David Leary speaks about fellow Robot’s plus new photos from the studio!
Ever wonders what goes on in the walls of Robot Entertainment? Well, its mainly two things.. 1) Playing games and 2) Beer. Oh! and of course not forgetting developing games at number 3. David Leary, Designer at Robot Entertainment today writes about the types of games fellow Robot-ers are playing including the shock and horror of Joe Gillum firing up the well past its sale by date MMO “eve”.
Firing up Eve again? That was just wrong – so very, very wrong.
The Robots are quite keen MMO players having previously wanted to develop an MMO under Ensemble Studios, leading to the cancelled Halo MMO. Another popular genre in the overly cool offices is FPS games including Battlefield Hereos. Find out more about whats going on in David “Learguy” ‘s blog!
But thats not all!
A blog is complete without a few snaps of the inside of Robot Entertainment and thankfully the good Robots have updated the gallery pages on the website! I refer to my earlier point about what happens at Robot and we’ve covered point 1, playing games and now its onto point two.. the beer.
Beer O’Clock
![Biergarten-is-christened[1]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Biergarten-is-christened1-300x225.jpg "Biergarten-is-christened[1]")
Yes, that really is a German beer garden in Texas
![PlayDohTable[1]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/PlayDohTable1-300x225.jpg "PlayDohTable[1]")
No beer for the kids though, meet the PlayDoh table. But wait! Whos that?? Yes, its Robot CEO Tony Goodman. A kid at heart? I guess you have to be to set up a video game company!
And more..
Find a whole bunch of additional pictures on the Robot website. Sehr Gut!
Robot Entertainment website goes live!
Robot Entertainment has (finally) launched its website! The studio is responsible for Age of Empires and Halo Wars support along with developing thier own new game. Robot is headed up by Ex Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman.
The website has a news section and a detailed studio information section. Similar to the independent days of Ensemble Studios the website lists all staff members and thier role along with a pretty humours description of each! The brand is actually quite a wild change from the brand of Ensemble, Robot is young and youthful, despite having the talent of Ensemble Veterans.
Be sure to check out some pictures of the studio, the office looks very funky just take a look at some of these:
Its a meeting, not dinner
Some funky chairs
Thats a rather fancy desk! What are you working on? A new game? :O
Mr Pottinger demoing the new conference room features. Is that Jerome on an iPhone?! What is with the Ensemble vets and iPhones?!?
Want to work here? I can understand why you would, but you cant as Robot isnt hiring at the moment.
Be sure to check out the rest of the Robot Entertainment website here: http://www.robotentertainment.com/
A list of Robot employees (bots) can be found on the website but also on the new “Robot Entertainment” page on this blog.
Gamespy talks to Dusty Monk on starting up Windstorm Studios
An excellent article put together by Gamespy today as they talk to Ex-Senior Ensemble Studios programmer Dusty Monk. Dusty who worked at Ensemble Studios for 15 whole years discusses how valuable his Ensemble friends Graeme Devine and Tony Goodman have been helping him set up the new studio. Dusty has some freelance and ex- Ensemble people working part time on his presumed futuristic MMO.
He also talks about his thoughts on the closure of Ensemble and what its been like to set up a new studio in these economic times.
I wish him all the best and we will be following him closely here at Remember-EnsembleStudios.com
Full article: http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/articles/969/969790p1.html
Dont forget to check out the Windstorm website! www.windstormstudios.com
Robots at work; Halo Wars.com gets re-branded and DLC coming
Halo Wars fans who often visit the official Halo Wars community website may have noticed that as of yesterday the site had been re-branded from Ensemble Studios to Robot Entertainment. Whilst I am pleased that Robot get to make their mark its somewhat sad that the Ensemble name has been removed.
Robot Entertainment folk are working on Halo Wars DLC which I imagine will be announced in the next few weeks. It is unknown whether the DLC will completely or partially re-brand the game to Robot Entertainment. Tony Goodman’s crew are staying zipped about what the DLC is going to include. Good news is however in traditional Ensemble fashion they are actively listening to fans and players on the forums. You can catch people like Dave Pottinger and Jerome Jones who were both leads on Halo Wars browsing the forums. Just look for the Robot logo under their names.
Of course another thing we can expect soon is the launch of the Robot Entertainment website which has been displaying a splash screen for quite a while; keep checking back here by adding us to your RSS feed and we’ll let you know when it goes live.
A few other updates…
I know I’ve promised updates to the Bruce Shelley and Ben Donges blogs, I’ll try to get them up soon.
Oh, and, I’m sorry to report that ES_Paragon and ES_Solus are no longer with the Ensemble crew at Robot or Bonfire, but are pursuing other opportunities. We wish them good luck with that. 🙂
Ensemble says its final goodbye. Halo Wars credits
Special thanks go to Joystiq who today posted the video of the heart-felt credits to Halo Wars. For those who haven’t yet seen the Halo Wars credits it contains the final goodbye from Ensemble Studios thanking fans for the support over the last 12 years. The credits also contain shout outs from everyone who worked on the game (thats everyone in the studio.) Many shout outs honour their family but also thank Ensemble and Tony Goodman for creating a great place to work.
It is clear from these messages that there was genuine love for working at the Studio and demonstrates the number of real people affected by Microsoft’s sad decision to close the studio.
You can watch the credits here:
Tony Goodman hands Bruce the AIAS Hall of Fame award
You can now watch Ensemble founder Tony Goodman hand the legendary Bruce Shelley the AIAS hall of fame award. Bruce joins 11 other members in the hall of fame.
IGN has the video coverage of Tony Goodman presenting the award here: You many need to skip to 39:25.
http://video.ign.com/streaming/dice-2009/index.html
You can also spot Tony Goodman wearing a Robot branded shirt as opposed to the sadly defunct Ensemble Studios. This may be the last we hear of Bruce Shelley for a while as he prepares to take a break and travel. Perhaps one day Bruce will return to work with his Ensemble colleagues in Bonfire and Robot but for now we wish him good luck and congratulations on his achievements and well deserved award.
Robot Entertainment: Press Release
Robot Entertainment has updated its website with a press release which can be found below:
Founders of Ensemble Studios Announce Formation of Robot Entertainment
PLANO, Texas – February 17, 2009 – Robot Entertainment announced today the formation of its new game development studio in Plano, Texas. Founded by many of the original founders of Ensemble Studios, Robot has a staff of 45 comprised entirely of former Ensemble employees. Robot’s team developed the hit franchise Age of Empires™, selling over 20 million units worldwide, and the soon-to-be released Halo Wars for Xbox 360™. Tony Goodman, the founder of Ensemble, is the CEO of Robot.
“The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” said Mr. Goodman, “not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with. As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry’s future.”
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.
About Robot Entertainment
Based in Plano, Texas, Robot Entertainment is a world-class independent game development studio owned and operated by many of the founders of Ensemble Studios. With a team that has proven experience and expertise in creating games that appeal to massive audiences, Robot Entertainment is focused on titles that set new standards for their respective genres as well as groundbreaking original IPs. Robot can be found on the web at www.robotentertainment.com.
# # #
CONTACT:
contact .@. robotentertainment.com
Robot is making its own IP; 45 ex Ensemble veterans on board
GamePlasma reports that 45 members of staff have been recruited from Ensemble Studios to form Robot Entertainment and Tony Goodman is quoted as saying:
“The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” said Mr. Goodman, “not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with. As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry’s future.”
The article goes on to mention that Robot is the studio which will provide support for Halo Wars and Age of Empires. However the studio will be working on new IP which may rule out Age of Empires 4 (for the moment).
http://www.gameplasma.com/news/index/view/id/1713/
It may be possible that the studio is exploring some old prototype ideas discussed here: http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/?p=229 . Or it could be a whole new project.
We look forward to finding out more.
Tony Goodman: “Stay Tuned. We have some big ideas”
Robot Entertainment’s website is now live at http://www.robotentertainment.com/ with a message from Tony Goodman “Stay tuned, we have some big ideas”
We are very excited to hear about the new studio and wish them the best of luck. Stay tuned for more updates about “Robot”.
Tony Goodman forms “Robot Entertainment” from Ensemble.
Gamasutra have reported that the new studio formed by Tony Goodman will be called “Robot Entertainment”.
There is no indication of what projects this new studio will be working on though. Keep an eye out for more news on Robot Entertainment as it is reported.
I encourage everyone to read the latest Gamasutra article here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22133
I hope the new studio is able to get on its feet and get started on some exciting projects soon. Good luck!
