Microsoft announced yesterday the development of Halo Wars, an all-new real-time strategy game based in Halo universe and developed for Xbox 360 by Ensemble Studios. You can download a high quality cinematic trailer, aswell as some cinematic screenshots and concept art from our Halo Wars game page.

In addition, click full story for a brief Q&A from the developers.

Q: What is "Halo Wars"?
A: "Halo Wars" is the next big real-time strategy game from Ensemble Studios, creators of Age of Empires. Designed exclusively for the Xbox 360, "Halo Wars" allows you to take charge of the human UNSC armies and see the Halo universe from a totally new perspective.

Q: Where does "Halo Wars" take place in the Halo timeline?
A: "Halo Wars" takes place before Halo 1 during the UNSC's first deadly encounters with the Covenant.

Q: Can you reveal anything about "Halo Wars" storyline?
A: Players will lead the crew of the UNSC's "Spirit of Fire" from initial skirmishes to an all out war against the evil Covenant.

Q: Will I be able to play as the Covenant?
A: Stay tuned.

Q: Why is "Halo" being made into an RTS game?
A: Warthogs are cool. Scorpions are cool. Controlling lots of Warthogs and Scorpions and sending them into battle is really, really cool.
We've been big fans of Halo for years at Ensemble Studios, and when we sat down to discuss our next project we thought Halo would be absolutely perfect as an RTS on the Xbox 360.

Q: When will "Halo Wars" be available?
A: Stay tuned.

Q: Will I be able to play Halo Wars on Xbox 360 and PC?
A: Halo Wars is for the Xbox 360 exclusively.

Q: Is the trailer pre-rendered?
A: Yes, and it's based around our world concepts and uses lots of in-game models. The sound and music were done at Ensemble Studios as well. Props to our friends at Blur for bringing it all together and making it really shine.

Q: Other RTS games that have transitioned to console have had issues with controls, how will "Halo Wars" improve on the formula?
A: "Halo Wars" was created for the Xbox 360 from the ground up, which meant we didn't have to make compromises or shoe-horn in artifacts from a Windows PC game. We were able to take all the best aspects of RTS games, make them work perfectly on the Xbox 360, and exclude the rest.

Q: Where can I learn more about other Halo games?
A: Our friends at Bungie, the creators of the Halo Universe, have lots of information about Halo. Check them out here: www.bungie.net.