Halo Wars - I love it, but I'm disappointed

I'm not disappointed in the game. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love Halo Wars.

What disappoints me is that Ensemble Studios, the developer of the game, has apparently disbanded - shut down.

What that means is that while other games get updates to fix various issues, Halo Wars likely will not. And in this case that's a real shame, since some of the AI decisions clearly could use some tweaking. For example, if a tank can't get through a narrow area, like between a turret and a mountain, it doesn't turn around and go the other way. It just sits there waiting for the mountain to move. Similarly, if AI-controlled units aren't specifically told to target things like turrets or shield generators, they'll often target far less strategic targets, like infantry or resource generators.

Also, while games like Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, and the entire Call of Duty series have benefited from various add-ons and downloadable extras like maps, they were only able to offer such things because their developers were still alive.

Microsoft once owned the developer of the original Halo games - Bungie Studios. After Halo 3 was released, Bungie, broke away from Microsoft and became an independent company. Despite their independence, they continue to fully support Halo 3. Microsoft also owned Ensemble Studios from 2001 to 2009. It's a real shame that they couldn't just spin it off and allow it to run independently.

(5/20/2009) UPDATE: Thankfully I was wrong. There is an update and DLC for Halo Wars. Whoo hoo!! :) http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/19606/Halo-Wars-Gets-Title-Update/