Firstly I know versus threads are generally frowned upon and don't really need you to tell me so. Hopefully this discussion will be less flamable as it compares two less-than-highly anticipated titles. In the interest of not burning it should be known that while PC controls are no doubt superior for RTS's that these two might change that and therefore an admission of the possibilty would be appreciated in any comments concerning the mouse and keyboard in comparison to the headset and/or gamepad. Similarily Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 shouldn't be compared and should be mentioned sparingly if at all.

Now for some background:

Both are console RTS's that intend to revolutionize the console RTS with superior controls, hopefully making the genre a console staple as many previously PC-only genres have become.

Halo Wars is a prequel spin-off to the Halo series developed by the soon to be late Ensemble Studios. It's story begins immediately after the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) reconquers the planet Harvest from the Covenant. It tells the story of the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, a conlony vessel modified to be an enormous combat troopship.
Gameplay-wise it is a fairly traditional RTS with a focus on combat. Base-building a resource gathering are present but in a simplified and more streamlined form than Age of Empires (for example). Bases are built in specific locations and are assembled automatically after purchased, "sockets" around the base provide space for resource collection, unit construction, and other specialized buildings.
Controls are similar to EA's various console RTS ventures at least in comparison to EndWar. The in-game menu so essential to the traditional RTS is arranged in a circle to eliminate time-wasting scrolling and there is a control for quickly jumping between places of interest on the map.
Official Site
GameSpot Page
Wikipedia Article

Tom Clancy's EndWar is set in the near future during World War III. It is can be classified under the "Real-Time Tactics" subgenre as if forgoes base-building and resource collecting all together.
The primary control input is voice commands. EndWar is meant to simulate being a real general commanding a real army. As such units don't respond to specific directions so much as follow your orders. Ubisoft believes this voice commmand system will compensate for a gamepad's lack of speed and accuracy in comparison to a mouse.
Official Site
GameSpot Page
Wikipedia Article
Achievement List
Trophy List

Now for the discussion: which do you believe will be better and why? Which are you anticipating more? What are the strengths and weaknesses of their respective approaches to controls? Which is the better approach and why? et cetera

Also, it seems very obvious that I've been following Halo Wars more closely and any suggestions to expanding my background on EndWar would be appreciated.

I would say Halo Wars hands down because it ensemble..But then its going to suck. My reasons?

Its trying to be something its not, Ensemble you should have like made a Age of Halo or something.

Its way to simplified. Its made for the IQ of a middle schooler thats failing.(Seriously, AoE3 had only 3 resources..3! Two were infinite and one pretty much took up 50% of the map.)

So EndWar it is, Tactically pleasing and not overly simplified.

Meh. I think it's rather stupid to think one day the united states will still be a super-power. Pitting them against the Russians AGAIN is really really stupid too.

Even though I greatly respect Ubisoft and I have no doubt EndWar will be an interesting game to say the least, Tom Clancy's an idiot for envisionning the future like that.

For me, an RTS has to have a good Sci-Fi or realistic setting, so I'd probably go for Halo out of sheer principle.

EDIT: You know what? Screw that, DoW2 will be my pick lol.

Its not something i'm gonna buy right away but Halo Wars ftw

Purely because i'm a halo fan.

Somehow I don't think this magic voice recognition thing is going to work well... Halo wars, it sounds like Dawn of War but in a different geeky universe.

Edit: oh, but DOW2 for the win.

A Vs. thread? Tch. Aren't these generally frowned upon? Considering EndWar's being delayed on the PC due to "Piracy" I'm tempted to side with Halo Wars simply because Ubisoft are being anal.

Pyronox:
Meh. I think it's rather stupid to think one day the united states will still be a super-power. Pitting them against the Russians AGAIN is really really stupid too.

Even though I greatly respect Ubisoft and I have no doubt EndWar will be an interesting game to say the least, Tom Clancy's an idiot for envisionning the future like that.

For me, an RTS has to have a good Sci-Fi or realistic setting, so I'd probably go for Halo out of sheer principle.

EDIT: You know what? Screw that, DoW2 will be my pick lol.

U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I'm probably not going to like either of them, but at least EndWar lets me rename my units, which is pretty funny sometimes.

End War all the way. For several reasons:

A) While I love the Halo story/universe, I don't think it will work well as an RTS

B) I like the idea of controlling everything through voice commands (A feature of End War)

C) Tom Clancy games always kick ass.

Bulletinmybrain:
U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I never said that... Just that Tom Clancy assuming it'l be that way in the future is stupid :P

TsunamiWombat:
Somehow I don't think this magic voice recognition thing is going to work well... Halo wars, it sounds like Dawn of War but in a different geeky universe.

Edit: oh, but DOW2 for the win.

IT wroks friggin near perfect! So EndWar for the win!

Amnestic:
A Vs. thread? Tch. Aren't these generally frowned upon?

Moderately humorous sarcasm I hope.

And I agree with the general sentiment that Dawn of War 2 will be awesome.

I do have a problem with EndWar's voice command system; it requires very specific commands. Once you memorize them it won't be a problem but I think it'll make the learning curve much steeper unless they have a great tutorial.

Endwar is going suck, trust me I was in the beta, unless they made !MAJOR! changes to every single gameplay aspect (cause they all sucked) they game will fail. The voice controls get REALLY boring after the first couple days and they made the manual controls terrible on purpose

DamienHell:
Endwar is going suck, trust me I was in the beta, unless they made !MAJOR! changes to every single gameplay aspect (cause they all sucked) they game will fail. The voice controls get REALLY boring after the first couple days and they made the manual controls terrible on purpose

Could you be bothered to go into specifics?

Pyronox:

Bulletinmybrain:
U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I never said that... Just that Tom Clancy assuming it'l be that way in the future is stupid :P

Well we might see a new great depression..So yeah a war in 2025 would send the U.S as a superpower again.

Bulletinmybrain:

Pyronox:

Bulletinmybrain:
U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I never said that... Just that Tom Clancy assuming it'l be that way in the future is stupid :P

Well we might see a new great depression..So yeah a war in 2025 would send the U.S as a superpower again.

Pretty much every futurist analysis I've ever looked into has the US becoming an even stronger force in the world than it is today, but with the competition of China and/or the European Union to deal with.

I don't know which will be better, but I'm looking forward to EndWar more, because the voice command system sounds interesting.

Eldritch Warlord:

Bulletinmybrain:

Pyronox:

Bulletinmybrain:
U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I never said that... Just that Tom Clancy assuming it'l be that way in the future is stupid :P

Well we might see a new great depression..So yeah a war in 2025 would send the U.S as a superpower again.

Pretty much every futurist analysis I've ever looked into has the US becoming an even stronger force in the world than it is today, but with the competition of China and/or the European Union to deal with.

And U.S has israel. Israel rules the middle east basically. They could control a lot of the oil of the world if they wanted.

While the european union might have something the U.S economics easily surpass them and even chinas. If the U.S were geared solo to miltary..Well it would be terribly hard for anyone to fight back if they get enough people to fight.(Not to mention how much more advanced some of their weapons are.)

L1250:
I don't know which will be better, but I'm looking forward to EndWar more, because the voice command system sounds interesting.

Voice command is tricky business but apparently Ubisoft's testing shows that their system recognizes 95% of voices.

I'm actually very concerned that I'll be among the sad 5%, my voice . . . well, I don't really know how to explain it. If I'm in a noisy place I'm almost impossible to hear.

Pyronox:

Bulletinmybrain:
U.S is a superpower? Epic fail on your part.

I never said that... Just that Tom Clancy assuming it'l be that way in the future is stupid :P

Why do people always think that Tom Clancy personally writes the story for every one of the games? "Tom Clancy" is a brand name, like Disney or Old Navy. Tom Clancy has never had anything to do with any of the games. In the very, very early days Tom Clancy gave his "seal of approval," but the last game that had that was the original Splinter Cell. In an interview once he was asked for his opinion on an upcoming Tom Clancy game, and his response was "What? There is another game coming up?" Saying that Tom Clancy had anything to do with EndWar is like saying that Walt Disney personally wrote and directed High School Musical 3. It is a brand name; the vast majority of Tom Clancy merchandise has nothing to do with Tom Clancy himself.

Blame Ubisoft, don't blame Tom Clancy; you are pinning the blame on a person who probably isn't even aware that EndWar exists.

That being said, I don't care much for Halo Wars for several reasons. For one, I don't like Halo, and obviously won't care too much about another game set in the universe. For another, I was never a big fan of Ensemble. Given their approach to Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Halo Wars will probably just be a glorified Halo mod of Age of Empires.

I may rent Halo Wars, but I otherwise don't care too much. On the other hand, EndWar is a game I'll be buying shortly after it comes out.

Bulletinmybrain:

And U.S has israel. Israel rules the middle east basically. They could control a lot of the oil of the world if they wanted.

Yeah, many analysises (anyone know the plural for analysis because I'm almost certain it's not that?) have the US using Israeli military power and land as a base for control of strategic resources in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Eldritch Warlord:

Bulletinmybrain:

And U.S has israel. Israel rules the middle east basically. They could control a lot of the oil of the world if they wanted.

Yeah, many analysis's(maybe?) (anyone know the plural for analysis because I'm almost certain it's not that?) have the US using Israeli military power and land as a base for control of strategic resources in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Anyways can't tell if thats being sarcastic but the U.S is taking quite a liking to israel and working quite a bit with them.

After seeing EndWar, I think I'm going to have to go with Halo Wars.

There is every reason to believe the U.S. will continue to be a major international power. You don't have to think that way, but calling people who do "stupid" seems like sour grapes at best; in addition to being wrong.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Halo Wars more. The Halo universe started as an RTS, after all. Ensemble Studios is responsible for Age of Empires, which is enough for me to be excited about their next contribution to gaming, even if they are driven by Microsoft's whip. Plus, I played the End War beta. Didn't like the direction the game took.

Eldritch Warlord:

blahblahblahblah

Halo Wars is a prequel spin-off to the Halo series developed by the soon to be late Ensemble Studios.

'soon to be late?' NOOOOOO, no more AOE? no chance to right the incredible wrongs of AOE III? Actually come to think of it yeah they should be shot for aoe 3...

EndWar's graphics seem a bit crap, and a bit mass-produced. Tom Clancy making an RTS? that's like George bush going in to school teaching.

Well since the halo story is about as interesting as a wet sponge....I'm going to go with Endwar.

Bulletinmybrain:

Anyways can't tell if thats being sarcastic but the U.S is taking quite a liking to israel and working quite a bit with them.

It wasn't sarcasm, it's true.

Rooster Cogburn:
Ensemble Studios is responsible for Age of Empires, which is enough for me to be excited about their next contribution to gaming, even if they are driven by Microsoft's whip. Plus, I played the End War beta. Didn't like the direction the game took.

I'm just pointing out that Ensemble has always been driven by Microsoft's whip, maybe their being whipped a bit harder this time though.

And could I ask for specific faults with EndWar? I'm quite curious to know.

urprobablyright:

Eldritch Warlord:

blahblahblahblah

Halo Wars is a prequel spin-off to the Halo series developed by the soon to be late Ensemble Studios.

'soon to be late?' NOOOOOO, no more AOE? no chance to right the incredible wrongs of AOE III? Actually come to think of it yeah they should be shot for aoe 3...

Yep. Ensemble Studios will be closed down right after Halo Wars is released. They already laid-off all the non-essential staff; only the people required to finish Halo Wars are still there. No word yet on exactly WHY they are closing down.

Eldritch Warlord:

Bulletinmybrain:

And U.S has israel. Israel rules the middle east basically. They could control a lot of the oil of the world if they wanted.

Yeah, many analysises (anyone know the plural for analysis because I'm almost certain it's not that?) have the US using Israeli military power and land as a base for control of strategic resources in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Analyses, I believe. I am actually looking forward to both. I am a big fan of Halo and AOE both, and Halo Wars is looking pretty good from what I have seen. As a bonus, you can play the single player cooperatively over XBL.

End War is also looking pretty good. From what I can tell, you can only see from the point of view of your units so that adds a new dimension of scouting and intelligence. And voice command is damn cool.

Raven28256:

Yep. Ensemble Studios will be closed down right after Halo Wars is released. They already laid-off all the non-essential staff; only the people required to finish Halo Wars are still there. No word yet on exactly WHY they are closing down.

I believe I heard in an interview with some senior members of Ensemble that it was to reallocate resources. And most of the talent at Ensemble is being put with some new hirings and people from other shut down studios into a new studio. Don't make much sense to me but I'm no accountant.

Ivoryagent:

urprobablyright:
Tom Clancy making an RTS? that's like George bush going in to school teaching.

Why would that be?

I second that query, such statements should always have justification.

Eldritch Warlord:
I'm just pointing out that Ensemble has always been driven by Microsoft's whip, maybe their being whipped a bit harder this time though.

And could I ask for specific faults with EndWar? I'm quite curious to know.

Not true, Ensemble started in '96 and was not acquired by Microsoft until '01, well after The Conquerors. Also, they had little to do with Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. That was developed by Lucas Arts, it only made use of the AoE engine, Genie.

There isn't much to say about specifics concerning Endwar, because it was awfully simplistic. True, there can be great depth of strategy even with simple mechanics, but that only goes so far. You only had a few units, and precious little each unit could do. I like the depth of AoE, so Endwar just isn't for me.