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New WarChiefs Content! You'll find a slew of new sections here on PlanetAOE covering the recently-released WarChiefs expansion and there's a lot more to come. We want to see your recorded games, campaigns, scenarios and strategies, so submit them today! More >
WarChiefs Expansion Released The Aztecs, Iroquois and Sioux are upon us and EnsembleOnline is stirring with thousands of Agers trying to master the new civs as well as the old ones. Be sure to check out our content on the expansion and non-stop news coverage. More >
Tribes of the East Play as the orcs in the final chapter of the Heroes V saga. Get the standalone demo!
Add Your Clan Profile Are you a member of a clan? Add your clan's profile in our new clan listings section.
Recorded Games Section Download games of your favorite expert player or upload your own to show to the community. Watching recorded games is the best way to improve your game and start winning on ESO.
Thursday, 27 September, 2007 � Planet Age of Empires News
>> Will the King of the Hill gametype involve capturing a fixed gun?
King of the Hill actually involves capturing a fort that starts off as neutral. In order to win, you have to hold the fort for 10 minutes total. (At least that�s what it is in the 1v1s I�ve played) If you�ve held the fort for 4 minutes, then take it back from the enemy, your counter will start again from where it left off so you only need to hold it for 6 more minutes.
If it�s a water map, the fort appears on an island.
I�m really happy to see this game back in the Age series.
>> Is there a demo coming out for TAD? When will that be released? What civilizations will be playable in the demo?
There will be a demo coming out for TAD as far as I know, but the precise details of what it will allow you to play and when have not been announced at this time.
>> What are the abilities of the Shogun unit, and how can you get it? Is it an isolation unit?
The Shogun is a unit that you ship, like the Daimyo. The Shogun can train units, like your Barracks, and he gives an aura bonus to the units around him like a WarChief! You don�t get to ship him until the fourth age though. Daimyo and Shoguns are shipped via cards and do not require the Japanese player to have chosen Isolationism.
These numbers come from the NPD Group for the week of Sept. 9-15th:
1 PC The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack Electronic Arts $25
2 PC World Of Warcraft Vivendi $20
3 PC Medal Of Honor: Airborne Electronic Arts $47
4 PC Bioshock 2K Games ( Take 2) $50
5 PC World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack Vivendi $39
6 PC Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms Expansion Pack Sega of America $30
7 PC The Sims 2 Deluxe Electronic Arts $40
8 PC Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword Expansion Pack 2K Games ( Take 2) $30
9 PC Battlefield 2 Electronic Arts $10
10 PC MS Age Of Empires III Microsoft $30
Wednesday, 26 September, 2007 � Planet Age of Empires News
Gamasutra on ES' Bruce Shelley 20:23 PST | Xiphoid | Print NewsGameSutra has a nice article detailing what Ensemble Studios' Bruce Shelley covered in his presentation at the recent Leipzig Games Convention. Shelley says ES has a "Design by Playing" philosophy about making video games. Here's a sample:
Shelley stressed quality testing -- play to test, not to win -- with rapid turn-around, meaning an entirely different game when the testers play again the next day. Moreover, testing should be frequent, even daily.
So what can go wrong? First, the designer noted, being decisive is important. "You get this feedback from this playtest; if you're indecisive on how to use this feedback, you'll lose the vision for the game." He recommends avoiding any breakdown in the system of testing, collecting feedback and rapid implementation of feedback.
This 22 MB download contains all sorts of art pieces necessary to help "Age of Empires III" fans build a fan site in preparation for the release of "Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties" expansion. The kit contains concept art, icons, renders, desktop wallpaper, and more.
Microsoft was also one of the only places at the show that you could find PCs set up to play Games for Windows games, although titles like World in Conflict and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties were only played by American and European gamers whenever we passed by.
Saturday, 22 September, 2007 � Planet Age of Empires News
New Asian Dynasties Dev Blog on IGN 14:19 PST | Xiphoid | Print NewsAge fans are now treated with another Developers Blog, this time from Big Huge Game's Andrew Auseon on the topic of the history behind the Asian Dynasties. The blog post discusses how the stories were chosen for the single-player campaigns and the hard balance between historical accuracy and fun. Here's what to expect from the Asian Dynasties campaigns:
In the end we chose to tell three independent short stories, each focusing on one of the civilizations. We also chose to adopt a more personal approach to the narratives, to really give our heroes smaller, more relatable stories in the midst of the larger historical events. Working to our great advantage were the historical events themselves. The drama was inherent. Perhaps the most intense of our stories occurs during the India campaign, which follows the still controversial events of the Sepoy Uprising of 1857. This is a very sensitive issue to many parties. In order to address it in a way that was realistic yet not inflammatory, we chose to make the story�s true battle not between the occupiers of the British East India Company and the native Indian soldiers in their employ, but rather between two individuals who represent these opposing ideologies. In the end it becomes more personal than political.
1) Bioshock - 2K Games
2) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi
3) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi
4) Guild Wars Eye Of The North Expansion Pack - NCsoft
5) Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword Expansion Pack - 2K Games
6) The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
7) Age Of Empires III - Microsoft 8) Madden NFL 2008 - Electronic Arts
9) Warcraft III Battle Chest - Vivendi
10) Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe - Microsoft
11) Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars - Electronic Arts
12) The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
13) Sim City 4 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
14) Battlefield 2142 - Electronic Arts
15) Two Worlds - Southpeak Interactive
16) Halo 2 - Microsoft
17) Civilization IV - 2K Games
18) Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar - Midway
19) Guild Wars - NCsoft
20) The Sims Complete Collection - Electronic Arts
Wednesday, 19 September, 2007 � Planet Age of Empires News
Strategic Objectives Challenge Contest 22:55 PST | Xiphoid | Print NewsES posted about a new contest called the Strategic Objectives Challenge which was posted by a member of the ES forums. How do you participate in the contest? You have to download a set of challenging custom scenarios and complete their objectives. If you are good enough to complete the scenarios, you have the chance to win one of twenty popular PC games. Here's part of the rules and the games up for grabs:
The Challenge
Players are invited to beat the �Strategic Objectives� scenario on either �Moderate�, � Normal � and/or �Hard� levels.
There are several versions (with different civs) for each difficulty level.
Players can play any of these versions/levels and submit their proof of victory via email for any or all of them.
The more versions you play and beat, the better are your chances to win in the drawing.
Please note that the �Easy� level is not part of the challenge and it is out there for practice only.
The Give Away
Players who meet the challenge will have a chance to win 1 out of 20 game prizes (via drawing) that I am going to give away.
Players can submit proof of victory to all versions and all difficulty levels (Moderate, Normal and Hard) in order to increase their chances to win, but they can only win once.
Every submission qualifies as a separate entry for the drawing.
The following 20 games will be given away via a drawing when the challenge ends:
3 Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
2 Supreme Commander
2 Company of Heroes
3 Rise of Legends
2 AOE 3: The War Chiefs
2 Lord of the Rings: The Middle Earth II
2 Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War
1 Empire Earth 2: Platinum Edition
1 Star Wars: Empire at War
1 Medieval 2: Total War
1 Rome : Total War
Tuesday, 18 September, 2007 � Planet Age of Empires News
New Developers Blog by Bruce Shelley 20:54 PST | Xiphoid | Print NewsCheck out the new Developers Blog that Bruce Shelley posted earlier today. The blog post is titled "The Asian Dynasties Wrapping Up" and while most of it covers the new Age expansion, other topics like Halo Wars and hot topics on the ES internal mailing list are discussed. Here's Bruce on the status of the expansion:
The Asian Dynasties Wrapping Up: Big Huge Games and our testers, both here and in Redmond, are working through the final testing of The Asian Dynasties. Our test regimens are very rigorous and the standards at Microsoft are very high for shipping software, so publication is not imminent, but soon. It�s looking and playing great.
The Asian Dynasties Campus Visit: The Games for Windows group in Redmond invited several key media outlets to their campus to see first hand the latest update for the coming expansion packs for both Flight Simulator and Age of Empires III. Brian Reynolds and Ike Ellis of Big Huge Games were there to discuss The Asian Dynasties specifically and I was asked to talk about how the expansion fits into the Age series. Ike was the lead designer for Big Huge. The journalists present were Jason Ocampo of Gamespot, Thierry Nguyen of GameTap, and Andy Mahood from PC Gamer. Ike gave a brief demo of the game, while Brian and I talked about the overall plan, how our studios came to work together, and how we felt about the project now that it is coming to conclusion. I reiterated our position that the business case for another Age of Empires III expansion pack was strong, but we didn�t have the people to do it. ...
Gaming site Kikizo has an interview with ES' Harter Ryan on the development of the upcoming RTS called Halo Wars. Here, Ryan explains how ES began experimenting at the console level:
"We started this as an internal project, without permission," Ryan says. "We felt like the opportunity was there, but to prove the opportunity at all we needed to come up with a usable D-pad control scheme."
When the clandestine work began, around two and a half years ago, the team took its then most recent Age game, Age of Mythology, and ripped out the control scheme, to see if they could make the idea work on a console. For months they reworked the controls, rethinking every decision, tinkering here and there, discovering by trial and error what worked and what didn't.
"We gave them time, and they took the Age of Mythology game that we created on the PC, plugged the D-pad into it, and we gave them the resources and time to start iterating on completely replacing the interface on that game to play with the D-pad," Ryan explains.
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