After the truly amazing success that the Halo has enjoyed, many people have wondered what could possibly come out of the Halo franchise to keep the fervently loyal Halo fans happy.

Well, it seems that the next logical step has been taken, which is geared away from the first person shooter, over to the real time strategy game. Soon to be released in the first half of 2008 (we hope), Halo Wars is scheduled to make its debut.

Sometime in 2008, Halo Wars is scheduled to roll out of Ensemble Studios and out to the awaiting Halo fans. You might remember the Ensemble Studios are those talented guys and gals who brought us the Age of Empires series.

So far, Ensemble Studios have given fans bits and pieces of concept art as well as sample trailers of expected game play and nice Halo inspired holiday wallpapers, just to whet the appetite.

So what makes Halo Wars stand out from the original FPS series other than it being an RTS game? Several things make it different, actually. Halo Wars is a game set in the pre-history of the FPS Halo trilogy.

It marks the beginning of the struggle between the UNSC and Covenant forces. Players will begin the game as the UNSC commanding the “Spirit of Fire,” which will be involved initially in small skirmishes, but will then lead into an all out war against the Covenant.

With this entry into the RTS gaming arena, you can now control several Scorpions and Warthogs at once, something not available previously in the Halo world. With the intuitive Xbox 360 controls, maneuvering and sending the troops and the armor into battle will be handled easily.

Something else that really distinguishes this Halo entry, it is only made for the Xbox 360. There are no plans to release Halo Wars for the PC. While this may be disappointing to the PC user, it was an intentional move.

Usually an RTS game, which is ported from PC to console gaming, has control issues. Since Halo Wars has been designed for only one machine, there are no controller issues to be dealt with by the player.

From all that I have gathered from the official game trailer release, as well as what has been released by the developers on the official forum, Halo Wars is a very promising addition to the Halo franchise.

There will no doubt be a flood of pre orders for this game, once they are being accepted. So will there be an RTS trilogy as well for Halo Wars? We will just have to wait and see!