CES 2009: Halo Wars demo coming to Xbox Live on Feb. 5

by Randy Nelson { Jan 7th 2009 at 10:38PM }

Microsoft's entertainment and devices boss, Robbie Bach, revealed during the company's CES 2009 keynote that a demo of Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5th. Additionally, Bach announced a February 28th ship date for the full game, which fits nicely with what Microsoft had previously announced. If the demo is anything like most others -- i.e., the earliest parts of the game -- it will likely contain a lot of what we played just a couple of months back.

Gallery: Halo Wars

Tags: breakingnews, ces-2009, demo, ensemble-studios, halo-wars, js-twitter, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Dark Wayne @ Jan 7th 2009 10:40PM

im conflicted with Halo wars. I want to buy if for the epic haloness of it, but I'm worried I suck at RTS' too much to enjoy it, or at least get all the achievements out of it

Cody @ Jan 7th 2009 10:52PM

That's why you try the demo before you buy.

a ham sandwich @ Jan 7th 2009 10:52PM

my thoughts exactly! unfortunately, i think the haloness takes precedence. :(

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 7th 2009 10:53PM

The achievement list looks impossible but it looks so pretty 0.0

I think I'm more interested in all the CGI and the fact this is Ensemble Work.AoE3 PC was disappointing compared to all the game sin the series but this could be what I’m looking for too bad is for Xbox 360 only, this would be a first day purchase if it was for PC.

What I'm afraid is that this is about Halo and to be honest other than Halo 2 my experience with the series have been frustrating.

HitNRun @ Jan 7th 2009 10:57PM

Try Tom Clancy's EndWar, which just recently came out.

I haven't been an RTS fan since the whole genre dumped the pause button years ago in favor of the mad-clicking-Korean style of "strategy", but I have to admit that EndWar is awesome. If Halo Wars comes close to it in the adapting-RTS-for-consoles department, they'll have done well.

The Dark Wayne @ Jan 7th 2009 11:28PM

the only achievement im worried about is the reach general rank. I hate that shit. But i think im gonna get it anyway, if only for the story

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 7th 2009 11:43PM

I wouldn’t care about online achievements if it wasn’t because most of them make you play ranked matches or are about doing something OVER 9000 times. Also that ranked my A$$ if you don’t finish the match because someone disconnected the game doesn’t counts it also that the True skill system is completely broken and unbalanced.

Snowblind @ Jan 8th 2009 6:00AM

I'm not an achievement whore, but I do enjoy going for certain achievements as extra goals.. And I have to agree, the achievements here are pretty horrible. Gears of War 2 got them completely perfect, almost every single one can be gotten OFFLINE so you don't have people messing up ranked games just because they're trying to get them.

I think there's only three in Gears that you can only get in online matches, and they're pretty basic like Win 10 deathmatches.

Jakka ( FREE 1UP - A BRAND NEW CAMPAIGN!) @ Jan 8th 2009 11:29AM

Aww, what the fuck Arbiter?

Did you just talk down Mr.ESC? Dude, where are your manners?

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 8th 2009 1:57PM

I think is revenge because I owned Alien in the Bioshock Thread.

Also I have a x360 *facepalm.I just f*cking hate matchmaking,is the cancer killing online games.

Nter @ Jan 7th 2009 10:45PM

Never was too sure about this game. A demo should help me get a better picture..

Premature ejaculation man @ Jan 7th 2009 10:46PM

Very good :)
Though Robbie said that the Bungie guys were the ones doing the demo ;0

The_Punisher @ Jan 7th 2009 10:50PM

NICE! Anything else good come out of the CES keynote?

Jomolungma @ Jan 7th 2009 10:51PM

Sparrow, the 12 year old wunderkind. She will rule us all some day.

Jonathan @ Jan 7th 2009 10:52PM

not yet

The_Punisher @ Jan 7th 2009 10:53PM

Did i miss something?

I feel more lost than when Nintendo tries to make an E3 Press Conference.

Sora @ Jan 7th 2009 10:58PM

Not gaming-wise, but they DID announce that the Windows 7 Beta is coming out on January 9th.

Jomolungma @ Jan 7th 2009 10:58PM

Robbie brought this 12 year old girl, Sparrow, up on stage to demo Kodu, or Kurdu, or Kudu... whatever the name of the "game" is that MS is releasing that allows you to program your own video game on the 360 for the 360... anyway, she got up there and flew through about a million radial menus in a blink of an eye and then wooped Robbie's ass in a capture-the-flag type game. She's a mad genius.

Oh, they also "demoed" 1 vs. 100 coming this Spring.

The_Punisher @ Jan 7th 2009 11:01PM

Haha, nice. Yeah, it looks like Kadu or w/e the fk it is is trying to be a more open LBP, but from what i've heard, menus = fail.

As for Windows 7, i'm not srue what exactly that means to me. All i know is i have Windows XP and refuse to go Vista. XP + Google Chrome = it couldn't go any faster

Gaming-wise my comp sucks, but ah well.

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 7th 2009 11:49PM

I just want to express my deep hate towards Windows Vista.

Fuck that shit to hell.

Where did you see that anyway?

Ace Gamer UK @ Jan 7th 2009 10:52PM

Nice glad we are getting a demo. I'm still not sure on this one

cranium @ Jan 7th 2009 11:02PM

when does it come to PSN?

(sorry)

Little Big PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Jan 7th 2009 11:08PM

These pre-release demo's are feast or famine. We saw how a demo killed Haze and The Force Unleashed. If the demo is lackluster it will more than likely hurt sales but by that same token if it's good it could increase sales.

2 Questions -

Does anyone buy into Cliffy B's theory that beta's and pre-release demo's hurt the sales of a game?

Does anyone think this demo will "let the cat out of the bag" (to the more oblivious gamer) that didn't know it was a strategy game? Presumably they would buy it for the simple reason that it's a new Halo.

Cyro @ Jan 7th 2009 11:12PM

What hurt's a game is not coming out with a beta for the online multiplayer and then screw it up like Gears 2 did with that horrible matchmaking and a thousand glitches!

I would love to slap Cliffy B, for this. Gears 2 could've been nearly perfect. :/

cranium @ Jan 7th 2009 11:19PM

a game like Halo Wars could sell on its name alone. It doesn't need a demo. If it was released and received lackluster sales than a post-release demo might be a good way to convince fence-sitters to pick it up. leave demos to the games that need to be played to know whether you enjoy it or not (Katamari) or games that might be overshadowed by big-name IP (Braid, Left4Dead, Dead Space)

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 7th 2009 11:55PM

To be honest if the Demo is good it will help or more like “If the game isn't sh*t people are more likely to buy it”.

If it wasn't for the demos of Sonic and Timeshift I would never be interested in those games since the critics beat those games with a storm of negative reviews and I for one liked the Demos of Sonic and Timeshift. Now that I didn't bought them since the price for those games are unreasonable high here.

Now that if you think there is someone stupid enough to buy Halo Wars just because Halo is on the title expecting a FPS that’s highly unlikely since everything with halo on it is googled OVER 9000 times.

The only ones I see buying Halo wars blindly are kids who are probably doing so to get the Mythic maps early.

ryan @ Jan 8th 2009 1:27AM

Didn't seem to hurt Bioshock's success did it? You either are confident in your game enough to release a demo, or it's buggy as hell and you don't want people to know...or it's buggy as hell and you don't care because you're company can really do no worse to damage it's reputation.

ill trooper @ Jan 8th 2009 2:43AM

"A game like Halo Wars could sell on its name alone."

Agreed, but I also think that situation would end up as disappointment for a lot of people expecting a Halo FPS and winding up with a Starcraft/C&C style game instead. It's not really a traditional Halo game, it's a halo-styled tower-defense/RTS thing, and like Metal Gear Acid was to the Metal Gear series, "it's got the name but not the game," and thusly, I don't think it can rest on the 'Halo' name alone.

I'm not into this myself, but I can understand Halo fans wanting to check it out.

tmmoore_nc @ Jan 7th 2009 11:17PM

A game with a bad demo slaughters sales. In Gears 2's case...it probably would've hurt sales given its' online performance up until this point (and probably after this 2nd patch given their patch history on Gears 1). A game with a good demo improves sales, like Bioshock. I think Halo Wars might fall in the former category, but has less of an impact because the name Halo is tacked onto it.

Alien Lord @ Jan 8th 2009 2:19PM

@Snowblind what is your gamer tag? I want to add you to my friends list.

Jay @ Jan 7th 2009 11:17PM

Lol, the same time as when Killzone 2 demo arrives huh.
I wonder if this announcement has something to do with the demo coming out at the same day...

lol

ill trooper @ Jan 8th 2009 2:44AM

"Yeah maybe but this demo is available to everyone not just the sucker fanboys whom paid to pre-order a game that will probably suck hairy dog balls."

...Well, that't exactly the sort of comment a sucker fanboy would make.

Alien Lord @ Jan 8th 2009 3:33AM

Contrary to what some might think console RTSs are fun, I have:
RA 3
WarHammer Battle March
Supreme Commander
LotR BFME II
C&C 3 Tiberium Wars
C&C 3 Kain's Wrath
Tom Clancy's End War
Universe at War Earth Assult
It's not about buying it just because it's Halo, it's actually because these games are fun.

Jay @ Jan 8th 2009 6:55AM

Lol, too funny...
Wow, the XBOT fanboys must feel so insecure about Killzone 2.
All I said is that they coincided.
It's so amazing what the human mind can come up with.

Good job XBOTS.

Snowblind @ Jan 8th 2009 8:25AM

As a PS3 and a 360 owner, I can honestly say that I've had enough of shooters, and even if Killzone 2 somehow manages to be above mediocre, I'll still have very little interest in playing another FPS at this point.

I'm not sure how you PS3 fanboys can spend so much time bashing Halo, but then cling on to the first hyped up shooter that's thrown at your feet like it's the second coming of Jesus.

Halo Wars is at least letting us see a new side of the Halo universe, which is already far deeper and more diverse than Killzone can ever hope to be.

tidefan94 @ Jan 8th 2009 12:02AM

I have a feeling this demo could have a bioshock-like effect for the game. Hopefully it will open it up to a lot of people who normally wouldn't get it. It looks to be good, and it would be nice for Ensembles last game to be a huge hit (love all their games).

el serpiente @ Jan 8th 2009 9:46AM

Yeah, I too can't wait for the Killzone 2 demo. SWEEET!

Killjebus @ Jan 8th 2009 10:15AM

Mr. Lord

How can you play any demo with Bill's phallus shoved so far up yer ass that it cums out yer mouth and when he gives u a deposit it blows all over the telly and you can't see a thing past the goo.

How?

@Iltrooper

NICE ONE. very well done!!!