Halo Wars Rocks and Windstorm Studios Forms

According to Microsoft, Halo Wars has sold one million units worldwide. The Xbox 360 exclusive real-time strategy game set in the land that Master Chief built also managed to garner 2.6 million plays online via Xbox Live according to internal data, with an average of more than 200,000 users playing the game every day.

Bittersweet news for Ensemble Studios, which is now just a chapter in the game industry history books. Of course, the silver lining is that Robot Entertainment, the new studio founded by former Ensemble heavyweight Tony Goodman, is managing current and future support for the title.

And in related news another studio has been formed by former Ensemble employees called Windstorm Studios. Founded by developer Dusty Monk, the company is already working on an online and is on the hunt for funding. Windstorm Studios joins Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Entertainment as a testament to Ensemble.

Where’s That Crazy Halo Wars Concept Art?

If you’re reading this, chances are you are coming from a link looking for a certain Halo Wars concept art (the proper one can be found to the left) that offered some alternate text about UNSC Turrets and former Ensemble Studios artist, Won Choi. As amusing as that short lived Internet meme was (sometimes co-workers get carried away), we’ve taken it down, because it wasn’t very nice to Mr. Choi, a seasoned veteran who has worked on a lot of great games and for a lot of companies. You can learn more about his career path by checking out his bio.

Ensemble’s Ashes: Bonfire Studios

Bonfire Studios has opened its doors in Dallas Texas today - the second company to be formed in the aftermath of Ensemble’s demise at the hands of Microsoft. Bonfire Studios is a 35 person studio currently working on an original IP to be announced in the coming months. The Bonfire team is made up entirely of former Ensemble employees fresh off of developing Halo Wars. David Rippy will head up the studio as its president and CEO.

“Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams,” said David Rippy, president and CEO of Bonfire Studios. “We are already working on an original IP that we’ll start talking about in the next few months.”

You can learn what little there it to know about the new studio by checking out www.bonfire-studios.com.

Robots to Handle AOE, Halo Wars

Earlier in the week we reported that former members of Ensemble Studios, including founder Tony Goodman, had formed a new studio called Robot Entertainment. that news has been formally announced by the company, along with some details on what its first order of business will be now that it’s all official.

The company will be helmed by Goodman, who will serve as its CEO and is comprised of 45 former Ensemble employees. The first order of business? Business as usual. Goodman’s new gig will continue to support Halo Wars and the Age of Empires franchises for Microsoft, but the company also announced that it is already hard at work on a brand new, wholly-owned original intellectual property. Fascinating.

The company will call Plano, Texas its home. We’re glad to hear that Robot Entertainment will continue to support the IP’s it helped create and foster over the years. It is is hard to imagine anyone else handling Age of Empires anyway.

Ensemble’s End A New Beginning

Ensemble Studios, makers of such hits as the Age of Empires and Age of Mythologies series, and the soon-to-be-released Halo Wars is no more, but from the ashes of that studio will arise two new studios.

According to published reports these studios will continue to support many of the popular titles it created and will be there to support Halo Wars after its release. One of those studios will be dedicated to support, while, we assume the other will be working on new properties.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Top 21 News Stories of 2008: 14 - 8

(Contributors: Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)

We continue our countdown of the Top 21 News Stories of 2008, with #14 - #7, starting now. If you missed the first part of our countdown featuring David Chapman, James Fudge and ECA President Hal Halpin, you can check it out right here.

Next: #14 –>

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Halo Wars Dated

Halo Wars will be available at U.S. retail stores on March 3, 2009, according to Microsoft. The last game developed by the artist formerly known as Ensemble Studios will also hit Canada, Mexico and South America on March 3, while Japan and Asia Pacific will get the game a bit earlier on Feb. 26. 

Microsoft is also pushing the pre-order package for this RTS game set in the Halo universe: Pre-order customers will receive an exclusive in-game Warthog with flame decals. The Limited Collector’s Edition is also available for pre-order and includes a special in-game “Honor Guard” Wraith, a graphic novel, six Leader cards and a “Spirit of Fire” patch. As an additional exclusive, LCE owners will get early access to the in-game “Halo 3” Mythic Map Pack.

The LCE retails for $79.99, while the standard edition is available at $59.99.