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1 month ago
Feature: Ghoastus has his say on EIII
Age of Empires 2’s Definitive Edition shows that resurrection is more fun than remastery
Ave, citizens! It is I - Ghoastus, the famous Roman Ghost. This week, I have been haunting the streets of Los Angeles, in eager anticipation of all the thrilling Roman content soon to spill from the mouth of the games industry, like half-digested dormice from the maw of an overfed senator. And yet, alas: I have found little to stir the patriotic embers that smoulder…
1 year ago
We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there. 2018 releases Jurassic World…
2 years ago
Feature: The biggest hits of the past 12 months
Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months. Below is the full, hundred-strong…
3 years ago
Here we are, almost in 2017, with official new expansions still coming out for a game from 1999. Age of Empires 2 HD [official site] today launches Rise of the Rajas, the third new expansion since the real-time strategy game was revamped and rereleased in 2013. Rise of the Rajas is off to Southeast Asia for historical warfare with four new civilisations, each with their…
Empires Apart [official site] is an upcoming RTS that "wants to be Age of Empires at heart", say Slitherine, who have just announced that they'll be publishing DESTINYbit's game when it's ready for release in the second half of 2017. I hadn't heard of the title until today, so I've been digging through old development video blogs like a digital archaeologist. You can see the…
4 years ago
Feature: Meet the people making official expansions to an ancient game
Scant few games stand the test of time and retain a large active player base sixteen years after release. But not only has Age of Empires II endured, it has thrived. It's gained new steam thanks in part to an official high-definition re-release but mostly due to the ragtag group of modders-turned-developers who made that release possible. Forgotten Empires filled the game with new stuff…
Many 'HD' re-releases of older games fix them to run easily on modern systems, tart them up a touch, then pop them onto (virtual) shop shelves, but Age of Empires II HD has actually brought the game back into active development. Sixteen years after AoE 2's initial release, AoE 2 HD has received its second new expansion. Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms…
"But how many camel archers should I put in a screenshot to make it look like they're an audience for another camel archer who is giving a rousing speech?" Microsoft Studios - in announcing a new expansion for strategy game Age of Empires II - suggest that perhaps the answer is five.
6 years ago
The Age of Empires series has seen better days. Days like the year 1999, for instance. That's when Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings charged onto the itsy-bitsy adowwwwable killing fields, and oh what a grand thing it was. It even looked quite nice for the time, eschewing 3D razzle-dazzle in favor of goode ye-olde-fashioned sprites. Times, however, have changed, and monitors have…