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Forums - Microsoft - New Halo Wars info/footage Friday night

twesterm on 02 October 2008
JaggedSac said:
Given the fact that I do not know twestern or anyone at Ensemble, all information that I hear can be taken with a grain of salt. I will wait for a demo to see for myself.

 

Not offended at all since I would say the same exact thing if I were you



 

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starcraft on 03 October 2008
twesterm said:

I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

  1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
  2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

I doubt it.  You say you know people there, but you didn't mention any inside information on the game's quality.

Every preview says it looks pretty sick, Ensemble have an awesome track record and the game was in production a fair while.

That aside, given their Xbox 360 focus, there was tangible business reasons for Microsoft to amalgamate Ensemble developers into other 360-focused dev teams and the new team.  That said, I almost cry when I think of Age of Empires.

 



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

makingmusic476 on 03 October 2008

I'll miss you, Ensemble. ;_;

But I have hope that this might still turn out well. I don't think the guys at Ensemble would want to tarnish their legacy by releasing a shitty game with their name on it.

But then again, they did get royally screwed by MS (and as fanboyish as it may sound, this is the reason I've decided that I'll never buy a 360).



makingmusic476 on 03 October 2008
starcraft said:
twesterm said:

I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

  1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
  2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

I doubt it.  You say you know people there, but you didn't mention any inside information on the game's quality.

Every preview says it looks pretty sick, Ensemble have an awesome track record and the game was in production a fair while.

That aside, given their Xbox 360 focus, there was tangible business reasons for Microsoft to amalgamate Ensemble developers into other 360-focused dev teams and the new team.  That said, I almost cry when I think of Age of Empires.

 

You make their end sound a lot rosier than it was.  A blog post on Ensemble Studios' website made it quite apparent that none of the staff were expecting this fate (even going so far as to think they were untouchable, because of their success with AoE), and were quite bothered (read: royally pissed off) by the move.

Also, Twesterm is probably more "in the know" in the industry than anybody else on this site.  I'd trust what he says.

 



twesterm on 03 October 2008
starcraft said:
twesterm said:

I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

  1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
  2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

I doubt it.  You say you know people there, but you didn't mention any inside information on the game's quality.

Every preview says it looks pretty sick, Ensemble have an awesome track record and the game was in production a fair while.

That aside, given their Xbox 360 focus, there was tangible business reasons for Microsoft to amalgamate Ensemble developers into other 360-focused dev teams and the new team.  That said, I almost cry when I think of Age of Empires.

 

 

I know people there but I've never actually seen the game.  I also respect people enough to never mention names because I just don't do that (I'm even still creeped out people know my name and use it sometimes >_>).  I know people in a lot of studios in NA and I'm connected to someone in most studios in NA yet I don't go visit any of those on a daily basis.  Even when I was in Chicago last winter visiting a buddy who works at Volition I didn't step foot inside their studio though we still talked about what we could on the games.

And I agree that Ensemble was an awesome studio with an awesome track record but simple logic tells you the game was bad.  You can know nothing about the people the work there and nothing about the studio and know the game was bad.

It may have been promising in an early build and showed great potential a year ago but that doesn't mean it actually turned into anything good.

-edit-

And don't take this as laughing in Ensembles face or anything like that, I do greatly respect those guys and feel terrible about the things that happened to them, but what happens happens.



 

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Everstar on 03 October 2008
twesterm said:
starcraft said:
twesterm said:

I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

  1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
  2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

I doubt it.  You say you know people there, but you didn't mention any inside information on the game's quality.

Every preview says it looks pretty sick, Ensemble have an awesome track record and the game was in production a fair while.

That aside, given their Xbox 360 focus, there was tangible business reasons for Microsoft to amalgamate Ensemble developers into other 360-focused dev teams and the new team.  That said, I almost cry when I think of Age of Empires.

 

 

I know people there but I've never actually seen the game.  I also respect people enough to never mention names because I just don't do that (I'm even still creeped out people know my name and use it sometimes >_>).  I know people in a lot of studios in NA and I'm connected to someone in most studios in NA yet I don't go visit any of those on a daily basis.  Even when I was in Chicago last winter visiting a buddy who works at Volition I didn't step foot inside their studio though we still talked about what we could on the games.

And I agree that Ensemble was an awesome studio with an awesome track record but simple logic tells you the game was bad.  You can know nothing about the people the work there and nothing about the studio and know the game was bad.

It may have been promising in an early build and showed great potential a year ago but that doesn't mean it actually turned into anything good.

-edit-

And don't take this as laughing in Ensembles face or anything like that, I do greatly respect those guys and feel terrible about the things that happened to them, but what happens happens.

There you go wait until you see it until you bash it?

 



Proud Owner of  a Wii and Xbox 360 and a PS3(When I get the money)

twesterm on 03 October 2008
Everstar said:
twesterm said:
starcraft said:
twesterm said:

I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

  1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
  2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

I doubt it.  You say you know people there, but you didn't mention any inside information on the game's quality.

Every preview says it looks pretty sick, Ensemble have an awesome track record and the game was in production a fair while.

That aside, given their Xbox 360 focus, there was tangible business reasons for Microsoft to amalgamate Ensemble developers into other 360-focused dev teams and the new team.  That said, I almost cry when I think of Age of Empires.

 

 

I know people there but I've never actually seen the game.  I also respect people enough to never mention names because I just don't do that (I'm even still creeped out people know my name and use it sometimes >_>).  I know people in a lot of studios in NA and I'm connected to someone in most studios in NA yet I don't go visit any of those on a daily basis.  Even when I was in Chicago last winter visiting a buddy who works at Volition I didn't step foot inside their studio though we still talked about what we could on the games.

And I agree that Ensemble was an awesome studio with an awesome track record but simple logic tells you the game was bad.  You can know nothing about the people the work there and nothing about the studio and know the game was bad.

It may have been promising in an early build and showed great potential a year ago but that doesn't mean it actually turned into anything good.

-edit-

And don't take this as laughing in Ensembles face or anything like that, I do greatly respect those guys and feel terrible about the things that happened to them, but what happens happens.

There you go wait until you see it until you bash it?

 

Well looks like I'll never see it early now since I don't know anyone well who works there anymore. 

And like I said, simple logic tells you the game is bad.  I'd be willing to make a bet with anyone this game gets slammed in reviews.

-edit-

The reviews I'm sure are going to look like this:

  • Fantastic art (because they have a fantastic art team)
  • Stays true to the Halo universe
  • Not fun
  • Doesn't push any lines gameplay wise

 



 

JaggedSac on 03 October 2008

It looks like the complaints about gameplay have already begun.

Simple gameplay so far.(Could be their way of reaching mass market for an rts on a console)

The demo was a little easy. This is probably due to settings just for demonstration purposes.