Microsoft have finalised the list of demos they will be bringing along to PAX next weekend.

Those champing at the bit for more glimpses of Gears of War 2 will not be disappointed — there will even be a couple of Gears signing sessions, should you have any merchandise you need to boost on eBay.

Other demos we would class as 'eagerly awaited' are Halo Wars and Project Origin, but MS will be showing off their new Games Creation and 'Mashups' tool PopFly as well as more info on the New Xbox Experience.

It is those 'TBA' demos on the Saturday & Sunday afternoons, that have us intrigued, though. What could it be? Is it a new game? Could it be the long awaited Next-Gen updates of Minesweeper and Freecell? Have they finally gone mental and are bringing out a portable Xbox?

Exciting!

Full schedule after the jump..

Bungie may be unveiling a new map for Halo 3 at Penny Arcade Expo later this week, but don't forget that's not the only Halo goodness coming our way.

Microsoft Games Studios recently unveiled this fancy new Halo Wars box art and three pretty enticing screens for their upcoming Halo-themed real-time strategy title.

Hit the jump for the screens.

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]

If you happened to miss our live coverage of the Halo universe panel at Comic-Con this weekend, we're not offended. It was pretty missable for the casual Halo fan. But if you're the least bit excited about the release of real-time strategy game Halo Wars, you'll be ecstatic to learn that maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to play as the Flood.

During the Q&A session, a good portion of the panel, a fan asked "Is there going to be a Flood appearance in the Halo Wars campaign?"

"That's a very good question", a panelist responded. "We haven't talked about any other races. All I can say is that it's a complete Halo game". It has already been announced that players will get their hands on a playable Covenant.

We're not going to assume that's code for "Yes, you'll be playing the Flood" — they may just make an appearance — but won't be surprised when their inclusion is announced.

The Halo Universe Comic-Con panels is getting underway, focusing on — as far as we know — Halo Wars and the Halo novels. The panel, a star-studded Halo cast includes: Graeme Devine of Ensemble Studios, Frank O'Connor of Microsoft Game Studios, Joseph Staten, author of Halo: Contact Harvest, Eric Nylund author of Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, Tobias Buckell, author of Halo: The Cole Protocol and Jon Goff and Corrinne Robinson from McFarlane Toys.

Hit the jump for the up to the minute live blog action! Boosh!

Halo plus real-time strategy plus gamepad controls may sound like a recipe for a franchise misfire, but Ensemble Studios has polished Halo Wars to the point of an immediately playable console title. While some may argue that, like first person shooters, RTS games should only be played on a mouse and keyboard, Ensemble has done an admirable job of nailing the controls. We got a chance to go hands-on with the game at E3 and came away surprisingly pleased.

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.

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

The latest issue of GamePro magazine features cover story treatment on Ensemble Studios real-time strategy take on the Halo universe, Halo Wars. According to the mag, by way of TeamXbox, the Xbox 360 game will feature multiplayer for up to six via LIVE, with a two-player co-op campaign to keep things interesting. If you want more info beyond that, you'll have to seek out the July issue of GamePro for more.

In the meantime, the online arm of the publication has released four new Halo Wars screen shots—four obscenely watermarked and painfully blurry screen shots with a very odd perspective, but four screen shots nonetheless.

Halo Wars Screenshots [GamePro]

Gamercenteronline begged and pleaded and got its hands on three screens for Halo Wars, the real-time strategy prequel still under a TBA release date for this year. One looks like a close crop of a Sparrowhawk that we've done before. Not sure what exactly is going on in the other two.

Loitering around the site I also found what they touted as a new Mafia II screenshot. You can catch everything after the jump