Canceled Halo game concept art found on ex-Ensemble artist's site

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 20th 2009 at 4:00PM }

Aside from releasing an RTS title in Halo Wars this year, concept art found on ex-Ensemble Studios artist Dylan Cole's website reveals yet another game that the studio was working on in the Halo universe. No name is given for the shots, though Cole calls the above image "Halo Universe City," which could mean a city from the world of Halo or a game named "Halo Universe."

He also mentions that the "concept paintings" were for "a project that was canceled," so you can bet we won't be seeing these beautiful vistas in game form anytime soon. We do know that the studio was at one time working on a Halo MMO that never saw the light of day -- maybe these shots have something to do with that? We've asked Dylan Cole for more information, but for now, check out the full gallery of concept art right here.

[Via HBO]

Tags: concept-art, dylan-cole, ensemble-studios, halo, halo-universe, halo-wars, hbo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shadowfax - Lord of Teh Playstationz @ Sep 20th 2009 4:03PM

Now I call a Halo MMO milking.

SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Sep 20th 2009 4:05PM

Blizzard would like to have a word with you.

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 20th 2009 4:17PM

The Runescape nerds would like to have a word with you.

Special Agent Steve @ Sep 20th 2009 5:35PM

My psychologist would like to have a word with you.

Mike @ Sep 20th 2009 5:59PM

@shadowbender
How has Runescape been milked? The growth of the game has been pretty much all word of mouth since the beginning in January of 2001, except 1 or 2 articles in magazines.

Cooheeeed! @ Dec 5th 2009 8:16AM

@Mike

I have to agree there, Ive only ever seen one advertisement and that was in PC Gamer mag (UK). I dont like Runescape, But there growth was dependent on word of mouth.

SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Sep 20th 2009 4:04PM

A Halo MMO wouldn't be a terrible idea because the history was definitely there. It would have needed to be faster paced, unless it was like WoW except everyone was a Hunter and you just spammed auto-fire with the certain skills added into the mix.

I think if anything killed this concept it was the fact that they gave it to Ensemble. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of the AoE series and I thought the demo of Halo Wars was really solid, but they were the last studio I could have seen doing an MMO.

The Dark Wayne @ Sep 20th 2009 4:23PM

they could just have made it like planetside, a persistent world FPS

vecha @ Sep 20th 2009 5:11PM

Yes! A planetside halo would be great!

Eh @ Sep 20th 2009 4:06PM

"Halo Universe" sounds like your standard MMO name to me.

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 20th 2009 4:07PM

Ah, nuts! This concept art looked pretty cool. Let's hope "Halo: Reach" can make up for this.

Ballistic H @ Sep 20th 2009 6:02PM

Concept arts always look nice.

Shadsy @ Sep 20th 2009 4:12PM

Holy shit, I got chills from the massive Forerunner city. Maybe that's why the game was so un-Halo looking: it took place hundreds of thousands of years ago!

MarkHawk @ Sep 20th 2009 4:12PM

Press the BACK button to see more then 2-4 shots. Though some shots at the end look like Forerunner versions of the technology the covenant use.

jedimacfan @ Sep 20th 2009 4:21PM

I heard it was going to be called "World of Warthog".

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 20th 2009 4:26PM

If we're going to talk about Warcraft, I need to post a link to a South Park video.

Adam Archer @ Sep 20th 2009 9:46PM

YYYEEEEAAAHHH!!

Aurailious @ Sep 20th 2009 4:26PM

I like how the Forerunners look exactly like humans in the cities. Makes me happy. A Forerunner MMO may have been epic, depending on how it would have been pulled off. Though from what I know, it wouldn't have been easy to do at all.

Maybe we can see similar art on the cover of the next series of Halo books.

Marius @ Sep 20th 2009 4:31PM

Joystiq your link starts late in the slide show

http://www.dylancolestudio.com/sketches/pages/HaloConcept3.html

Ankah @ Sep 20th 2009 4:39PM

Halo started as a MMO FPS ( Persistant World FPS ), about 2 years before it came out on Xbox, it was origionally for OSX, but MS bought Bungie to use Halo as a launch title

Cupideffect @ Sep 20th 2009 4:44PM

sorry but ur wrong...it was orginially a PC game but then microsoft brought it out from bungie which cancel the pc version and set to launch on the xbox system. I remember following the story because i was sooo hype when it was going to be release for PC...then later down the line we got some crappy version from ValvE...well gearbox...

Ian @ Sep 20th 2009 4:45PM

Uh... no. Halo STARTED as a Sci-Fi version of Myth, and evolved into an FPS. Don't talk if you don't know the truth.

Kamizar @ Sep 20th 2009 5:23PM

Actually guys, Halo was originally a mac based RTS, but Microsoft acquired Bungie and turned it into an FPS for the Xbox.

ifalldownstairs @ Sep 20th 2009 5:37PM

Actually, you're all wrong. The game began as an RTS set for a simultaneous release on Mac AND Windows but Bungie was bought by Microsoft and the game was turned into an FPS launch title for the original Xbox

http://pc.ign.com/articles/068/068975p1.html

james @ Sep 20th 2009 4:39PM

i wish i was talented

zeke0990 @ Sep 20th 2009 9:35PM

Are you talking about how well the drawings are? If so, I was thinking the same thing. I wish I could draw that good...

rahmenxnoodles69 @ Sep 20th 2009 4:44PM

Hmmmmm..

I'm not really sure how a Halo MMO would've worked but it sounds like an intriguing concept..

smrterthnu @ Oct 2nd 2009 8:29AM

At least Microsoft had the common sense to kill a project that was meeting expectation.

REIGN x 777 @ Sep 20th 2009 4:53PM

Hi-res please?

fuzzynyanko @ Sep 20th 2009 4:54PM

Wow. I didn't expect a Halo city overview of the likes of Forerunner City to be so pretty. I guess it's because the Halo games tend to take place in combat zones

CH3BURASHKA @ Sep 20th 2009 4:55PM

I still can't believe they killed off such a cash cow such as Halo MMO. I don't like the timesuck that MMO's are, but I'd be willing to explore the Halo universe for quite some time. Other than dilution of the brand (which they clearly don't care about) I don't see any other reason to not bring it out.

KieranD @ Sep 20th 2009 5:17PM

Sucks that MS would throw away something this good looking.

They should realise that more Halo=more money...

Adeese @ Sep 20th 2009 6:09PM

Oh, I think they realize that quite well. See Halo Waypoint.

KieranD @ Sep 21st 2009 12:02PM

Not sure how much moneh they're making on that TBH.

But yeah. Sucks that they'd get rid of something so good looking. Especially as Halo is usually so linear.

No Kill Tayler @ Sep 20th 2009 5:03PM

If they created a Halo MMO, I could see my friends using the computer a lot more. Where their opinion of the PC gaming going from a "lame platform", to "wow I missed out".

CarpeD1em500 @ Sep 20th 2009 6:10PM

I dont give a fuck about people talking about milking a franchise or any of the other bullshit.

People.

LOOK AT THE PICTURES.

WOW I just came. Twice.

Wet.4.PS3 @ Sep 20th 2009 6:40PM

looks good

F1: Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu @ Sep 20th 2009 7:07PM

Other than the pictures with the forerunner tech this looks like it would belong to Mass Effect.

UNSCleric @ Sep 20th 2009 7:43PM

That city is where Master Chief is falling to at the end of Halo 3.

TypeF @ Sep 20th 2009 8:06PM

Halo franchise needs to end and move on to a new IP.

pibs @ Sep 20th 2009 8:56PM

They still need to make Halo Baseball and Halo Party, oh and the most anticipated title Halo Rock Band.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:01PM

you forgot lego halo.

Hello! @ Sep 20th 2009 9:36PM

Damn, these look really good...

eNrique @ Sep 20th 2009 9:48PM

Thank god.

Brian @ Sep 21st 2009 12:53AM

Too bad, they look great.

Josh @ Sep 21st 2009 5:08AM

Just figured I'd let you guys know that he won't answer things, most likely. He's not a very public guy. He's my favorite artist and the most you will ever get in a reply is to buy one of his DVDs on Matte Painting (which I have. Excellent tutorial videos if you are interested in that style of art)