Robot Entertainment confirm working on two projects
One of the recent blogs on the Robot Entertainment website by community manager Duncan Stanley talks about Robot Entertainment one year on from its conception. You may remember it was this time last year Robot Entertainment said “Hello world“. Although there has been no announcements exactly what projects Robot has been working on, we have known that there is at least one project based on new IP going by the initial company press release:
Robot Entertainment is working with Microsoft Game Studios to develop additional content for Halo Wars and support online gaming and community for both Age of Empires and Halo Wars. Additionally, Robot is developing its own original IP.
While there has been much speculation on various forums that Robot may have been working on more than one project it is only now we have a qoute from Robot confirming the existence of two projects.
After a year, I can say that it definitely is a great place to work. We’ve worked hard on our two unannounced projects, had some really awesome parties, and only a couple of late nights. Those late nights were offset by the completely out-of-character-for-Dallas snow days. We’ve got another awesome year set in front of us and we can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on.
We know one project is based on new IP, but what about the second? Could this be based of already existing IP such as Age of Empires or Age of Mythology or is it also another game based on new IP again?
With Robot Entertainment no longer supporting the operations of Halo Wars and 343 Industries confirming that no new installments of Halo Wars are currently planned for the near future, it would seem if any existing IP were to be worked on the Age series would make the most sense. With Microsoft as the publisher for at least one of Robot’s projects this could be a perfect fit.
But when will we know for sure? Hopefully not too long. The recent job openings for additional community managers and web development staff indicate a plan to launch a brand new community website for at least one project.
For now, its food for thought but you may want to check out the full blog from Duncan which talks about the first day at Robot Entertainment.
343 Industries takes over Halo Wars Community support
As of March 1st 2010 343 Industries’ Halo Waypoint team will take over support of both Halo Wars and the Halo Wars Community at HaloWars.com. Community Manager Jon Goff from 343 has made his introductions in the general discussion.
Hey everyone,
As most of you know, Halo Wars and HaloWars.com are transitioning more closely into the Halo Waypoint family.
As of this weekend, Halo Waypoint will oversee both Halo Wars’ matchmaking and stat tracking servers, as well as HaloWars.com as we continue to bring the Halo universe together as never before.
Before I continue, the Waypoint team would like to thank the amazing group at Robot Entertainment, who have spent the past year working closely with the Halo Wars community, helping to build a vibrant, dedicated fan base, and we look forward to supporting the Halo Wars community as the Halo universe continues to expand and evolve.
Jon then continues to expand on some of the most frequently asked community questions – whether or not there will be a Halo Wars sequel of even any additional DLC. The response is as expected – no.
Will there be a Halo Wars 2?
There is currently no information to share about the possibly of future Halo Wars games. We understand the desire from the Halo Wars community for another installment of Halo Wars, but for now the focus in regard to Halo game titles is squarely on supporting Bungie as they prepare to launch Halo: Reach this Fall.
Will there be more Halo Wars DLC?
Likewise, there is currently no new information on additional Halo Wars DLC.
The transition from Robot Entertainment to Halo Waypoint indicates Microsoft’s reduced commitment to the title for the near future as Halo Wars loses its developer. It is currently unclear whether some small bugs outstanding from the last title update will be resolved. Two of these include the issue that units can use the Y-Ability across the entire map and secondly there are missing cut scenes in the Halo Wars game menu. Robot Entertainment has advised that these issues are now the responsibility of Halo Waypoint.
Whats next for Robot Entertainment?
Losing Robot Entertainment in the Halo Wars community is a sad thing. No one is better placed to support the game and its community than the games developer and Robot had the majority of people from Ensemble Studios working on the titles support. However, this is not the end of Robot’s community presence on other games. Robot will continue to provide support for both Age of Empires and the Age of Empires Community. Also expect Robot to be hard at work on a brand new community for thier upcoming video game project. Robot are expanding thier community team to no doubt make the future community as, or even more vibrant and exciting than ever before. Stay tuned.
Robot Entertainment to hand over HaloWars.com to Waypoint
Hot of the press from HaloWars.com. Today an announcement was made by Robot Entertainment Community Manager, Duncan “Aloysius” Stanley talking about the end of Robot’s primary involvement with the Halo Wars Community. The announcement reads as follows:
On February 28th, 2010, Halo Waypoint will be begin to officially support both Halo Wars and HaloWars.com. Waypoint staff will transition in over the next month to support operations of HaloWars.com and the Halo Wars matchmaking and stats servers. Over the past year, Robot was very proud to roll out 4 Title Updates for Halo Wars, provide technical support on the forums and provide a place for volumes of fan fiction. Robot was proud to be a part of this community for the past year, and we hope we served you well.
Along with supporting operations, Halo Waypoint has exciting plans for Halo Wars. Look for announcements in the near future.
So long and thanks for all the fish!
This was quite an unexpected announcement as in most cases the developer is responsible for the games communities. For example, Rare looks after Banjo and Lionhead looks after the Fable communities. However, it seems Microsoft is not so keen to continue having Robot watch over the Halo Wars community. Presumably, now a year on from Ensemble’s closure the agreement struck between Robot and Microsoft to look after the Halo Wars community has expired and possibly as a result of cost cutting Microsoft are bringing the management of the website in house.
Come February 28th a new moderation team will be drafted in from Microsoft’s, 343 Industries – the “Waypoint” team. Its been a bumpy road for Halo Wars fans having to go through another major change in the way the game is supported. First the closure of the original developer Ensemble, then the removal of the second developers community presence. Microsoft do not seem to be treating the strategy version of the Halo IP very well!
Although the announcement states “exciting plans for Halo Wars” are in the works, one must wonder how “exciting” these plans can be without a developer attached to the game anymore.
Hopefully there will be more details to follow about this announcement in due course.
What about Age Community?
Some good news is that the Age of Empires community will still be looked after by Robot Entertainment as before.
Microsoft resolve Age of Empires Bad CD Key error by handing CD keys over to Robot Entertainment
Players who have recently purchased copies of Age of Empires 3 have found themselves unable to play Age of Empires 3 on ESO after Microsoft failed to inform Robot Entertainment, now managing the support for Age 3 the CD Keys leaving players unable to create or upgrade accounts. Needless to say the inability to play online bemused many players and some commenting on the official community website.
However today Robot Entertainment has received the keys and Duncan Stanley, Community Manager for Robot Entertainment has updated the community as follows:
We just uploaded 10s of thousands of keys that we received from Microsoft late in the day.
If you were getting the 100 bad cd-key error while trying to create an account, or upgrade an account, please try again.
If you receive the same error as before, please email age3support@robotentertainment.com with the subject Bad CD-key Error 100 with your cd-key.
Microsoft publish Age of Empires 3 copies without informing Robot Entertainment of CD-Keys
Microsoft has, bewilderingly released new copies of Age of Empires 3 and its set of expansions including the newly released Age of Empires 3 Collectors edition. One would imagine that Microsoft would be contacting Robot Entertainment so that they can prepare the Ensemble Studios Online (ESO) server to accept the new CD-keys enabling purchasers to play the game online. However it seems that Microsoft have been less forthcoming with Robot Entertainment about these re-releases by not informing Robot Entertainment about these new CD keys leaving purchasers bemused that copies of the game are invalid.
Perhaps someone at Microsoft is emailing the wrong person and has forgotten that the @ensemblestudios.com email address has been shut down.
One must worry from this news about the quality of communication from Microsoft to Robot Entertainment following the closing of internal studio Ensemble. It is sad that poor performance from Microsoft is potentially adversely affecting the reputation of Robot Entertainment who end users believe is offering the support for ESO. Community Manager for Robot Entertainment, Duncan Stanley says:
Microsoft, the publisher of all of the Age of Empires III games and expansions, recently released new copies of the game, and the expansions.
When they did this, they did not give us, Robot Entertainment, the cd-keys first to upload to our server so that people who buy the game can authenticate and create accounts. Because of this, users may get Error 100 [Bad CD-Key] when trying to create or upgrade an ESO account.
Microsoft and Robot Entertainment are aware of the problem, and we are working to resolve it as speedily as we can.
We will upload the cd-keys to the server as soon as we get them.
We apologize for the frustration.
We will keep you posted on updates with this unfortunate situation
Mysterious “Age of Empires” press folder revealed to be announced as a Age 3 Collectors edition
![agecollectionsept8[2]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/agecollectionsept82.jpg "agecollectionsept8[2]")
The mysterious press folder found on a website which handles Microsoft press releases for the games division has finally been filled with Age of Empires content. Unfortunately it is not a new Age of Empires game as first hoped. Instead Microsoft will finally release all three Age of Empires 3 games (the original plus the two expansions). Until now only Age 3 and the Warchiefs expansion have been bundled together and players have had to purchase the Asian Dynasties separately. Now all the Age 3 content can be picked up in one handy box set.
Interestingly and sadly, this may be the last box art which we see bearing the Ensemble Studios logo having first thought Halo Wars may be the last.
So where does this leave the Age of Empires series going forward? It has been reported before in a gamesindustry.biz interview with Phil Spencer of Microsoft Game Studios that:
And we do have a plan for Age of Empires, and it is something we’ll continue to push, it just didn’t require that we had Ensemble Studios as an entity inside of MGS in Dallas, as full time internal employees, as a studio that would be the sole source of Age content going forward.
So hmm.. lets hope there is a plan for more new Age content going forward hopefully to be developed by ex Ensemble teams.
Updated: Age Community and Halo Wars community sites are offline
No need to panic! Well.. unless you expected to play Age of Empires or engage in community discussion on AgeComm or Halo Wars.com that is. Yes indeed this is the news that something has brought the community sites offline. Never fear though Robot is on the case!
Stand by for updates.
Update 1: HaloWars.com is back online! AgeComm, ESO still down.
Update 2: Community manager confirms problems which should be resolved very soon:
Aloysius:We are having some issues with the website, and hope to have them resolved very soon.
Update 3: And we’re back! Happy gaming / talking!
Official Robot Entertainment blogs go live!
The Robots at the spacepod like office in Plano have launched their official company blogs with Dave Pottinger and David Kubalak. Dave Pottinger shares with us his dream of having the Robot Entertainment logo in Lego form much like the Google logo shown below:
![00-Google2[2]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/00-Google22.jpg "00-Google2[2]")
It is infact a deadly serious project and Mr Pottinger has been spending his free time experimenting with Lego base boards to get them a suitable size for the Lego Robot logo – here he is, in action!
One might wonder if Mr Pottinger spent too much of his childhood playing with Lego! It does seem like a fun project though and if Google can do it why not Robot? You can stand by for updates on this by following this website or by subscribing to the Robot Blog RSS feed.
In other non Lego news..
David Kubalak lifts the curtain on the faces behind Robot’s art team:
![Art-Team-final[1]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Art-Team-final1.jpg "Art-Team-final[1]")
Please note: The above picture may not accurately represent entire appearance!
You can click the image to enlarge and from left to right you will find:
Bryan Hehmann – Environment Artist, Nathan Stefan – Concept Artist, Gene Kohler (bottom) – Character Artist, Dion Hopkins – Visual Effects Artist, David Kubalak- Art Director, Charles Tinney (bottom) – Animator, Rob Walden – Hard Surface Modeler, Juan Martinez Technical Artist and Animator, Brad Crow (bottom) – Art Director, Paul Slusser – Environment Artist, Duane Santos – Hard Surface Modeler, Won Choi (bottom) – Concept Artist, Chris Moffitt – Character Artist, and Bart Tiongson – Concept Artist.
All of those people are Ex-Ensemblites! Its interesting to read about the individual roles each artists has. David Kubalak is the Art Director and has his own blog where you can find some of his artwork at: http://www.davidkubalak.blogspot.com/
Clearer Robot Art picture discovered!
You may remember a previous post where I mentioned Age Community were studying Robot Entertainment pictures closely for any hints on a new Age of Empires game. David Kubalak’s blog contains an image extract from a news article which shows a picture of Gene Kohler working on some textures. Check out the image below and be sure to enlarge!
Discussion on this can be found on the Age Community forums.
Further reading..
I encourage all fans to check out the Robot website to read the full blog posts from the two Robot Daves! Looking forward to seeing more posts from them soon!
Lets see how this Lego logo develops!!
Remember: Never share your ESO account details with anyone
The ESO team at Robot Entertainment ban hundreds of players at a time for account stealing and people logging into shared accounts. Make sure you NEVER log into any account other than your own or you will be banned and you will lose your rank.
The number of threads on the Age Community website about account stealing has increased recently and I encourage readers to be vigilant about thier ESO account usage.
Dont get caught out, play by the rules and enjoy the ESO expierence.
Age 3 Patches have been released!
Quick heads up to Age of Empires players who have been awaiting the latest round of patches this time from Robot Entertainment, the patch is now available for auto download and manual download on the AgeCommunity website. Information can be found below:
Patch Notes:
Age of Empires III: 1.13
Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs 1.05
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties 1.02
Download:
Click here and choose your game from the list
