Beat Age of Empire Online’s devs in PvP this afternoon, win entire civilizations
At 2 PM PST today, Age of Empires Online’s Balance Team testers are taking all challengers in the PvP arena. Fair warning, these are the guys and gals whose full-time job is knowing every tiny nuance of the game–including how to perfectly counter your Egyptian camel rush tactic–so don’t expect an easy fight.
Age of Empires Online interview: Tech trees and civ customization
In part one of our interview with Gas Powered Games, we heard all about the changes to Age of Empires Online’s free-to-play model. In part two, the guys give us the lowdown on mechanical changes coming in the summer update, including a tech tree revamp. Read on!
Age of Empires Online interview: Becoming “really” free to play instead of “free to try”
We sat down with some of the guys at Gas Powered Games to discuss some big changes coming to in Age of Empires Online’s summer update. In the first part of the interview, they discussed moving from a “Free to Play with paid DLC” model, to a more “true Free to Play” model where anything you could unlock faster with real money will be earnable by playing the game.
What Diablo 3 classes are game developers playing as?
The PC Gamer Word Dungeon hasn’t stopped echoing the phrase “What Diablo class are you playing?” for months. It’s a constant inquiry. We talked about it at length at the end of last week’s podcast. A few of us still haven’t made up our minds. With precious time left to make a decision (and hopefully helping you to relieve the same burden), we bugged some developers. We asked Notch, Runic Games, Blizzard themselves, and others: what’re you rollin’?
Age of Empires Online: Premium Celtic Civilization review
My half-naked Woad Raiders leap into a formation of Roman archers with axes whirling around them. Meanwhile, in a serene forest far from battle, my Augur sacrifices a sacred fawn to Andrasta, goddess of war. Lightning crashes and my army glows with magical energy as the goddess’ boon charges their devastation of the Roman outpost.
The Celts, the newest civilization added to Age of Empires Online’s free-to-play roster, is the best one released yet, adding several new mechanics that advance the game’s complexity and will appeal to RTS gamers who crave more micromanagement. The first major addition is activated abilities on individual units, like the four different animal sacrifices available to the Augur to buff your army in various ways, that raise the skill ceiling for managing troops in battle.
Age of Empires Online invades Steam
Free-to-play, massively multiplayer RTS Age of Empires Online has arrived on Steam. AoE lets you fight RTS battles with colourful Celt, Egyptian, Persian and Greek forces. Victories will let you expand your capital city, unlocking bonuses for your troops and unlocking new units to be recruited in future fights. All that is explained in more detail and in a deeper voice in the new overview trailer above.
In Age of Empires Online, you pay to unlock new factions and game modes, rather than putting money into small XP boosts. All of the civilisation packs are half price on Steam now, and you can buy all of them, and the skirmish mode, for £19.50. Alternatively, jump in and check out AoE’s cheerful, sunny cities. It’s free, after all. Find out more in our Age of Empires Online review.
Age of Empires Online getting Celts, snowstorms and stealth missions
The Celts are coming to Age of Empires Online, and they’re bringing some mean weather with them. Snowy tundra that slowly saps your units strength will be a key part of the new missions that the pack will add, and there will be a wealth of new units, of course. Celtic priests will be able to sacrifice deer to help out your forces, and their new hero is capable of infiltrating enemy villages.
The Celts will be available as an army pack that can be bought separately as an add on for the core game, which is free to play. You can sign up for an account and download the client from the Age of Empires Online site if you fancy checking it out. You can read our verdict on launch in our Age of Empires Online review.
Age of Empires Online trailer details new skirmish mode
Age of Empires Online is getting a skirmish booster pack. These paid-for bolt-ons normally add new races and missions, but this one will introduce a new mode that will let you and your friends fight a team of tailored AI opponents to gain XP and upgrades. The greater the odds you face, the more loot you’ll get.
The skirmish mode will also unlock all of Age of Empires Online’s units for you to play with, even if you’re at level one. It should be a good way to road test powerful units that you wouldn’t otherwise see for hours. It’s an interesting add-on to the intriguing free to play online RTS. If you’d like to try it, you can download the client from the Age of Empires Online site and start playing now.
Age of Empires Online review
In most online RPGs you play as a single hero. In free-toplay Age of Empires Online, you’re a city. You start out as either a Greek or Egyptian township, and must expand to become a sprawling metropolis capable of training the most powerful units your chosen civilisation has to offer.
To do so, you accept missions from beardy quest-givers loitering under giant yellow exclamation marks on the streets of your capital. They’ll point out nearby enemy towns ripe for pillage. Stolen materials can be combined with blueprints to build more structures, which in turn can be upgraded to boost the strength of your units.
PC Gamer US October issue: Batman: Arkham City hands-on
The Bat Signal shines on the sky above Gotham! PC Gamer’s plucky reporters are on the scene to cover the Caped Crusader’s ass-kicking adventures in Batman: Arkham City in a huge hands-on story that covers a ton of new crime-fighting gadgets and Catwoman’s debut. You’d think that’d be the best thing in the issue, but what’s this? The amazing Deus Ex: Human Revolution review! You may need a brain augmentation to grasp how great this game is. You’ll also find our hands-on adventures in Guild Wars 2 and Tribes Ascend, tips straight from the developers to get you started right in Age of Empires Online, and a smorgasbord of our favorite demos from throughout PC gaming history! Bonus: this new-and-improved PC Gamer comes augmented with super-thick paper strong enough to stop a bullet. (Warning: do not use PC Gamer as body armor.)
Age of Empires Online preview
There’s no arguing that Farmville and friends cast a long shadow over the free-to-play world, with their micro-transactions and the need to drag friends and family kicking and screaming into the game to keep progressing. Well, don’t worry. Age of Empires Online is the other kind of free-toplay game. It relies on heftier paid content, such as booster packs and unlocking new armies, not the usual nonsense of having to shell out £10 for 1000 magical funbucks to fritter away on building supplies.
Age of Empires Online dev diary shows loot, crafting and war elephants
The latest dev diary for Age of Empires Online shows off some of the loot we’ll be able to unlock for our armies in Age of Empires Online. In traditional MMO style, items range from bog-standard to Epic, and can be earned in a number of ways. The items can be found in chests, crafted, or bought from city marketplaces. The free-to-play massively online RTS is set to launch on August 16, and is being developed by Supreme Commander 2 devs, Gas Powered Games. Find out more on the Age of Empires Online site.
Age of Empires online release date announced, launch trailer launches
Microsoft announce that Age of Empires Online will be released on August 16 this year. Age of Empires Online is an MMO real time strategy game in which you can use resources from local brawls to build up your central home city, upgrading units and progressing your civilisation through the ages.
The free to play re-emergence of the classic series is being handled by Supreme Commander and Demigod developers, Gas Powered Games. We spoke to GPG CEO Chris Taylor recently about his role on Age of Empires Online, and his enthusiasm for free to play games. For more info on the game, check out the official site.
Age of Empires Online beta open to all
We mentioned this in yesterday’s news roundup, but it’s worth another mention. Age of Empires Online is now freely available to download today and tomorrow. You can download the game now from Games For Windows Marketplace. Once it’s installed, you’ll be able to try out the game for free for as long as the beta lasts.
You’ll find more details about the free-to-play, massively multiplayer RTS here. Supreme Commander 2 devs Gas Powered Games took over development a couple of months ago. We had a chat with Gas Powered Games boss Chris Taylor about the transition, and the new dawn for Age of Empires.
Interview: Chris Taylor on Age of Empires Online
Yesterday we learned that Robot Entertainment are handing development for Age of Empires Online over to Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander creators Gas Powered Games. We had a chat with CEO of Gas Powered Games, Chris Taylor about the challenges of taking the reins on a series as revered as Age of Empires.
