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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: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @11:59AM
Can't wait to play it on Ubuntu
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:05PM (8 children)
I find the remaking, or "Definitive Edition", somewhat odd. It seems to be a thing now. I don't really know who started it but instead of making new games they just remaster, remake or fix old games. Blizzard has been doing it for quite a few of their games (Starcraft). There will never be an end to the process -- in another decade or so new technology will demand new "Definitive Edition":s or updates. I guess as long as people still want that they will get them, and pay for them.
I have not kept track of Gamescon 2017 announcements but I can think of a few games I would look forward to more then AoE4 such as Anno 1800 and Wolfenstein II - the new colossus, but as always that is a matter of choice and taste and I never really cared for the AoE-series.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:40PM
They actually already updated AOE3. I hope they fix the netcode in "definitive" edition because currently it is entirely useless.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:44PM (1 child)
I was very willing to pay for the re-release of AOEII. It was a core part of my childhood, both the game and troubleshooting networking issues during a LAN party. It only became worse on modern computers. The Steam integration and modernization took effort on the developers beyond the scope of the original game, so by all means charge me again.
The real question is what the correct price is: someone like me knows they will enjoy the game from their childhood, however it still seems wasteful to pay the same price for a remake vs a new game. I've been patient and purchased Age on sale so it really isn't an issue, and these sales demonstrate the developers understand their customer's value statement.
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Wednesday August 23 2017, @02:16PM
As a wise man once said: "Shut up and take my money!"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:00PM (1 child)
Hollywood's been remaking the same stories for decades, every 3D first-person-shooter is a remake of Quake, and Total Annihilation had essentially all the features of future RTS (ok, supcom2 has the best unit pathing algorithms). Don't get me started on sports games...
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:41PM
Go back to the ancient Greeks then, according to them there was only three types of stories - comedies, tragedies and satyr plays (or satire). Beyond that it's just the same stories being told over and over and over again with slightly different setup, names and actors.
(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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(Score: 3, Touché) by richtopia on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:48PM (3 children)
I was planning on never leaving Windows 7 for my Windows required software. I hope the quote from the article implies that if you don't mind waiting beyond release day, Windows 7 support will come later. I doubt it. What feature from Windows 10 is not present in 7 that the game requires? Keylogging?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:23PM (2 children)
Direct X 12 comes to mind, but it would be really silly of them to required DX12 since it will apparently never be available for Win 7.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:24PM (1 child)
Vulkan seems to work just as well in many circumstances. Perhaps there will be Vulkan support introduced later based on user demand. I expect that the DX12 requirement will be a requirement by MS, though, for quite some time. One way to get hold outs to move to Windows 10 is to deny them their ability to relieve their childhoods...
Ashes of the Signularity was a previously DX12 game, and recently had a Vulkan port -- with enough effort, it can be done.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:49PM
I recon there is always NEED and/or "need"; as in Microsoft wants it and is there for checking for it and refuse to start if you don't have it even tho it actually isn't using it. But it plans to perhaps use it in the future when Win10 becomes larger the Win7 or some such reason. AMD are naturally free to do what they like and have done so previously. It does seem somewhat odd for them to make a Win10 exclusive title and just cut out large portions of the gaming market -- or they are really banking on here that AoE4 will be a title big enough that people will actually upgrade computer and OS to play it. Sounds a bit like wishful thinking to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @07:34PM
I bought a Microsoft mouse. On Windows it prevented the computer from going to sleep. On Linux it didn't scroll properly.