http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericgu/archive/2009/02/18/age-of-halo.aspxMy daughter downloaded the demo for Halo Wars a few days ago, and I spent a few hours playing it recently. It's from Ensemble, responsible for the "Age of &lt;X&gt;" (Empires I, II, III, and Kings), and it's similar enough that I've named it "Age of Haloen-USTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericgu/archive/2009/02/18/age-of-halo.aspx#9434564Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:06:30 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:9434564Eric Gunnerson<p>My understanding is that Ensemble licensed the Halo rights from Bungie.</p> <p>Coming &quot;sometime in 2009&quot; (my bet is on the holiday season) is Halo: ODST (orbital drop shock trooper), a different sort of game set in the Haloverse, and including at least some of the Halo 3 maps.</p> <p>I think I heard that some of the new ODST maps will show up as Halo 3 multiplayer maps, but am not sure.</p> <p>I think at this point Bungie is probably a bit tired of the whole Halo thing and wants to do something different. Hard to walk away from the money, however...</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9434564" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericgu/archive/2009/02/18/age-of-halo.aspx#9434496Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:39:11 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:9434496Lucas<p>So Microsoft kept the &quot;Halo&quot; rights after Bungie split from MS. Now Ensemble Studios will close after the completion of &quot;Halo Wars&quot;.</p> <p>What will happen to Halo? I hate change *cry*</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9434496" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericgu/archive/2009/02/18/age-of-halo.aspx#9433460Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:36:52 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:9433460Phylyp<p>If you can't beat 'em, join 'em</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9433460" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericgu/archive/2009/02/18/age-of-halo.aspx#9432297Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:54:02 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:9432297Wife PhD<p>Bad enough that I am a widow to Halo but now I have also lost my only offspring to the dark side!!</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9432297" width="1" height="1">