It has been confirmed today that Halo Wars will be released in North America on March 3rd, while it will hit Europe on February 27th.

To quote: Ensemble Studios' Xbox 360 real-time strategy game Halo Wars finally has a release date. It will deploy/move out/establish a beachhead/random other armed forces metaphor on March 3rd in North America and on February 27th in Europe.

The game's now available for pre-order at several different retailers, if you're the type who likes to plunk down money months in advance for a game that you could easily pre-order the week before (just sayin').

As reported last month, pre-ordering the game's $80 Limited Collector's Edition and get an exclusive in-game vehicle and early access to the Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3, among other things.

The release will be a bittersweet day for Ensemble Studios. They're obviously pretty psyched about the project but the studio, best known for the Age of Empires series, will be closing its doors when work is completed on the game. More PlayStation 3 News...