Another team of developers has arisen as a result Ensemble’s closure, this time founded by David Rippy and “former management team members” from Ensemble, while the team is staffed entirely with former members of the legendary strategy developer. David Rippy, formerly a lead producer at Ensemble and now Bonfire’s CEO and president, said:

“Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams. We are already working on an original IP that we’ll start talking about in the next few months.”

While no real information has been revealed regarding their original intellectual property, they do claim that the game already has “a great in-depth story, combat and game play.” Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before, but these developers probably mean it.

You can visit Bonfire’s website to check them out and, while it may appear at first as though they’re advertising Ensemble games, from Age of Empires to Halo Wars, they’re really just reminding you of their heritage, and well they should!

Former members of the ill-fated Ensemble Studios, including co-founder Tony Goodman, have banded together to form a new development studio under the moniker Robot Entertainment.

After Ensemble was recently closed down, not before finishing up work on the hotly anticipated Halo real-time strategy game, Halo Wars, a number of employees decided to up and form studios of their own in the wake of the closure. Robot Entertainment, it appears, is one of those studios.

Hopefully the studio will continue on the path set by Ensemble and create some block-rocking RTS games… or maybe something in another genre, if they so wish.

Source: Gamasutra

A sad state of affairs, this one. Yesterday, Bruce Shelley at Ensemble Studios posted what he is calling his last blog entry, as the employees (and employers) at the studio begin the arduous process of shutting down the company. From the post:

“We are working our way through the final week with mixed emotions. We have a lot to be proud of and new opportunities are beckoning, but it is also sad to see this particular great adventure coming to an end.

“Boxes are piled in the hallways for trash; people are giving away games and other stuff they don’t want anymore; computers are being wiped; and our corporate IDs are being turned in.

“Although we will be keeping in touch through some alumni initiatives, many of us may not cross paths again.”

Shelley also reveals that at least two new studios will form from the ashes of Ensemble:

Post continues, click to read more…

A company called Sumthing Else Music Works has announced the release of a music package called Halo Trilogy - The Complete Original Soundtracks, featuring music from the entire trilogy of Halo games.

Sumthing Else Music Works, in associated with Microsoft Game Studios, is now able to present the works of Bungie Audio Director Martin O’Donnell and Co-Composer Michael Salvatori, as well as four preview tracks from the upcoming Halo Wars, composed by Ensemble Studios’ Audio Director Stephen Rippy, all in one convenient package.

Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks releases today in the US, while Halo fans around the world will be able to access the music as a digital download through www.sumthingdigital.com.

The soundtrack listing follows below:

Post continues, click to read more…

The Halo universe knows no boundaries as the upcoming release of Halo Wars will attest. In development at the condemned Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars is the one real-time strategy game hardcore, action-loving Halo players might give a look at.

The heritage of the studio behind the game, however, should be enough for people to show interest in Halo Wars when it releases early next year (the release window is February 2009).

In the meantime, you can drool over the contents of the collector’s edition, or check out some great screens from the game and watch some recent footage in a story trailer, below:

Post continues, click to read more…

In a bit of shocking news, Ensemble Studios, the developers behind the Age of Empires games, is set to close following the completion of their current strategy game project, Halo Wars. Key employees from the studio are to remain and form a new studio that will provide future support for Halo Wars, as well as work on other Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) projects. From a press-release:

“This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.”

Ensemble Studios was founded in 1995, releasing their first game, Age of Empires, in 1997. Microsoft then acquired Ensemble in 2001, folding them into MGS, after which Ensemble released Age of Mythology in 2002. Age of Empires III, their latest game released in 2005, sold over 1.15 million copies in the US alone, not including the two successive expansion packs.

Not only that, but Ensemble had become something of a haven for ex-id Software developers, with Sandy Petersen, Paul Jaquays and Graeme Devine all moving on to work at the Dallas-based Ensemble. This is quite a blow to the industry - Ensemble were instrumental in pushing the real-time strategy genre forward, with the upcoming Halo Wars set to innovate console RTS games even further. Let’s hope the employees all land on their feet.