We were awakened last night by a terrible din -- a wailing which echoed through our streets like a funeral dirge. The sound poured from nearby houses; voices making slightly varied proclamations with a singular theme. In near-unison, they pierced the night: "WHERE IS MASTER CHIEF?", "WHY NO LASER SWORDS?", and, perplexingly, "GEOFF KEIGHLEY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH CORTANA?"

These confused souls were reacting to the cinematic trailer for Ensemble Studios' swan song, Halo Wars, which debuted on GameTrailers TV last night. For those who were laying eyes upon the title for the first time, we can understand any resulting bewilderment. The trailer (which we've posted after the break) is excellent, though it boldly lacks the things players love about the series to date -- including any sign of returning characters, or any heinous acts of postmortem facial desecration.

At last, some good news for those gentlemen and noble women who believe battles are best waged in a polite, turn-based fashion. Nintendo has revealed that its cherished Fire Emblem series will see a new installment arrive on the DS, sometime during the first half of 2009. Well, a new-ish installment.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a remake of the original NES / Famicom game, albeit one packed with extra DS content. Nintendo has promised two new scenarios, six difficulty levels, and one-on-one Wi-Fi play, along with full voice chat when playing online (and yes, online play is a series first) or via local wireless. You'll also be able loan out your units to other players via Wi-Fi -- when you get them back, they'll retain all of the EXP, etc. gained while your friends have been using them.

Would you try not to get our dudes killed, okay, hypothetical friend?

Tilted Mill's new title Hinterland is available now on Valve's Steam service for $20. Although we've yet to have any hands-on time with the game, from videos it appears to be a mix of Diablo-style combat and town building. What it really looks like is a mature version of My Life as a King, where players actually get to do the combat parts. Some of us gamers of higher chronology may recall a similar premise in ActRaiser.

The self-published Hinterland is a new route that Tilted Mill (SimCity Societies, Caesar IV) is undertaking: making a budget-friendly strategy RPG that delivers fun even when the player only has one or two hours to play. One of the game's designers, Jeff Fiske, agrees with the characterization of Hinterland as "a casual game for core gamers."

The Capcom blog has announced that the horrifically under-promoted Age of Booty sets sail on October 15 and 16 for XBLA and PSN, respectively. The PC version will be available "shortly after" on digital download services like Metaboli, Impulse and Steam. The game will be sold on all platforms for $10.

We've had a few positive hands-on experiences with developer Certain Affinity's AoB, going back to when it was known by the less risqué name, Plunder. Hopefully this multiplayer-focused, real-time, boardgame-esque downloadable title finds an audience in the madness of this packed holiday season.

If we could somehow produce an audio version of this particular post, you'd hear a distinct gruffness to our characteristically un-gruff voices -- an unfortunate, though not completely unforeseeable, result of our enthusiastic observation of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Capcom had their own way of celebrating the seafaring holiday -- yesterday, the open beta for Age of Booty (formerly Plunder, even more formerly Pimps at Sea) went live via a free download for all Fileplanet users.

You probably don't need us to tell you that the beta is for the PC version of the game -- those hoping to buckle their swashes on Xbox Live Arcade will have to wait for the game's yet-to-be-decided 2008 release date.

[Via Evil Avatar]

Sony and Wizards of the Coast are ramping up yet another 100-card expansion to their genre-bending PS3 hybrid, The Eye of Judgment. The new set, titled Biolith Rebellion Set 3, will bring the game's total number of collectible cards to 310.

As with the previous expansion, an additional PSN purchase will be required before any newly unwrapped cards can be used in game. However, this time around the download will add more than just new animations and rules, including Trophy support, background story and a "set of new abilities that encourage more tactical playing based on creature formation." The new cards are expected to arrive at retail outlets on October 16, provided the shipment doesn't meet with any unfortunate accidents along the way.

Ten reasons to read "Ten Reasons to Avoid Spore", a recent feature on BigDownload:

1. Because you want to read an even-handed look at the game's flaws before deciding whether or not it's worth a purchase.
2. Because it's presented in visually pleasing Gallery-o-vision.
3. Because you're Will Wright, and you enjoy criticizing your latest game's criticisms.
4. Because it was written by gaming industry newcomer, Perez Hilton.
5. Because BigDownload is totally wrong and you can't wait to inform them of this in their comments.
6. Because you've already installed and removed the game three times, so you've got nothing better to do.
7. Because we were joking about it being written by Perez Hilton.
8. Because it has pictures. Big, beautiful pictures.
9. Because we asked you very nicely to read it, and it's our birthday.
10. Because you appreciate literature that criticizes a game you believe was crafted by Beelzebub.

Those of you riddled with angst over the fate of Age of Empires had best prepare for an antithetical application of ... Unangst! That's Kevin Unangst, Games for Windows director over at Microsoft. In a brief message posted on the Gamerscore Blog, Unangst has assured point-and-conquer fans that the closure of developer Ensemble Studios doesn't necessarily spell doom for the renowned PC franchise.

"I want to reassure you that Microsoft will still own the Age of Empires intellectual property," he said. "As a company, we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires, and as a PC gamer I'm looking forward to what that future holds."

Of course, not everybody is buying into this somewhat formless placation, with one commenter diplomatically venturing, "Go to hell you Microsoft pigs!" Nurse, we're going to need some oinkment for that burn.

Maybe it's the High Fidelity fan in us, but we love top five lists. They're easy to read, don't tax our brains with too much complexity and most importantly, don't require too much of our precious, precious time. And if you are going to take those moments out of your day, shouldn't it be on a worthwhile list? Say ... on the Top Five Favorite Games of World's Smartest Game Designer Will Wright? Behold!

5. The Civilization series
4. Grand Theft Auto series
3. Battlefield series
2. Advance Wars on the DS
1. The Flight Simulator series

So, are you surprised? Will Wright is, apparently, a total nerd. You know what just got left off at number six? Tri-Dimensional Chess. True story.

[Thanks, Pugnate]

After only briefly being classified as rumor, Microsoft has confirmed that Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios is indeed closing. Said the company in a statement (via Gamespot), "This decision does not reflect at all on Ensemble's talent or the quality of Halo Wars -- in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game."

According to Microsoft, Ensemble's "leadership team" is founding a new development studio that has already agreed to support Halo Wars after its launch in addition to other Microsoft Games Studios titles.

It's another triple-threat (erm, make that treat) this week for Xbox Live Arcade connoisseurs. Debuting after the Virtual Console version, the classic Neo-Geo fighter, Samurai Shodown II, arrives at 400 ($5) [800 ($10)] and should be worth all 32 quarters if it's a carbon copy of the arcade / ridiculously expensive home version.

Joining the sword-clashing samurai are Rocket Bowl, D3Publisher's absurd – yet interesting – take on bowling, and Shotest (not Shortest) Shogi, a prim-and-proper multiplayer version of the classic Japanese table game from Microsoft. They're both hitting at 800 ($10) each.

Also prepped to pop up in the Marketplace are 1200 new puzzles for Buku Sudoku (200 / $2.50) and the second set of expansion levels for N+ (200 / $2.50).

[Update: "Starting on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Xbox Live members will have the opportunity to download Samurai Showdown II for 800. The game was previously listed incorrectly at 400, and we apologize for the error," reads an Xbox Press media alert.]

Stardock has revealed that its sleeper PC hit Sins of a Solar Empire has sold over half a million copies. The company's CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra that 400,000 units were sold at retail, while 100,000 in sales came from digital downloads. Not bad for a full-bodied PC strategy game that cost less than a million dollars to make.

Wardell is certainly becoming an interesting character in the narrative of this industry, with relatively small publisher Stardock really stepping up. He explains part of Sins' success is that it was designed to run on a "four-year-old video card" and still look good. He says there might be a "piddly super-mega effect" that gets missed, but the result is more sales for the game, a strategy which sounds similar to Blizzard's take on being a PC developer. Sins' first mini-expansion, Entrenchment, will be available for $10 later this year.

[Via Big Download]

Though Master Chief is little more than an adorable baby during the events of Halo Wars, it should come as no surprise that his Spartan brethren are a pretty big factor on the battlefield. Ensemble recently went into detail about the role of the Spartan in a fight on their official site.

The secret to nailing the right feel for the Spartan according to Ensemble? Not nerfing them. Spartans aren't just dudes in good armor: They're one-man tipping points, able to grab an enemy vehicle and turn the tide. Sounds good to us; now, if there were only some way to get some more Spartans on the box.

[Via X3F]

Final Fantasy Tactics meets X-Com in a Miyazaki-esque, Advance Wars universe. With watercolors. That's what you get when you play Sega's upcoming strategy RPG, Valkyria Chronicles. The PS3 exclusive is already out in Japan but will be heading West before the end of the year and, from what we saw of the game at PAX, it will be Sega's console gem of the year.

We were guided through the game's tutorial by the producer, Christopher Kaminski, who showed off the basic gameplay mechanics. It's a strategy RPG, but there's no grid. Instead, you have a "fuel" meter, which depletes as you move farther, giving the game more of an action RPG feel.