The Halo franchise is probably one of the most popular series of shooters out there. It has pushed the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 to new heights in terms of sales and has guaranteed Microsoft a great franchise that can be developed with the release of other new titles. The recent Xbox Live stats show that the most recent iteration, Halo 3, is still being played quite a lot, a testimony to the big number of Halo fans out there.

Now the franchise is preparing for its next iteration, Halo Wars, which will not be a first person shooter, made by the series' creators at Bungie Studios, but an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, made by Ensemble Studios, the company responsible for the extremely popular Age of Empires franchise. This will be, sadly, the last game the company will make, as it will be shut down, after its owner, Microsoft, decided that the IPs (Intellectual Properties) developed there weren't very profitable in the long term.

Now, as part of Microsoft's keynote at the CES 2009 convention, new details on the strategy game have been released. It now seems that a demo for the game will be available for download on Xbox Live on February 5, giving all the Halo fans plenty of time to get accustomed to the controls and feel of the units. Also, as a favor made to the North American Halo fans, it seems that the launch date scheduled for that territory has been pushed forward, and is now scheduled for February 28.

Furthermore, the list of achievements for this game has been unveiled, giving players some hints on what to expect from some of the campaigns. Here it is, as found on RoosterTeeth:

Ready for the Sequel - 100% Completion 75 
Detour the Great Journey - Complete the Campaign on Legendary Difficulty 50
Running the Show - Obtain the General Rank on Xbox LIVE 50
Epic Grinder - Obtain a Lifetime Campaign Score over 1,000,000 40
OMG BFF FTW - Complete entire Campaign in Co-op Mode 40 
Halo Historian - Unlock All Timeline Events
Adjudicate the Arbiter - Complete the Campaign on Heroic Difficulty 30
Wall of Recognition - Get a Gold Medal on every Campaign Mission 30 
Walk-Off Winner - Use one of the 6 Major Leader Powers to destroy an enemy's last unit
Officer on Deck - Obtain the Lieutenant Rank on Xbox LIVE 30
Graverobber - Collect all Skulls 30
Gallivant around the Galaxy - Win a game on every Skirmish Map 25
Own Worst Enemy - Get a Gold Medal with all Debuff Skulls Active 20
So Lonely at the Top Win and have the Highest Score in a Matchmade Skirmish Game on Xbox LIVE 20
24 Hours of Quality - Play Halo Wars for at least 24 Total Hours 20 
Mr. Punctual - Finish all missions under Par Time on Heroic difficulty 15
Playin' the Field - Win a Skirmish Game with every Leader 15
Titan - Get 20,000 points in any Skirmish Game 15
Halo Academic - Unlock 20 Timeline Events 15
Crushed Colours - Improve your Score in any Campaign Mission 10 
Backscratcher - Complete any Campaign Mission in Co-op Mode 10
Big Al's Scooter - Win a Heroic Skirmish Game against the AI in under 10 minutes 10
My Virtual Friends Love Me - Win a 3v3 Skirmish game with 2 AI Allies 10
2 Bugs are Better Than 1 - Win a Skirmish Game with Dual Scarabs 10
Penny Pincher - Get a winning High Score with 10 or less Squads against the Heroic AI 10 
N00b n0 M0r3 - Win a Matchmade Skirmish Game on Xbox LIVE 10
Basically naïve - Obtain the Recruit Rank on Xbox LIVE 10
Momma's Boy - Get a Gold Medal on any mission 5
Everything's Better with Bacon - Mission 1: Ram 50 Grunts with Warthogs 5 
Endless Fun - Mission 2: Destroy every Methane Tank 5
Covenant "Hot Drop" - Mission 3: Kill at least 5 Covenant Units with the Bridge 5
The Real Winner - Mission 4: Save Adam 5
He's Got The Jack - Mission 5: Jack 6 Covenant Vehicles 5 
Rhino Hugger - Mission 6: Successfully protect every Rhino 5
Micro Manager - Mission 7: Do not destroy any Power Node 5
Ramblin' Man - Mission 8: Use Elephants to train 100 Infantry 5
Sweet Naptime - Mission 9: Put every Colony in Hibernation Mode at the same time 5
The Procrastinator - Mission 10: Disrupt all Tractor Beams 5
Battened Down the Hatches - Mission 11: Save all the Airlocks 5
Handy with Tools - Mission 12: Repair the Power Core in less than 4 minutes 5
Beaming with Pride - Mission 13: Destroy 25 units with the Scarab 5
Didn't Get To Second Base - Mission 14: Don't claim an extra base 5
Thinkin' about My Doorbell - Mission 15: Open the Doors in order 5
Empire Builder - Win a game in every Skirmish Game Mode 5
Alas, Poor Andrew Thomas - Collect your first Skull 5

Also, besides these achievements, there are 5 more secret ones, which you will be able to unlock only by playing this game. Are you eagerly expecting this strategy take on the Halo universe? Let us know by using the comment box below.