With the release of Age of Empires II HD, Ensemble Studios' classic strategy game is re-capturing the hearts of PC gamers everywhere. Turns out some of those hearts have gotten a tad bit more colorful since 1999. Youtuber Yudhaikeledai has taken the game's distinctive intro and ponified it.

Barely two years after its release, Microsoft is pulling the plug on Halo Wars on Dec. 15, axing leaderboards and stat-tracking as well as the forums. Fans of the real-time strategy game are not pleased.

A few years ago, Microsoft-owned Ensemble Studios, the team behind Age of Empires, was working on a Halo massively-multiplayer online game, code-named Titan. That project ended up a bust, and was cancelled by Microsoft. Here's why.

Dylan Cole, an artist formerly with Ensemble Studios, has on his personal Web site some concept pieces for a canceled Halo project that may or may not have been called "Halo Universe."

Ensemble made the Age of Empire series. Which was hugely successful. Ensemble were, however, recently shut down. Was it because they were too successful? A former employee thinks so.

Now that Halo Wars is out the door and Ensemble Studios has gone the way of the dinosaur, former employees of the developer have seen fit to release some of the game's lovely concept art.

Halo has been safely nesting in the loving hands of Bungie for more than seven years. And it's excelled as a first-person shooter, proving finally that you can make a great shooter on a console.

Robot Entertainment isn't the only development house rising from the ruins of Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios, as 35 ex-Ensemble employees join together as Bonfire Studios, already hard at work on an original title.

Mega Bloks, best known for their over-sized, LEGO-like building toys for ham-fisted infants, is releasing Halo Wars-themed toys this summer.