will be constrained by population caps. Whether those constraints are hard limits, resource limits (such as food or unit-generating buildings) or other supply lines, nobody would say. The fact that they were intentionally specific about multiplayer also begged the question as to whether unit limits will carry over into the campaign. Those details, it seems will wait to be answered.

In addition to Halo Wars, the panel promoted four lines of action figures (available through McFarlane Toys), novels by panelists Joseph Staten and Eric Nylund to be read, the Halo:Cole Protocol book being written by panelist Tobias (Toby) Buckell, and quashed rumors of additional content in existing Halo games. Whether you subscribe to the theory that another map pack is coming out for Halo 3 or more content in the game remains to be seen, neither Frank O'Conner, Microsoft Games Studios developer, nor Joseph Staten of Bungie debunked those rumors.

If you want to hop a flight to San Diego, buy a one-day badge, and head to Booth 4419 at 10am tomorrow Toby and Eric will be doing signings. Maybe you could even convince them to spill the beans on whatever that super-secret announcement is that they refuse to make public. If you find out, let us know, because as soon as we know more we will let you know.