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Yesterday they released a promo trailer, too: "The Call to Battle: Halo Wars Trailer." And if you don't mind spoilers of a sort...

Halo Wars Demo Cutscenes in HD
HaLo2FrEeEk stopped by to say that he's in the process of uploading HD versions of all the Halo Wars demo cutscenes - they're up on YouTube, and downloadable in WMP9 format right now, with SD versions and QuickTime HDs coming soon. (The links are all there now, but not all of them actually go somewhere.) Grab 'em while they're hot! (Louis Wu 14:48:33 UTC) (permalink)

Funny: when Bungie originally started development back in the '90s, Halo was an RTS.

But RTS with a gamepad... :shudder:

I miss Bungie

sturner wrote:

I miss Bungie

They're still around. You missed getting Halo Mac Ed. & PC both, or it lost something by the 90th playthru? I can't wait to get back to 1. Still on shelves, too, just for you. Bill wuvs you.

MacZiMiZer wrote:

..but both never really gave me the reflex feeling I get on M/KB.

Looking at the old screens while archiving, I didn't realize you'd gotten it.

Oh well. Still a few to go.


The Manual shows no mention of the Flood. Hopefully they're not playable, or, miraculously, they were cut entirely.

Halo Wars begins just after Cole retakes Harvest- Epsilon Indi, 2/4/2531. The first vid shows a lot of debris in orbit.

http://infectionist.com/movies/cutscene … tro_hd.mov

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=075yY-E4g7U&fmt=22

why make them playable?  All you'd have is one unit

"Flood"

and it can latch onto things, get enough of them to latch onto something, you control it, that's not exactly much RTS aside from I guess you get so many pods per set time and do what you can with what you take over?

MacZ is good folks, but as many here can attest, his posts often make my brain hurt.

sturner wrote:

I miss Bungie

Something for you, then, with more in reserve.

Breaking In slides into the back seat this week to make room for a new twist on our interview series.  Broken In shifts the focus away from the newer additions to the studio and instead looks for some insight from our squad of industry veterans.  Up first, Shi Kai Wang, one of the artists responsible for the sweet styling of the Halo series.  If you're a fan of the art of Halo, or you're just looking for some insight on how to break into the industry and turn your toe hold in to a firm grip, scroll down for the question and answer, straight from the artist himself.

Q. Who are you and what do you do for Bungie?

A. I’m Shi Kai (Shiek) Wang, and I’m a Tom Foolery Expert here at Bungie. That’s like a 3d Art Lead elsewhere.

Q. How long have you been at this whole “video games” thing? Had you been "gainfully" employed prior?

A. I’ve been at it since summer of freshmen college. So that was 1995, and it’s 2009. So that’s a good fourteen years. There was a break in between the previous company Mobeus Designs and Bungie where I was employed as a sandwich artiste for the healthier fast food choice of Subway.

Q. What makes working for Bungie different from fresh eateries and what sets it apart from the other gigs you’ve had?

A. You can only get free sandwiches here when you crunch, while Subway gave you free 6” every three hours. Bungie pays better though and invests in you way more than Subway. So, I say it’s about fairly equal. Oh I guess the family mentality of Bungie is pretty nice too.

Q. During your long and illustrious tenure with Bungie, what is the one moment you feel defines the experience? What have you seen change since you’ve come on board?

A. When we were thinking of moving to Seattle for the Microsoft acquisition, Jason Jones sat everyone down individually and did a one to one to talk to us about what concerns we had and how he could help to make the transition easier. He had to do this to convince us that ultimately it was for the best of the studio. Even when everyone hated the idea, Jason knew it was the right thing to do, and we all know how that decision panned out. That sort of care taking and consideration was to me what defines Bungie.

To this day, even if our studio’s about five times bigger, we still keep the same policies, and it trickles down from on top. You can’t beat that anywhere else. You gotta take care of your peeps before you can tackle a AAA game. Granted there were a lot of growing pains, but what’s funny is that the biggest change is keeping the same studio mentality like back when we were in Chicago, and trying to expand it to a bigger studio.

Here’s another one: the 2000 E3 where we first showed the demo of Halo to everyone in the closed theater. There were lines around the theater to who knows where. The buzz and hype was great, but it was when I was in the pisser and the guy next to me was talking to his friend that I realized the extent of the hype: “Man, did you see that Halo trailer? It was -blam!- awesome!” If you can’t wait till AFTER you pee to tell your buddy about something, then it’s definitely something worth paying attention to. To be a part of something so great that people respect and enjoy is just a small benefit of being in a studio that’s so great.

And of course for something more recent, our departure from our publisher Microsoft. I can’t get to how it all happened but the whole idea and being an independent studio again was something that we all longed for and finally got back. That whole scenario was very indicative of what Bungie is all about.

moar

Oh I had the Halo for Mac. It was fun. I still dislike the suspension of physics in the model. Playing online is the real challenge, but bunny hopping is the only tactic besides having quick reflexes.

So I tried it... seems decent for a console RTS, but still really dumbed down, almost boring in fact.
Coupled with the apparent story inconsistencies and pretty lame voice acting, I will pass.

Tom Clancy's HAWX, on the other hand...

dv wrote:

Funny: when Bungie originally started development back in the '90s, Halo was an RTS.

But RTS with a gamepad... :shudder:

Earendil the Mariner wrote:

So I tried it... seems decent for a console RTS, but still really dumbed down, almost boring in fact.
Coupled with the apparent story inconsistencies and pretty lame voice acting, I will pass.

Halo Wars: Fun, but Simplistic and Short
Gamespot has a full review up for Halo Wars - they weren't very impressed (6.5/10). Thanks, ZZoMBiE13. Also, looks like The Escapist reviewed it as well (thanks, Anton P. Nym)... same general feeling. (Louis Wu 04:59:35 UTC)

http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=25415

Escapist... murder by gamepad.

The elements of a fun and dynamic multiplayer game are there, but they're overshadowed by the frustration of simply managing your troops. [..] In fact, the best compliment I can give Halo Wars is that it proved to me, conclusively, that there will never be a console RTS worth playing.

Bottom line: Halo Wars will probably make for a decent PC RTS someday if Microsoft decides to port it. Until then, it's simply not worth the hassle.

Tom Clancy's HAWX, on the other hand...

OTOH, cuddly_tomato's HAWX review is titled "Latest crap game: Hawx."

Assistance off is... it is the worst, most pointlessly stupid, idiotic, and frustrating thing I have come across on a next gen game. Watch this youtube video from 1:05. Assistance off takes your POV to some point about 50 feet away from the aircraft, but keeps your view locked onto a target. This means you are suddenly flying completely blind. You not only have to concentrate on whatever else is going on, but you have to manipulate your own vehicles speed, altitude, heading, and vertical orientation relative to the ground, sky, target, and incoming missiles ALL WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO SEE WHERE THE smurf YOU ARE GOING!

Bat wrote:

OTOH, cuddly_tomato's HAWX review is titled "Latest crap game: Hawx."

Assistance off is... it is the worst, most pointlessly stupid, idiotic, and frustrating thing I have come across on a next gen game. Watch this youtube video from 1:05. Assistance off takes your POV to some point about 50 feet away from the aircraft, but keeps your view locked onto a target. This means you are suddenly flying completely blind. You not only have to concentrate on whatever else is going on, but you have to manipulate your own vehicles speed, altitude, heading, and vertical orientation relative to the ground, sky, target, and incoming missiles ALL WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO SEE WHERE THE smurf YOU ARE GOING!

It's there for dogfighting, and most combat flight sim games I've played have something very similar.
Flying the plane with it engaged is a little fruity, but when used properly, it's very effective.

I'm glad I just took my pain meds. Ow. Owwww.

MacZiMiZer wrote:

Expect more from a franchise?

{Sigh}.. not 'a' franchise, the franchise- a specific one, exchanging views with a fellow fan whose opinion I've long known & respected.

By definition "franchise" means you get less, they're selling a label, your paying for brand-name, and maybe consistency, not quality.

Heh. The guy 30 years my junior is defining franchise for me.

Expect more from McDonald's #1 (if it still existed) than #50,000 down the block?

Bungie and Blizzard have made the exceptions to the rule, but in very spaced out and heavily developed releases.

I know whom I speak of. I expect more from Valve, too, and used to from Epic, tho that's iffier now. I track these things, you know.