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Dawn of a New Age: Age of Empires III Announced for 2005 Release

Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios are proud to announce the return of the king of real-time strategy games: Age of Empires III is scheduled to ship in the second half of 2005. This will be the latest landmark release in the award-winning franchise that has sold a staggering 16 million units worldwide.

Age of Empires III will offer gamers the next level of realism, with advanced battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II: Age of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.

Age of Empires III will once again demonstrate Ensemble Studios' reputation for excellence and innovation in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The game will set a new standard for visual quality and amaze players with detail never before seen in an RTS. Age of Empires III will excite strategy gamers with new game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations, units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span three generations.

Personally I'm an Age of Empires - Rise of Rome fan..

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Age of Empires III is a superbly balanced and polished game and it definitely ups the ante for the C&C and 'Craft developers. Discounting a few niggles in the interface, the whole presentation is rock solid. Each new release in the Age of Empires series has added something to the mix. But while Age of Empires II seemed to focus on quantity, Age of Empires III sacrifices some units and civilizations in order to make the whole experience much tighter.

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Age III does seem surprisingly rough around the edges in some respects, and those expecting the game to revolutionize or even refresh this style of gaming may come away disappointed that their high expectations weren't met. But those looking for a complex and interesting real-time strategy game with fantastic good looks and some historical flavor will find just what they want in Age of Empires III.

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If you are Ensemble Studios, you have a tough job to do. How do you create a game, a successor to what many consider the greatest RTS of all time – Age of Empires II and the next game after your mega hit series – Age of Mythology? How do you satisfy gamers on both ends? How do you go about creating a game that is not only fun to play but also brings innovation to the industry? Well friends, the answer is here and its Age of Empires III.

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You do realise this has been around since E3 2004?


Anyways, the game should be good unlike the Age of Mythology crap.

Uhh yea but I just came across it now

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Originally posted by Ahmad
Uhh yea but I just came across it now

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and in my opinion Age of Empires II: Age of Kings is the best

I actually suck at AOK.. I can bronze in 14-15mins with ROR though, not an expert though

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Originally posted by Ahmad
I'll still pwn j00 ! (I hope lol)

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Originally posted by Ahmad
I actually suck at AOK.. I can bronze in 14-15mins with ROR though, not an expert though

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but she doesnt care

W00T! nice. I love AOE. I've played almost all of them.

good stuff.

i liked Age of Mythology better though.

Greek Mythology is more interesting to me though.

Wow great i love this gmae why is this a T&T thread :/

Age of Empires is a damn good game. I played the original a lot, and a little bit of Age of Kings, but I never seem to feel like playing it anymore.

I liked Age of Empires, but I always preferred Civilization

true true.. civilization's a cool game. but, AOK is better .. not so complicated. took me like 5 hours to get used to that thing i'm too impatient

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Originally posted by lopardo
I liked Age of Empires, but I always preferred Civilization

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Originally posted by WDZ
Age of Empires is a damn good game. I played the original a lot, and a little bit of Age of Kings, but I never seem to feel like playing it anymore.

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I used to watch my brother play the original age of empires for ages

good game.. sucks that my comp is not good enough to have games on it

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Originally posted by wacky
I used to watch my brother play the original age of empires for ages

good game.. sucks that my comp is not good enough to have games on it

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lol you'd be surprised how laggy my comp gets over the smallest things

Nice.... Age of Empires rock.  We should have a tournament with some of the members of the forum when it comes out. 

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Originally posted by Pr0xY
Nice.... Age of Empires rock.  We should have a tournament with some of the members of the forum when it comes out.

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lol I'll get a better comp one day and get this game and own you... you'll see. Till then, I can only imagin it in my dreams... fun game everywhere

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Originally posted by Ahmad

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Originally posted by Pr0xY
Nice.... Age of Empires rock.  We should have a tournament with some of the members of the forum when it comes out.

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Why not have an Age of Empires (ROR) tournament? That way even people with crap computers can join in (except wacky ).

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Bludy hell those graphics are amazing. They have come along way since no.1. I love AoE so I am going to buy this. I didn't know they where making a new one.

Edt : The New theme roxors.

Does any one know what platform it's for?

Hot preview here... it looks awesome! I'm sure we're going to need a high-end graphics card to really see this game at it's best.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/576/576023p1.html?fromint=1

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IGNPC: What considerations have you had to make for modeling combat in this particular Age?

Ensemble: As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics of Age of Empires III have an amazing amount of detail, and we wanted to make sure combat met that high bar. We have musketeers who fire in volley formation. We have tall ships that punch holes in each other's sails. We have cannon shots that can literally throw infantry off the ground, and perhaps off a cliff, and down into the water. When buildings are destroyed, we model the physics of the falling pieces. This gives all the building destructions an unpredictable nature unlike the canned animations common to older RTS games. Don't be surprised if a collapsing tower squashes the villager working in the nearby fields.

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Imo AOE: CE (Conquerors Expansion) is the best (its my fav newayz )
I heard of this news 2 - 3 dayz back from a friend on the phone now i see the thread. It ought to be a good game even tho i like fps better than stratergy

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Originally posted by Ahmad

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Originally posted by Pr0xY
Nice.... Age of Empires rock.  We should have a tournament with some of the members of the forum when it comes out.

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Why not have an Age of Empires (ROR) tournament? That way even people with crap computers can join in (except wacky ).

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I didn't care for the First AOE or ROR.

I play AOE II: TCE sometimes, though. It's a prety good game.

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Originally posted by Ahmad
Age of Empires (ROR)

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ok everyone who wants to play then just post with what versions you have
(i only have AOE2: AOK )

RoR









TCE









AOE II








I have AOE 1, AOE 2: AOK and AOE2: TCE [No RoR]

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Originally posted by Lee Jeffery
ok everyone who wants to play then just post with what versions you have
(i only have AOE2: AOK )

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* paperless kills blade for saying age of mythology is crap.

I am going to buy that game if itcomes with portuguese civilization.. if it doesnt i wont buy it

I don't really like the AOM/AOE games, i prefer Command&Conquer(Zero Hour).
Probably because there aren't any cheats for that game

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Originally posted by TheGeek
I don't really like the AOM/AOE games, i prefer Command&Conquer(Zero Hour).
Probably because there aren't any cheats for that game

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I've been a big fan of AoE for a while, there's nothing better than just putting in the conqueror disk and either playing a game yourself or with someone you know, there's so many people who have it it's never hard to find someone you know who wants a game...So I'm really excited about a release that brings AoE into modern gaming.
Age of Mythology seemed at bit daft, imo...I hope this game has a UI similar to AoE2, I really liked that design.

I loved the first 2 AE..(rise of rome and another i don't know)...i still have them...but when kings age got out...i just thought it sucked...i'm an old school you can say it

I have AoM and AoM: Titans expansion

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Originally posted by blade

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Originally posted by TheGeek
I don't really like the AOM/AOE games, i prefer Command&Conquer(Zero Hour).
Probably because there aren't any cheats for that game

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You can enable/disable cheats in AOE.

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One of the main reasons I didn't like AoM is bcz of the odd 3D graphics. TBH I really liked the 2D graphics that appeared 3D from AOE2.
I hope they don't screw AoE III up...

that game looks completely amazing, all of the sub-games like age of mythology were crappy, but the main games were amazing . I have 1 and 2

ive got AOE2, AOE2: Conquerors Expansion and AOM, there all gr8 games. and as TheGeek mentioned the c&c games, i gotta admit they're really gd aswell

whats the price gonna be when this comes out? is it out ?

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Originally posted by may73alliance
ive got AOE2, AOE2: Emperors Expansion and AOM, there all gr8 games. and as TheGeek mentioned the c&c games, i gotta admit they're really gd aswell

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Originally posted by blade

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Originally posted by may73alliance
ive got AOE2, AOE2: Emperors Expansion and AOM, there all gr8 games. and as TheGeek mentioned the c&c games, i gotta admit they're really gd aswell

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C&C is a bit different.
TBH, I liked the Star Wars game based off the AOE engine, but it never really took off [having planes rocked!]


And it's the "Conquerors" expansion, not the "Emperors" expansion

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http://shoutbox.menthix.net/showthread.php?tid=39491

So far we have 9 ppl who can play Age of Kings - 1 more and we could set up some kind of tournament.

All the AoE games have chowned so far. I have all of them, including the expansions (<3 juarez) and there's nothing more consuming than an 8 hour long tour de force. However, I do prefer Age of Mythologies, especially the Titans expansion. Adding the mytical units (Son of Osiris, the Titans themselves, Tarturuan gate type stuff) just rocked. It's the quite the challenge to have to kill a 7000 hitpoint Titan invading your base. I also love the whole C&C series too, Zero Hour rocked (laser towers == amazing) but it lacked ships which I found a bit of a missing aspect. But let's hope AoE 3 adds a lot good game into this genre.

Is Age of Empires 3 avaiable to buy. I'm not informed.

Wow it actually looks VERY Good... ive lost my AofEII disk

I still have to wait an hour for the download....Damn low speed.

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Originally posted by Joa
same here ! thanks for posting it

and in my opinion Age of Empires II: Age of Kings is the best

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Originally posted by paperless
I still have to wait an hour for the download....Damn low speed.

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Do you use download accelarator. I use Dap. Is not the best but I like it

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Originally posted by joao267
Do you use download accelarator. I use Dap. Is not the best but I like it

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Rise of Nations > *

Rise of nations is very nice too but never tried online.

I saw some videos a while back on AOE3, the guy was showing some of the gameplay, amazing to say the least... it has rag doll physics, buildings crumble causing damage/death to anyone it falls on. When the people are shot with a cannon, they get blown away like ragdolls off cliffs and into the water, its pretty amazing for an RTS.

Although its going to need a high-end graphics card to take full advantage of the features. The guy was saying that they added things into it which aren't even supported by current video cards.

OK i played the demo, too bad for people who didnt like AoM, AoE3 is very seemed with AoM, fortunately for me .

any date whens it out, cant wait!

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Originally posted by Rubber Stamp
any date whens it out, cant wait!

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Originally posted by mwe99
04/11/2005

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My dad is obsessed with these games and has been waiting for a new release for YEARS!

The AOE games are prolly the best PC games I own ;o

* FrozenDaggers dances

I'm creating a Age of Empire III message board

i got the trial version yesterday,  but i dont like it,  doesn't even look 3d

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/7/3/d734...0c62/aoe3trial.exe

I find all the AOE games really boring. Those type of games just dont appeal to me..

A "Press Review Copy" was released this month, and well.. I have it. I must say, it's pretty amazing even on a 64mb graphics card. The campaign (divided into three Act's) is quite easy though.

Here are some reviews (take from aoe3.heavengames.com).

IGN:

   

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Age of Empires III is a superbly balanced and polished game and it definitely ups the ante for the C&C and 'Craft developers. Discounting a few niggles in the interface, the whole presentation is rock solid. Each new release in the Age of Empires series has added something to the mix. But while Age of Empires II seemed to focus on quantity, Age of Empires III sacrifices some units and civilizations in order to make the whole experience much tighter.

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Age III does seem surprisingly rough around the edges in some respects, and those expecting the game to revolutionize or even refresh this style of gaming may come away disappointed that their high expectations weren't met. But those looking for a complex and interesting real-time strategy game with fantastic good looks and some historical flavor will find just what they want in Age of Empires III.

---

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If you are Ensemble Studios, you have a tough job to do. How do you create a game, a successor to what many consider the greatest RTS of all time – Age of Empires II and the next game after your mega hit series – Age of Mythology? How do you satisfy gamers on both ends? How do you go about creating a game that is not only fun to play but also brings innovation to the industry? Well friends, the answer is here and its Age of Empires III.

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