Lead Designer Graeme Devine told us games journalists that we needed to know three things about Halo Wars before we got to playing: the game was about 1) fast, visceral combat, 2) an epic storyline and 3) multiplayer. Unfortunately, because we're still in the beta phase of the builds, we only got to experience the first element, taste the second, and receive tantalising hints about the third.

The fast, visceral combat is definitely there - but at the expense of some of the more "hardcore" elements of real time strategy games. For example, instead of being able to stay in a zoomed-out view where tiny minions explode quietly as you pump more out of your base, Halo Wars keeps the camera focused pretty far in on the battlefield so the action is in your face. There's a level of detail to people, aliens and vehicles that makes explosions more vivid; and because your units level up to gain new abilities (instead of, say, unlocking new types of units), you become more attached to them instead of coldly sending units off to die like meat shields.

Hit the jump for more.

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Yesterday, we showed you some of the early concept artwork for the canned massively multiplayer online project set in the Halo universe. The MMO, codenamed "Orion" and at one point in development at the soon-to-be-shuttered Ensemble Studios, was scrapped after making it to a "working multi-player prototype."

The artwork we showed you yesterday focused on specific character class designs, weapons and vehicles, but new images, which appear to be from the same Halo MMO project, offer a broader, more conceptual look at "Orion."

While the previous concepts have found more derision than we were expecting, these may appeal more to the Halo-loving audience, borrowing already familiar elements and reinterpreting them to fit into the MMO mold.

Halo MMO Concepts Gallery

Now that the cat's out of the bag on Ensemble Studios' canceled Halo MMO — codenamed "Orion" (or "Titan") apparently — we expect the tiny leaks of background information on the project to grow into a flood.

Thanks to one of our snoopiest readers Jeff, we have an in-depth look at dozens of pieces of concept art from "Orion", much of which provides fascinating insight into how the game was originally intended to look, from its many character types to creatures to vehicles to cleavage-exposing Spartan armor.

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Big news coming out of the Ensemble closure today, as Gamasutra are reporting that the Age of Empires developers were, at one stage, working on the long-rumoured Halo MMO. Seems the game was in development from 2006 to 2007, before being quietly cancelled without, obviously, ever being announced by Microsoft. Some concept art for the game's also surfaced, with a mock-up screen above, and some small character art shots after the jump. Wonder why it was canned? And if that had anything to do with the decision to close Ensemble? And if the project was cancelled, is it now being worked on by someone else? Oh, the questions, the questions.

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Bungie seems excited about the Ensemble-developed Halo Wars. The game is planted firmly in the RTS genre, so, for example, it's not necessary to have players moved in and out of cover. Gushes Bungie AI maven Damian Isla:

We've done a lot of talking with Ensemble guys, and we're all really excited about Halo Wars, because from everything we've seen so far it's a very cool, faithful adaptation... Everything we've seen has been very, very encouraging — we're very excited about it. And of course, [Halo Wars is] also getting right the basics, the general roles — even fictionally. What role do grunts play in the Covenant fighting forces, what role do the Elites play, what role do Warthogs play, what role do Spartans play... All this kind of thing. I think they really nailed that. It's encouraging.

Great news, this.

Bungie "very excited" about Halo Wars [Eurogamer]

And the Microsoft media just keeps on coming. Latest are these two clips for Ensemble's Halo-based RTS, Halo Wars, which we hear is due in early 2009. Above, some pre-rendered stuff. Looks nice, but if you're after more of an idea of how it'll look while you're playing it, a gameplay vid's after the jump.

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Halo Wars Addict got an interview with Graham Somers, Ensemble Studios' community manager. Naturally, this outreach is in his job description, and a blog titled "Halo Wars Addict" will probably deliver a positive piece. But it's still worth a look if you're interested in the real-time strategy version of the Halo universe, due out sometime this year, hopefully, or early next year.

Somers speaks at length about the pitfalls of RTS design, the responsibility the dev team feels in working with Bungie's existing Halo universe, and other things that make up a great RTS game experience. But he doesn't drop much in the way of confirmable news tidbits, just:

• Halo Wars and Ensemble Studios will have a presence at E3 this year. (We'll keep our eyes peeled).
• The game will ship "when it's ready", so, nothing specific on the date.
• No promises, but developers are aware of Machinima enthusiasm and may ship Halo Wars with tools to assist in its creation.

Halo Wars Addict Exclusive Interview: Ensemble Studios

Courtesy of this month's GamePro, which is as you read this working its way to subscriber's mailboxes. While the cover feature promises news on all future Halo titles, it only dishes out hard information (and gorgeous new screens) on Halo Wars. But that's OK. We'll take it. Because a console RTS is a new experience for Ensemble, they've stripped back their traditional playstyle in favour of something a little more Halo-esque. Which means only one economic unit - "supplies" - and fast, fast, fast battles, with the team promising you can be fighting "within ten seconds" of hitting the battlefield. Also revealed is at least a partial list of the units that'll be available.

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