Halo Wars Goes Gold and New Vidoc Now Available

Strategy games on consoles have yet to make the same sort of mark they have on computers but Halo Wars is looking to change all that. While some developers don’t see console strategy games as viable, we’ll see if the Halo name will make a difference when Ensemble Studios’ final game makes it to market on March 3. Microsoft today announced that the game has gone gold -- meaning the game is done and has been sent off to manufacturing.

The first in a series of video documentaries, much like what Halo 3 saw leading up to its release in 2007, has been released today on the Xbox Live Marketplace and on Xbox.com.

Microsoft also confirmed the demo of Halo Wars will be available on February 5 (more specifically, at 2AM Pacific, in case you’re planning on staying up all night waiting for it) as well as some details on what will be included. In addition to beginner and advanced tutorials, you’ll be able to try the game’s first two campaign missions and a multiplayer map to challenge the computer in (sorry, no online in the demo, folks). Sounds like a pretty complete demo; Microsoft and Ensemble must really be confident that gamers will like the game’s control scheme, or else they wouldn’t be releasing the demo nearly a month before the game’s release. You can be the judge in just under two weeks when the demo is released.