To celebrate the upcoming launch of Halo Wars 2, Microsoft is bringing a training mini-game to Twitter direct messages, which will allow players to "compete" with Halo Wars 2's A.I. — Isabel.
Xbox and 343i partnered with Twitter, twofifteenmccann and Emerging Media Technologies to build the mini-game, which will play out in a war of wits in direct messages with a bot designed to mimic Isabel from Halo Wars 2.
Incoming transmission from @ISA1307_2 pic.twitter.com/RHefY6lLAO— Xbox Central (@Xbox_WC) 17 January 2017
Microsoft will also be promoting the game via viral videos, including this one they sent over to us!
The game plays out via Twitter cards sent in DM, which are sadly incompatible with the Windows 10 version of the app — you can, however, join in via the web. Follow @ISA1307_2 on Twitter and tap one of her replies to jump into battle early.
The game appears to follow a rock-paper-scissor format, similar to the way units work in Halo Wars. Battles are brief, and if you win, you will be awarded skin codes for Halo Wars 2. Note: The skin codes will go live on February 21st with the full game, so just note them down somewhere for now.
Strategy games head at 343 Industries Dan Ayoub praised the partnership with Twitter in a statement to press:
We are thrilled to have partnered with Twitter to celebrate the upcoming launch of Halo Wars 2. By creating this community experience exclusively on Twitter, we are able to bring fans around the world a truly personalized gaming experience in real-time.
Halo Wars 2 will enter open beta on January 20th, 2017, ahead of its full launch as an Xbox Play Anywhere title for Windows 10 and Xbox One on February 21st, 2017.
