I received this tip from an industry insider who was at a private preview event recently as part of Microsoft's Gamescom schedule in relation to Halo Wars 2. His notes from the preview are as follows: Today we saw a video and some brief game-play footage of Halo War's 2, an up coming action/strategy game from 343 Industries. The presentation opened with a mostly pre-rendered trailer inter-cut with brief amounts of what looked like game-play footage. The story seems to focus on female officer type aboard the UNSC Infinity and her shadowy AI partner. We see her commanding armies in a war room type setting and lots of action with Spartan soldiers on the ground. We see a Spartan wielding an energy sword facing off against a group of 3 Covenant warriors in close combat and at one point we see a squad of Spartan soldiers boarding a large Covenant Scarab and fighting on top of it. It was high octane and seemed to have a large focus on action mixed with large battle scenes. Next we were treated to a demo of what was called an early alpha game-play build showcasing a new mode called Spartan Ops. We're told this mode is similar to Halo 4's Spartan Ops in that it features episodic content that is tied to the up-coming Halo TV series. It seemed to play a lot like Halo Wars for the Xbox 360, the demo began with commanding a squad of troops and a Warthog vehicle to take over a sniper tower inhabited by Prometheans which they subsequently defended until Spartans arrived. We see the troops set up a command center from which they trained more units and repaired the Warthog. A lot of weapons from Halo 4 were present like the Promethean shotgun that vaporizes enemies. From here we saw the UNSC troops expand and start to explore new areas. Predictably, Smart Glass integration allows you to interact with the game and we saw a demo of how you can drop ordinance to your troops and can trace lines across the battlefield to give you greater control over where airstrikes will fall. Next we're treated to a new system introduced to Halo Wars which allows you to play from the perspective of one of your Spartan soldiers. With a press of a button you're able to enter 'assault mode' and take control of a Spartan and navigate the battlefield and fight just as if it were any other Halo game. The action seemed smooth and frenetic despite what looked like about 100 characters on screen. While on the ground mode you're able to shoot, punch, throw grenades, and take control of friendly and enemy vehicles. We're told that in co-operative modes you can be controlling the troops from above while up to three friends play as Spartans on the battlefield below. Next we saw the return of an old Halo favorite, Firefight, a co-operative mode which sees players fighting increasingly stronger waves of Covenant and Promethean enemies. We saw a scoring system and the ability to bring up leader-boards at any moment to see how you compare to your friends. Perhaps the most novel new feature was a system 343 Industries call Allied Infantry Deployment, cleverly shortened to A.I.D. At any point in between waves you're able to spend points you've earned on new equipment and units. One of these upgrades is to permanently conscript your friend's Spartans into your army. What this means is that anyone on your friends-list who has played Halo 5 will be able to join your army, complete with their custom armor and emblem. On top of this your friend's Spartan will perform based on how your friend plays Halo 5. This means that is your friend favors a certain weapon, a certain load-out or abilities they will be reflected by their Spartan in your game. 343 Industries also said that if your buddy has reached high ranks or obtained specific weapon commendations in Halo 5, you'll see that reflected in their Spartan's behavior should you conscript them into Halo Wars 2. All in all it looks promising with some unique and fun ideas. The embargo will be up around the time that 343 Industries begins talking about Halo 5 in the Game Informer feature later this year. Release bl1: "Halo Wars throws you into the next generation of explosive Halo action in a whole new way. You and your friends will explore a brand new adventure packed with intrigue and suspense that unfolds each week. You are in control of the battlefield like never before." Release bl2: ""Halo Wars throws you and your friends into the next generation of explosive Halo action like never before."