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 >
Get in the Alpha Test Shoot some hoops in an online world, gaining stats and buying bling.
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, 30 November, 2006 – Planet Age of Empires News
CVG WarChiefs Contest: Win a $2000 Laptop 23:25 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News By answering a simple question on ComputerAndVideoGames.com, you can have a chance to win a $2000 Dell laptop. Head here and sign up for an account on the site, if you're not a member, and submit your answer to the question. The winner will be randomly drawn from the correct answers.
You could be enjoying quality strategy gaming on the move if you're the winner of our incredible Age of Empires III: Warchiefs competition that we've set up with Microsoft. One very lucky person is going to grab themselves a Dell XPS M1710 laptop, a copy of RTS expansion pack Age of Empires III: Warchiefs and a copy of the original Age of Empires III game. Good, eh?
...How to win? Answer the question below. Correctly. We'll bung all the names into our general's hat, spin it around a few times and pick out the winner.
Wednesday, 29 November, 2006 – Planet Age of Empires News
THQ's ValuSoft Division to Distribute Older Age Games 22:06 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News In an announcement by THQ today, the gaming company's ValuSoft division will be distributing some of the older MS Games titles, including Age of Mythology and Age of Empires: Collector's Edition. This is good news because it extends the shelf life of the titles and you'll probably be seeing them at cheaper prices.
THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that the company's ValuSoft division has signed an agreement with Microsoft Game Studios to be the exclusive U.S. distribution partner for select Microsoft Windows(R) based PC products to a network of retail channels throughout the United States.
Under the terms of the agreement, which extends into 2009, ValuSoft will publish several best-selling Microsoft titles. The library of software will include renowned products such as Zoo Tycoon 1, Flight Simulator 2002, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires Collector's Edition, and others.
"These top-selling titles have captured the enthusiasm of gamers everywhere and we are thrilled to be working with Microsoft in order to make them available to an even wider audience," said Doug Clemmer, president, ValuSoft. "Recognized as a leader in the industry, Microsoft has long been valued for providing a strong and diverse portfolio of Windows PC products to gamers around the globe."
Search PlanetAOE Faster and Better! 22:05 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News If you're a regular visitor to PlanetAOE, I'm sure you've noticed the new Google search bar above. This new feature makes searching our site much easier. For example, if you're looking for strategies on rushing, try a "rush" search and you'll get over thirty strategy articles at your disposal. Other examples: "flush", "Gx_Iron", "deathmatch". Also, you can do a regular Google search straight from our site by selecting "The Web" and typing in your query. We hope you'll enjoy using it. :)
1 iamgrunt Lieutenant General 44 43.49999
2 NightScr3aM Major General 43 42.78077
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4 Ourk Major General 43 42.49177
5 StarSky Major General 43 42.17681
6 Windy_In_Heaven Major General 42 41.77548
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Submit Your WarChiefs Files 22:29 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News We're looking to fill our WarChiefs' Recorded Games, Scenarios and Campaigns sections to the brim, so if you would like to share your files with the rest of the Age community, by all means submit them today. If you're a scenario or campaign author, your work could enjoy thousands of downloads.
If you reign supreme in the Intel Sponsored WCG 2006 Holiday Clash, you could walk away with the $5,160 grand prize package, including a gaming PC built to destroy with the Inte® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor. Intel Core 2 Extreme processors give you unrivaled performance, serious multitasking power, and energy-efficiency so you can wield your mad skill at monster speeds.
Destineer's MacSoft unit today began shipping the Mac version of Age of Empires III, its real-time strategy game that picks up where Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings left off. Players become one of eight European powers exploring, colonizing, and conquering the new world. "Featuring amazing 3D graphics, remarkable Ageia PhysX technology, and an innovative Home City feature that lets players 'level-up' their evolving home city to strengthen their economy, technology, and military, 'Age of Empires III' for Macintosh sets many new standards for real-time strategy games." Players command rifled infantry to scatter soldiers and blast buildings with cannon fire, directing cavalry through plains while navigating naval fleets to hold strategic waterways. The game is priced at $50 from Amazon.com, and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later with a 64MB or better video card.
23) Rome Total War was in part revolutionary because a moderate machine could play with these massive RTS battles without having any major logjams. Do you think a similar engine could be developed by ES
A – I suspect we are likelier to go down the road of designing an engine that allows a massive machine to play even-more-massive RTS battles.
24) I just am very adverse to WW2, and I have a connection to the AoE series, being my first PC/RTS games, and I don't want to see them take that road
A – “war is progressive” U.S. Grant.
26) Which unit do you feel is most historically accurate, and which one most inaccurate
A – most accurate: Mortar. Least accurate: Nathaniel Black
Sunday, 26 November, 2006 – Planet Age of Empires News
AOE3 and WarChiefs Demo Download Counts 20:23 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News Demo download counts are interesting to take a look at every once in a while, especially since ES stated that demos where one of the top reasons for gamers purchasing the full game. I bet ES is pleased seeing that the AOE3 demo has been download half a million times on GameSpot alone:
Stainless Steel Studios Gets Picked Up by Activision 20:22 PST | Xiphoid | Print News | Mail News Stainless Steel Studios, founded by Rick Goodman, the brother of Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman, and the maker of the Empire Earth RTS series, has been picked up by Activision. The deal sees Activision becoming the publisher for Stainless Steel's games for the coming years and includes multi-platform titles:
"Our agreement with Activision is great for both companies and especially casual and hardcore strategy gamers, " agreed Rick Goodman, President of Stainless Steel Studios. "We looked for three main things in a publishing partner: a strong philosophical dedication to create the best games possible; help in identifying and aggressively integrating consumer suggestions and critiques into our products; and excellent production services including outstanding quality assurance capabilities and a commitment to ongoing post-release support. Activision more than fulfilled all these criteria."
Before forming Stainless Steel, Rick Goodman was the lead Designer on Age of Empires, co-found Ensemble Studios, and it looks like we’ve more games of a strategic persuasion to come from him.
