Last out with a bang is Microsoft, with Halo Wars. The interview was done by Microsoft's XCN, and the questions were submitted by the members (us and other sites in Europe). Dan Cornelius answers the questions, covering story, Age of Empires, comparisons with many other games and more.

Answered by: Dan Cornelius, Xbox EMEA First Party Games Marketing Manager

Let’s start by seeing if you’ll tell us something that hasn’t been widely revealed about Halo Wars…
Dan Cornelius: Well, we’ve just announced the Limited Collector’s Edition content and we’ve announced broadly when the product’s going to launch; the exact date hasn’t been given but it’s going to be a February 2009 release worldwide. In terms of the Collector’s Edition the major thing to say is that there’s going to be three brand new multiplayer maps for Halo 3. It’s a nice bonus for people who have both games.

Halo Wars is from Ensemble, the team behind Age of Empires. Is it based on the same engine or has it been built from the ground up?
DC: The project started about four or five years ago, when we started thinking “let’s build an RTS for consoles from the ground up” rather than making a PC port.

So that was the general mission before it became a Halo game?
DC: Yeah, that’s exactly it.

And this game is set before Halo#1, right?
DC: Yes, and this is the genesis of the story. This is the first time that the human forces come into contact with the Covenant and it scripts that story in the lead up to Halo: Combat Evolved.

So is it like spin-offs to, say, the Star Wars movies, where you find additional characters and such that aren’t in the movies themselves? Will there be units or creatures that don’t appear in the Halo first-person shooting games?
DC: Yes there are some additions, but I can’t tell you exactly what they are. I can give you more detail on that at another time…

Are there recognisable elements of the classic Halo shoot ‘em up gameplay in the game?
DC: There’s a whole history of the human and Covenant forces coming together, so yeah, it absolutely reflects the first person shooters, but it gives you a lot more context about how the next games came along and what they mean.

And you can choose to play as humans or Covenant?
DC: Yes, and there’s six-player multiplayer so you can team up or play against your friends.

Okay, what is about a console RTS that is different to a PC RTS?
DC: Well Ensemble tried to keep the same depth but a PC RTS has very definite challenges for porting. It’s designed for a two-foot user interface (i.e. the distance between player and screen) and not a ten-foot one, so the way that you look at what you‘re doing needs to be changed. And the other major thing is the controls - how do you still give 100% control to the user with just a pad? Especially compared to a keyboard, which has 50-60 different keys and a mouse. That’s a challenge. So the menu systems and general navigability have to be faster and crisper without sacrificing depth.

Civilisation: Revolution did that very well…
DC: Yes, and we’ve done user-testing versus Civilisation, Command & Conquer and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 and all the scores so far rank Halo Wars above them all. I’m not saying the other games are bad, just that Ensemble, with their pedigree, are the experts. You might find this game even easier. I guess that’s what I’m saying.

In Age of Empires the gameplay develops over a time, whereas in games like Command & Conquer you’ve got a specific timeframe and technologies and that’s what you take into battle. Is Halo Wars mainly about battle scenarios or is their an element of nurturing, resource management?
DC: Absolutely. Within your base you have resources for creating new vehicles etc. As time goes on you strengthen your abilities within those functions, and that includes the power of your armies.

We’d like to thank Dan for his time and enthusiasm at The Gathering, despite being in constant demand!