News Archives
Tuesday, June 6, 2000 - Pre-orders for AOK:TC (Box Cover Released!):
EBWorld has the pre-order on AOK:TC with a box cover design. It is $29.99 and set to
release 8/25/2000. Here is the box cover:
Monday, June 5, 2000 - I'm a Winner!: Yes! That's
right, my entry was chosen as a Music Through the Ages Contest winner. My caption is for
June 4 & 5 (the same picture) with 4 people on them. In their funny pose, I said:
"We are ready to play Ensemble's version of 'Whose (source code) line is it
anyway".
Huns Tech Tree:
Ensemble has released the full technology tree for the Huns. Check it out. And here is the
Gamespot
preview due to my lack of updating (terribly sorry).
CDMag's AOK:TC Revealed: The newest issue of
Computer Games Magazine (previously titled Computer Games Strategy Plus) has a cool AOK:TC
preview in it. Be sure to get it at your local store.
Interview with Herb
Marselas!: Includes many AOK:TC related questions.
Tuesday, May 30, 2000 - (And the Award goes to...) AOK!: PlayNow!,
one of the biggest Australian gaming sites, has awarded AOK best PC Strategy Game of the
year. Here's the chat transcript:
Borg_PlayNOW: Now it's time to announce the winner of the Best PC Strategy Game
1999.
Borg_PlayNOW: And the nominees are:
Borg_PlayNOW: Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Borg_PlayNOW: Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Borg_PlayNOW: Homeworld
Borg_PlayNOW: Sim City 3000
Borg_PlayNOW: : C&C: Tiberian Sun
Borg_PlayNOW: And the winner is...
Borg_PlayNOW: Age of Empires 2!
Borg_PlayNOW: we'd never have guessed :)
Borg_PlayNOW: We are fortunate enough to have EnsembleStudios' Bruce Shelley, Lead
Designer of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings here tonight to accept the award. Welcome
and congratulations on taking it out Bruce!
Bruce@ES: WOW! Thanks PlayNOW! On behalf of everyone responsible for Age of EmpiresII: The
Age of Kings, from both Ensemble Studios and Microsoft, thanks so much.
Bruce@ES: We thought the past year was a great one for strategy games and weknow you had a
tough choice to make. Ensemble Studios hears from our Microsoft friends down under that
AOK is one of the best-selling PC games in Australia, ever.
Bruce@ES: We certainly appreciate your support. Your comments willhelp make our future
games even better. Thanks to PlayNOW! For great gamecoverage and a chance to chat across
Aussie-land last August. Our whole teamwill be checking out this chat, but probably later
today (it's a little early here).
Friday, May 26, 2000 - Impressive, Most
Impressive: "Obi-wan has tought you well." Remember this
line from Star Wars? Hint: Darth Vader says it to Luke when they were dueling at the
Carbonite Chamber. Well, this is something like the thing Gamespot said to Bruce
Shelley @ E3. AOK:TC was named Most Impressive Expansion along with The Sims: Living
Large, and Quake 3: Team Arena.
Thursday, May 25, 2000 - AOKH's TC Civilization Analysis: The
bonuses and other details about the new TC civilizations was posted by AOKH today. Check
out the Aztecs, Huns, Koreans, Mayans, and Spanish specialties.
Wednesday, May 24, 2000 - Ensemble's Music Contest:
Each business day, beginning May 31st, ending June 13, Ensemble Studios will post a
picture of a well-known employee, with a small caption bubble. Put something funny in the
bubble and enter the contest! You can win a Music Through the Ages CD!
AOK:TC In Action:
This is a video featuring some of the new Conquerors units in action. It's weighs in at
7MB and lasts 42 seconds. This is a recommended download.
PCGR with
Shelley and Peterson: Includes some quotes from Bruce Shelley and Sandy
Peterson.
AOK Battlefield's Vision of AOK:TC:
Preview from a popular fan site. Check it out.
Monday, May 22, 2000 - AOE2
for PSX2: Age Of Kings is coming to the new Playstation platform, in addition
to it's confirmed released for Dreamcast. You can pre-order this game at EBWorld for
$49.99US. PSX2, yet unreleased, can be pre-order for $299.99US (or do you want to wait
until Bleem 2 comes out?).
Thursday, May 18, 2000 - MFO: Last Player Standing:
Mr Fix It Online is hosting the first ever shimo-styled tournament. Winners will receive
small prizes which are yet to be determined. Last Player Standing is a new game style
(multiplayer only) in AOK:TC much like MFO's There Can Be Only One style. Signup ends May
19th.
Monday, May 15, 2000 - Write Sandy Write!: Sandy is up and posting @ AOKH again.
See his newest post answering a bunch of questions. The actual
post is very long and goes on and on with all the replies.
Sunday, May 14, 2000 - AOK:TC
Screenshots @ E3: In case you missed it from Microsoft, here again are the 10
screenshots from AOK:TC from E3 from Gamecenter.
Saturday, May 13, 2000 - Gamecenter interview Bruce
Shelley: Lead designer of the Age Of Empires/Kings Series was interview by
Gamecenter (Cnet.com) along with Ensemble's public relations employee, Brian Sullivan.
Ensemble Studios
is one of the few development groups in the industry today that has enjoyed consistent
success. From Age of Empires to its new expansion pack Conquest, every title that's come
from this Dallas developer has been a hit. And hardly a wonder--they're all excellent
games, with solid designs, fun and arresting gameplay, and longevity. We had the chance to
talk to Bruce Shelley, lead designer, and Brian Sullivan, from Ensemble's public
relations, about where the company has been and where it is going.
When asked what their current project was, Shelley indicated
that the team was very much in the discovery phase. "We're looking at some new
gameplay features," said Shelley. He also said that nothing had been decided upon,
and that the team was exploring a number of different avenues and concepts.
More AOK:TC Info: Here is
some information released from Gamespot's preview that I did not post. Note that some new
units aren't on this page since it is only from GS's preview. Most of you probably know
this already.
New Units
- Haldierbier-(Infantry Unit)
- Jaguar Man-(Aztec UU)
- Tarkan (Huns UU)-Cavalry good against buidings
- Turtle Boat (Koreans UU)-Vessel that mounts cannons
- War Wagon (Koreans 2nd UU) Wagon with heavy missile power
- Conquisdator-(Spanish UU) Mounted Musketeer
- Missionary-(Spanish 2nd UU) Mounted Monk
- Petard-bomb carrier (infantry)
New Technologies
- Thumb Ring
- Herbal Medicine
- Theocracy
- Heresy
- Rocketry (Chinese UT)
- Yeomen (Briton UT)
- Mahouts (Persian UT)
New Animals
AOK:TC
@ E3: Pennywise has posted information about AOK:TC over at Age Of Kings
Heaven. Here is a small caption of it.
-Naval units are now able to utilize
formations. They appear to be the same formations as regular military units can use.
-As most of you already know, the Spanish get two UU's: The Conquistador
and the Missionary. But from what I garnered the Missionary (mounted monk) will not be
produced from the castle but from the monastery. The rep also said that you do not need to
build a castle beforehand to train monks (which the Vikings have to do with their
longboats). Also, the rep said that in the interests of game-balancing, the Missionary
will be weaker in the area of conversion than most other monks.
-The Spanish will also be able to research technologies at the
Blacksmith without having to pay gold. The food prices will still be the same but
gold is not necessary to get these upgrades.
-If memory serves correct, the Spanish will also get a %50 trade bonus.
Friday, May 12, 2000 - AOK for Console: AOK is to be
ported for Dreamcast & Playstation 2. Read more about it here: FGN Online. And by coincidence,
anticipated information about the new Playstation 2 was released by Sony on Thursday. Read
the IGN article here. By the way, Bleem
has confirmed the future release of Bleemcast!, which allows users to play PSX(1) games on
the new Sega Dreamcast.
Microsoft's E3 AOK:TC
Preview Up: Including some cool screenshots and a hefty-sized video (9.56MB).
AOK
wins 3 AIAS Awards: And they are: Computer Game of the Year, Strategy Game of
the Year, and Craft Awar: Character Developement.
More
AOK:TC Previews!: Check out new previews from CDMAG
& GameGlow.
Wednesday, May 10, 2000 -
Gamespot has released a preview of AOK:TC with an interview with Game Designer Bruce
Shelley. Check it out here. Also
released with the article are some beautiful screenshots of the new world(Meso-American)
building set. Look at them here: Screen #0, Screen #1, Screen #3, Screen #6, Screen #8, Screen #9
(skipped numbers not a mistake).
Also AOK has been nominated for 7 awards at the upcoming E3
(Electronic Entertainment Expo). They are:
Game of the Year
Computer Game of the Year
Strategy Game of the Year
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Outstanding Achievement in Game Engineering
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development
At this E3, Microsoft's X-Box and Bleem's Bleemcast (emulator for
Sega Dreamcast) are said to be revealed.
Saturday, May 6, 2000 - Here is another
screenshot from Computer Gaming World of the new snowy ground terrain. Check it out here. This snowy ground affects the whole map
Also, here is some news on the building sets of AOK:TC. The Huns
will have the Eastern Europe buildings set, the Spanish will have the Western Europe
buildings set, Koreans will have the Oriental buildings set, and the Aztecs and Mayans
will have the new world map set which can be seen here.
Friday, May 5, 2000 - Two updates to this
AOK site in one day? No, you're not dreaming. I have found some more information about the
new units for AOK:TC. Here they are:
Halberdiers: Infantry unit carrying a combination of both spear
and axe.
Hussars: Elite Light Cavalry. Probably an increased LOS.
Petards: Satchel-charge bomber. Attack bonus vs. walls, gates,
and castles.
Turtle Boats: Iron clad Korean warship that shoots cannons but is
slow (like a tank on water).
Also, I am making an AOK:TC page with all this information and
more.
Friday, May 5, 2000 - Planet Age Of Empires has a screenshot of the
new Aztec and Mayan building set. Check it out here.
Thursday, May 4, 2000 - Age Of Kings Trial
reaches a whooping 1 million downloads from Microsoft's site alone in less than one year
(about two-thirds of a year). Too bad no new maps can be made for it like Rise Of Rome
Trial. Please post your thoughts on the new BBS.
Monday, May 1, 2000 - There are new Age Of
Kings Trial conversion rules. This allows you to play the Age Of Kings Trial Multiplayer
map in Single Player. This is available in the FAQ.
I'm also going to put up the Units page soon. Please discuss and ask questions about it in
the new BBS.
Wednesday, March 15, 2000 - There is a new
Age Of Kings downloads page! It is not complete yet,
but you can now download an exciting recorded game between the Chinese and Teutons.
Thursday, March 9, 2000 - The major updates
to the Age Of Kings page is now complete! I've added the first comprehensive coverage of
the first featured civilization, the Chinese. There is a
new links page and a news archives page.
Sunday, November 28, 1999 - Age Of Kings
Section Released!
Saturday, January 22, 2000 - FAQ updated with CONVERSION RULES!!!
Saturday, February 26, 2000 - Click here to get the AOK CD
Crack.
Saturday, February 28, 2000 - I've posted
two major flaws (bugs) in Age Of Kings. Click here to see them. |
