So it’s the end of the day, my deadline is pushed back a week, and I was briefly checking out my sources when of course Loot-Ninja (who else?) came through with a scoop on the release date (March 3rd) for the upcoming Halo Wars, a real-time strategy game (or as Ensemble puts it, an Action-Strategy game) based entirely in the Halo Universe. Now, I loved Halo 1, played the crap out of Halo 2 and 3, and am an avid RTS-er. I’ve beaten all the C&Cs, Total Annhiliation, Age of Empires and Red Alerts (except for 3, but I digress) and I can’t wait to get my hands on this. Something about building SPARTANS, assigning them to a fleet of warthogs, and covering them with stolen Banshees warms my gaming soul. This could be big, really big. Almost as big as the rumored Star Wars MMORPG. Only time will tell when it comes to Star Wars though, that was just a tease, for well, teasing sake. I’ll get back to that if Bioware (makers of Knights of the Old Republic) or Lucasarts ever lets anything slip, and chances are they won’t.
Back to Halo wars: The only thing that concerns me is the 360 exclusivity of the release. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sticking it to the Sony Brats, but wtf Microsoft? Pull a Left-4-Dead and release it on PC and 360 only!!!! I know, maybe its a crutch to rely on keyboard grouping shortcuts, mousedrags, and soothing voice of Tanya out of my computer speakers, but its a crutch I don’t want to easily give up. Sports and Shooters with the gamepad, RPGs and Strategy games with a mouse (Fallout 3/Left 4 Dead don’t count, but don’t ask me why.) To be fair, I haven’t really looked into this game fully, somewhere comparable to the amount of vetting by the GOP leadership of Sarah Palin (zing!) but be warned, I will be reading more about this game and will have some very astute observations and a follow-up to my complaints about the lack of PC support very shortly. That, and with my Xbox fixed at Microsoft but not shipped yet, it still might be weeks before I can get back into my console, so I’m strictly a PC gamer until UPS saves my world.
That’s it folks, for this Tuesday. Watch out for some Jpark update tonight, the Man doesn’t let him blog at work…sucker.
gunner4991
jpark24
commonname
patr
Yeah I’m excited for Halo Wars. The actual story of Halo will probably keep me going through the RTS (a game genre that seriously stresses me out).
I actually have an answer as to why they didn’t release it on PC: coding. The game was specifically made for the console and was simplified to do so. The core system was designed with the limitations of the controller in mind, instead of going from PC to console with some RTS games like Lord of the Rings and so forth. I’m sure they’ll bring it to PC, but they have to complete rework some things.
Glad your xbox is coming back yo!
Ah good looks Mike, I did not know that but it makes a lot of sense. Still pisses me off though. Thanks for reading! Makes me feel guilty about not reading your comic often enough, so I’ve added you to my links on the right to make up for it. YAY! See you soon brodudeamite.
Oh totally – if I PC game’d at all I’d be pissed too.
And of course! I actually enjoy reading your personal thoughts on game news. Don’t worry about reading the comic, it’s just my labor of love that I’ve put so much time and effort in. Sorry, the Jewish Guilt got in there.
Thanks for adding the links! If you ever want someone to talk about WoW on here I’m your man…
::sob::
Its gonna be a wake up call for some younger kids when people bring the old school starcraft and warcraft intelligence to this game. It looks so cool, nice find. I’m gonna post with a link to my favorite screenshot for those too lazy to peruse the Halo Wars site. Hours invested in master chief and its surroundings will definitely have that nostalgia feel for me.
HA jpark, i’ll run down some n00bs with you in starcraft 2 AND halo wars when this beast launches.
mike/jpark I’m creating an MMO page for us to link to and discuss our favorite/lease favorite things about WoW and other MMO’s. Mike if you have a wordpress account let me know and ill add you as an author, otherwise create one and we’ll go from there.
I think I do in fact have a wordpress account – I use wordpress for my comic.