Shack PSA: Halo Wars Demo Now Available

February 5, 2009 9:12 AM

As promised, a downloadable demo for Ensemble Studio's console strategy game Halo Wars is now available from the Xbox 360's online Xbox Live Marketplace.

The demo packs two optional tutorials, the game's first two campaign missions, and a skirmish map that lets players face off against the computer as the Covenant or UNSC.

The full version of Halo Wars, the final game out of the now-closed Age of Empires series developer Ensemble, arrives at North American retailers come March 3.

Chris Faylor

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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deadhorse

 reply
February 5, 2009 9:15 AM

As much as I dislike Halo in general, and especially the storyline, I have an interest in this. Thoughts now!
- Digital-Hero
  
   reply
  February 5, 2009 9:18 AM
  
  Sweet! I will download immediately when I get home. I should have brought my 360 to work instead of my PS3 today. =P (Killzone 2 demo is coming for preorders today.)
  - deadhorse
    
     reply
    February 5, 2009 9:20 AM
    
    That's another one I can't wait to try. Hopefully I can get it from the server in europe.
- Richese
  
   reply
  February 5, 2009 9:21 AM
  
  RTS on a console = still frustrating. As Nick said, developers need to stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
  - Godhatesfatpeople
    
     reply
    February 5, 2009 10:08 AM
    
    That's silly. I think it's great that devs are constantly trying to come up with ways to expand consoles to genres other than shooters, rpg's, and adventure games.
    - Richese
      
       reply
      February 5, 2009 10:23 AM
      
      Not really. The goal should be to design an RTS that can work extremely well on console, not try to fit a PC RTS on a console. End War apparently did this, and Pikmin to some extent.
      - Godhatesfatpeople
        
         reply
        February 5, 2009 11:08 AM
        
        I haven't played HW yet. But so far every hands-on I have read has been really positive. So I can't compare it to EW or Pikmin.
    - BrandonMills
      
       reply
      February 5, 2009 10:24 AM
      
      Exactly :) This is why we should just bring back the Atari 2600 controller and its one button. It can't possibly be that the controller isn't up to the task, so let's try to blame everything else when we already know the central problem - the controller is *not* up to the task.
      
      This is like Steve Jobs and the 2-buttoned mouse. It's time to let it go, kids. The 360 controller isn't suited for every game out there. It's the spork of game controllers. It's meant to do everything, and while it's great for some games, it'll never be as good of a fork as a fork, and it'll never be as good of a spoon as a spoon.
      
      It won't matter, though. Next generation, every console will have it's own Wiimote copy, and that works fairly well for RTS games. ( and yes, *every* console is going to be a Wii copy next generation. You really think MS is happy with second place? Think again. )
      - Godhatesfatpeople
        
         reply
        February 5, 2009 11:10 AM
        
        I don't care about the peripheral. It's how they make it work with what they're given. That's what interests me.
    - wytefang
      
       reply
      February 5, 2009 1:09 PM
      
      And they keep failing while realizing that consoles are best for certain kinds of games while PC's are best for others. ;)
  - YoYo
    
     reply
    February 5, 2009 12:23 PM
    
    What did you find frustrating about it?
  - P-Squid
    
     reply
    February 5, 2009 1:13 PM
    
    EndWar is a big step in the right direction, if there is one.
    - Madwacker
      
       reply
      February 5, 2009 1:52 PM
      
      I think if you take what the EndWar guys did and what Ensemble did, shake it up...you might have the complete formula for a console.