Visiting the Microsoft booth at CES became a sort of videogame Easter egg hunt the past few years. You never knew what you would find, but it seemed they always managed to hide a handful of games we hadn't seen around the displays. Not this year. With a new single ribbon wall replacing the pods used in prior years Microsoft chose to focus primarily on their big Xbox 360 games from this past holiday season.

Two upcoming games did get front placement at least. Halo Wars, only a couple months away from its March 3 release date, looked pretty much in final form. After checking it out I agree with the point Scooter made in our last Halo Wars preview about the lengths Ensemble Studios has gone to to ease players into the game. By the end of the extensive tutorial system moving the camera with thumbsticks and using the unit selection system felt comfortable. And the game nails that sense of playing with a set of toys you often get from real time strategy games. Halo fans should dig sending out Warthog patrols and rumbling across the map with Scorpion tanks.