Robot Entertainment announced today the formation of its new game development studio in Plano, Texas. Founded by many of the original founders of Ensemble Studios, Robot has a staff of 45 comprised entirely of former Ensemble employees. Robot's team developed the hit franchise Age of Empires, selling over 20 million units worldwide, and the soon-to-be released Halo Wars for Xbox 360. Tony Goodman, the founder of Ensemble, is the CEO of Robot.
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Following an unveiling last week, Robot Entertainment has officially announced itself today, confirming that the independent studio is in fact made up of Ensemble veterans.

Starting where Ensemble ended after it was closed by Microsoft, Robot is developing "additional content" for the now deceased studio's final project, the Xbox 360 strategy title Halo Wars...
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Ensemble Studios, creator of the Age of Empires series all the way to the upcoming Halo Wars game, has been a dominating developer for Real Time Strategy (RTS) games. Ensemble cranked out a total of ten RTS games including Halo Wars and expansion packs, most if not all of which were high-rated top sellers.
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Soon-to-be-closed Ensemble Studios will have some form of successor, according to developer Graeme Devine. In September Microsoft announced plans to shut down the Age of Empires creators, much to the dismay of RTS fans around the world.

"There's a new studio forming that will rise from Ensemble," Devine confirmed to VideoGamer.com last week. "They haven't announced specific plans, so I can't comment on that. Microsoft is looking at people to find them homes, but frankly right now we're just focusing on finishing the darn game and making sure that's job number one. I don't think anyone has really thought much beyond that yet. Let's get Halo Wars finished. In this industry, you're only as good as your last game."
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Mythic Boss Mark Jacobs has commented on how feels the closure of Ensemble Studios is a terrible thing but that his studio has been careful to guard against "mistakes."
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Following the revelation that Ensemble Studios is to be shut down following the release of 360 exclusive Halo Wars next year, corporate vice president of interactive entertainment Shane Kim has reassured fans of the popular Age of Empires strategy series, also developed by Ensemble, that Microsoft is still "super excited for the potential for the franchise".
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Eurogamer: "Microsoft may have announced plans yesterday to shut down Ensemble Studios when Halo Wars ships, but Age of Empires fans are told not to worry!

"I want to reassure you that Microsoft will still own the Age of Empires intellectual property," Games for Windows boss Kevin Unangst wrote on Gamerscoreblog overnight. So that's alright then. "As a company, we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires, and as a PC gamer I'm looking forward to what that future holds. Stay tuned," he concluded."
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Gamerscoreblog , a blog run by members of Microsoft's Games Global Marketing team, hopes to put the GoW for PC rumors to rest.

From the blog:

"Yes, Microsoft provided the image that is published in the Games for Windows cover story in the Holiday issue of PC Gamer magazine.
Yes, this image contains what looks to be box shots of Gears of War with the Games for Windows branding bar on the box art.

NO, this is not a confirmation, leak, tease, or sly viral attempt to announce, confirm, or admit that Gears of War will be published for Windows.

Here's what happened: These images were created using draft templates for the Games for Windows box art and a variety of Microsoft Game Studios cover images. Gears of War was accidentally included by the artist as one of the MGS titles used as examples to show what our retail setup would look like. This DOES NOT indicate a confirmation that Gears of Wars will be a Games for Windows title -- it was a concept image created by a concept artist, nothing more. In fact, if you look closely you'll also see that Age of Empires III and Rise of Legends are also branded Games for Windows, and this is not actually the case (Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs is a Games for Windows branded game, but not the original Age III).

We created this image around the E3 timeframe when we were first preparing to announce and show our Games for Windows retail efforts. Shortly after the insanity that is E3, we noticed the box art, and the image was supposed to be removed from circulation. When we provided the package of art assets to PC Gamer for their cover story, we zipped up a directory of our already-public E3 assets as well as more current images (many of which PC Gamer did not use). Unfortunately, we didn't realize that this image was in that directory, and it just happens to be the one that PC Gamer figured prominently in their story. Our bad.

We're incred...
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Owners of the best-selling PC real-time strategy game Age of Empires III will be able to command one of three Native American civilizations in a new expansion pack. The pack will pump additional content into the main game - adding new units, maps and Home City enhancements - alongside the three new civilizations, as you fight to expand your empire and take control of the Americas. Frankly, we can't wait to see tech trees that terminate with tax-sheltered casinos. Look for this expansion pack ... » Read More