Devs talk Halo Wars, the “console RTS breakthrough”

RTS games require plenty of buttons, easy access to different macros, something that can allow quick selection of units (dragging the mouse does the trick), and other elements that are difficult to deliver on a console. Halo, however, knows no bounds. Ensemble Studios believes Halo Wars will be a breakthrough, introducing a fully functional RTS on the Xbox 360.

Halo Wars producer Chris Rippy and lead designer Graham Devine sat down with CVG at E3 to answer a few questions about the much awaited game. Hardcore gamers would agree that using a joypad won’t make a player as competent compared to having a robust keyboard. According to Devine, Halo Wars will be breaking limits by implementing “the circle menu, which is how we do everything in the game.”

Another problem of console RTS is navigating through the entire map, which is much smoother using a mouse. In Halo Wars, You can “use the d-pad to very easily jump around the map; back to your base, back to your battle and back to your armies,” said Devine.

If that doesn’t sound promising enough, it would do you good to know that Halo Wars will be built from the ground up for the console. Asked about having a PC version of the game, Rippy replied: “No. One of things about this game is we always wanted a console RTS. One of things that makes it work is that we’ve thrown out all of our previous notions about a PC RTS, focused on that and made that work.”

Craving for Halo Wars yet? The game won’t hit the shelves ’til next year, but a demo is supposed to ship before the real thing. Looks like we’ll have to wait, and hope that Ensemble is in the mood of giving us Halo goodness soon.

Via CVG

RTS games require plenty of buttons, easy access to different macros, something that can allow quick selection of units (dragging the mouse does the trick), and other elements that are difficult to deliver on a console. Halo, however, knows no bounds. Ensemble Studios believes Halo Wars will be a breakthrough, introducing a fully functional RTS on the Xbox 360.

Halo Wars producer Chris Rippy and lead designer Graham Devine sat down with CVG at E3 to answer a few questions about the much awaited game. Hardcore gamers would agree that using a joypad won’t make a player as competent compared to having a robust keyboard. According to Devine, Halo Wars will be breaking limits by implementing “the circle menu, which is how we do everything in the game.”

Another problem of console RTS is navigating through the entire map, which is much smoother using a mouse. In Halo Wars, You can “use the d-pad to very easily jump around the map; back to your base, back to your battle and back to your armies,” said Devine.

If that doesn’t sound promising enough, it would do you good to know that Halo Wars will be built from the ground up for the console. Asked about having a PC version of the game, Rippy replied: “No. One of things about this game is we always wanted a console RTS. One of things that makes it work is that we’ve thrown out all of our previous notions about a PC RTS, focused on that and made that work.”

Craving for Halo Wars yet? The game won’t hit the shelves ’til next year, but a demo is supposed to ship before the real thing. Looks like we’ll have to wait, and hope that Ensemble is in the mood of giving us Halo goodness soon.

Via CVG