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Microsoft has announced a new title in the Age of Empires series, as well as "Definitive" editions for some of the existing games:
A new of Age of Empires is in the works. Microsoft introduced a teaser trailer for the game, and announced that Relic Entertainment was tasked with developing the next installment in the real-time strategy series.
The short announcement trailer didn't reveal any gameplay, with the studio opting instead to show artwork, but it did provide us with some information. Whereas previous games in the series focused on a small portion in history, Age of Empires IV seems to encompass multiple time periods. We saw the pinnacle of the Roman Empire, Native Americans charging toward battle, the banners of multiple Japanese clans during the Warring States period, and British redcoats ready to fire at a target.
[...] Microsoft also announced that its previously revealed Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has a release date of October 19, and it didn't stop there. The company also said that it will give the "Definitive Edition" treatment to Age of Empires II and III, and more news on those titles is coming in the future.
Age of Empires II (the best one) needs a "Definitive Edition" to fix more bugs.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:27PM (2 children)
Age of Empires II [wikipedia.org] was released in 1999. Conquerors expansion in 2000. By the time the first of the 3 newer expansions was released in 2013, a lot had changed in terms of the systems (core counts, 64-bit) and resolutions people use. Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome was published in 1998.
If the Definitive editions can improve graphics, fix some bugs, and maybe add some more stuff, they could be good to go indefinitely. There's no need to give it VR support so "new technology" does not really apply. Windows is changing less and less with each version, we've already moved to 64-bit, etc., so games made to work in 2017 will probably run on the platform for a long time.
While Blizzard did make a Remastered version of Starcraft/Brood War, they also steadily updated the game with free patches over the years and made the non-remastered game free as in beer as of the 1.18 patch. If you use that version, it will play on modern Windows and Mac just fine.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 24 2017, @04:36AM (1 child)
We moved to 64-bit sometime around 2004-2008, so it's been over a decade. Considering that in 1994, 16 bit was standard, I'd really not be so sure that 64 bit is going to stay the norm for THAT much longer. It probably has at least a few years, as it isn't a linear process, and meanwhile the drive for faster machines has gotten competition from lower power requirements and diminished size, among other things, but it'd be foolish to assume the move to 128 bit will never reach us. The only real reason I think it may not is because of perhaps an even more chaotic development: the fragmentation of the world into a multiplicity of architectures based on the specific use of individual machines, as people have their 128 bit gaming computer, their 64 bit office computer, and perhaps even some 16 or 32 bit low power devices controlling things like their blinds or light bulbs. We're long past the age of one computer per household; multiple architectures per household is likely a reality in the coming few years.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 24 2017, @05:30AM
The changes are more incremental now. The final transistor nodes are in sight. If we can't get below the 1-3 nm nodes, stacking will be required to increase performance. Then we can talk about femtocomputing. The current 64-bit CPUs aren't even using the full 64-bit address space for RAM. I guess it would be nice to have 2^127 - 1 signed integers. But if we do get 128-bit CPUs, they will likely have 64-bit emulation meaning these games should still run.
Even if there are big changes, I doubt they will result in the need for an AOE 2: ReDefinitive Edition. If the graphics remastering makes the game look great at 4K, redoing it at a higher resolution will make zero discernible difference (AOE 1 by contrast had a 1024x768 max resolution). 8K or 16K resolution are for VR video and gaming so realistic, that you stay in fantasy land with a Doritos and Mountain Dew feeding tube instead of rioting. You start talking about implanting brain chips to trick the person into thinking they are moving and swinging swords. Doesn't apply to an isometric RTS.
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