Since the trailer was released, the time frame of events in the upcoming Halo Wars RTS have been hot topics for discussion. Did it happen before the Halo FPS games or after? Over a long period of time, or a short one? Where did those battle rifles in the trailer come from if Halo Wars is supposed to chronicle early Human-Covenant conflicts?

Now, Ensemble has published a two-page timeline for the Halo universe (one, two) that gives the backstory. Also, starting with this month's Update, they'll be posted on the front page of HaloWars.com instead of in the forums.

Currently the timeline covers the period from 2160 (early civil conflicts) through 2552 (the events of Halo 1-3). The ship featured in Halo wars, UNSC Spirit of Fire, was built in 2473 and refitted in 2520.

Curiously enough the timeline doesn't actually say when Halo Wars begins or ends, although previous statements have indicated 2531, which on the timeline corresponds to the Battle of Harvest.

Avateur in the HBO forum pointed out a Halo Wars Q&A with Ensemble Studio's Graeme Devine over at GameTap. Devine is the lead designer on Halo Wars.

In addition to mentioning how Ensemble must simultaneously respect the Halo canon and being free to make the best Halo RTS game Ensemble could make, rather than the best Halo RTS game Bungie could make, the article touches on the touchy issue of console controls:

GameTap: Obviously, the control scheme is always an important subject when discussing real-time strategy games on consoles, how do you go about striking a balance of offering the depth that RTS games are known for, but at the same time, keeping the controls simple enough as to not be overwhelming?

Graeme Devine: I think this is key. When we started work on Halo Wars we started from scratch, we threw the mouse and keyboard paradigm away and rethought what it meant to control a real-time strategy game. I really think that's one of the big differentiators with Halo Wars because it allows us to bring the depth to the controller while, in our opinion, improving how controllable we can make the genre.

Although no solid date is given, Devine says that Halo Wars has the "magic in the disc" to be one of the "biggest games of 2008" so that seems to indicate fans have twelve months or less to wait before they see the first non-Bungie, non-FPS Halo game hit the shelves.

At HaloWars.com there's a new monthly update about Halo Wars, written by Thunder. It's mostly about the game's AI:

Ultimately, the philosophy that we’ve had at Ensemble Studios is that the most fun games are when you think you might lose but don’t. The CPAI should attempt to provide the player with this challenge in each game. We want to set the difficulty levels to where most players will find a challenge, but there will be a level that can beat them if they start making mistakes.

Check out the update in the Halo Wars forum.

Bungie.net will reboot tomorrow with new features enabled. TeamXbox has an interview with Bungie.net's development lead, Chris Gossett, about the new features.

IGN has previewed one of Halo 3's previously unrevealed multiplayer maps: Isolation.

Tyson "Ferrex" Green has put up part two of his three-part series on Forge; this one is on advanced features like inventories, budgets, and quotas. If you missed part one, read that first.

Midnight at The Hushed Casket wonders if Halo 3 can overturn Halo 2's sales records.

Kikizo interviews Harter Ryan of Ensemble Studios about the secrecy surrounding Halo Wars' early development.

A midnight London launch of Halo 3 won't be permitted on Oxford Street, but will be... apparently just about everywhere else.

Major Nelson has a rundown of Halo 3 Launch Events on his blog.

PlanetXbox has details on Circuit City's Halo 3 launch plans.

Major Nelson posts a note that the Halo Wars "First Look" trailer, clocking in at a tad under 500 Mb in High Definition trim, is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace:

Based on the Halo universe, Halo Wars introduces a new landmark in the strategy genre. Halo Wars places the player in command of human UNSC armies as they deploy for mankind’s initial deadly encounters with the Covenant Empire.

Comments indicate this is the same video that Ensemble has on their website, just in higher quality.

Kotaku has a video it calls a "guided walk" through the gameplay of Halo Wars. No word yet on whether this is the same content as the rumored XBLM video "demo" due out.

UPDATE: Ensemble Studios has put up a ten minute video on their own site; this is what they showed at E3 this year.