Age of Empires goes East

By Robert Purchese Published 21 May, 2007

New developer takes reins.

Microsoft has unearthed a new expansion for Age of Empires III, which is due for release this autumn.

The Asian Dynasties will, as you might have guessed, branch out into the Eastern reaches of the world. This means you'll have new civilisations to get to grips with, sporting unique units and history, as well as 15 fresh Asian "Wonders" to erect.

But the biggest change will be the addition of a new developer, as Ensemble Studios makes way for Rise of Nations creator Big Huge Games. A move that could bring some much needed life back into the RTS title.

"We feel that the in-depth experience of Big Huge Games in the real-time strategy genre, combined with the solid reputation of the 'Age of Empires' franchise, will result in something fresh and unique for gamers," said Brian Reynolds, chief executive officer and creative director of Big Huge Games.

The expansion pack will also add a sprinkle of new content to spice the whole dish up, giving you new ways of trading and winning, and random map styles will present you with remakes of classic Age of Empires action.

Age of Empires III was released back in 2005, its solid but predictable gameplay rewarded with a comfortable score. It expanded just over a year later with The WarChiefs, but unfortunately failed to climb to a higher mark.

Pop over to our Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties gallery for a look at the first screenshot.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (10) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hugundo #1 5 years ago

    "15 fresh Asian "Wonders" to erect."

    Hmm
    Edited by 2 at 21/05/07 @ 12:07

  • Syrok #2 5 years ago

    Church, mosque, temple. Who cares they are build for the same purpose doesn't how you call them :)

  • jachap #3 5 years ago

    I think it'll be exactly the same only, now, when you click on the barracks, instead of tribal rhythms or whatever, there'll be a variety of gong sounds.

  • UncleLou #4 5 years ago

    Yeah, I am not so sure how much they can change in an addon, as good a Big Huge Games are.

    That said, I doubt they'll want to change much. Age of Empires III was an absolute top-seller.

  • TheUnionFrag #5 5 years ago

    I want to erect huge wonders all over the East. People will worship my erect wonders in awe.

    Couldn't resist.

  • clockworkzombie #6 5 years ago

    "That said, I doubt they'll want to change much. Age of Empires III was an absolute top-seller."

    That is interesting as most of my friends still play AoK as they think it is better than III.

  • MightyPenguin #7 5 years ago

    Microsoft just took it away from Ensemble? Either they've got something REALLY huge to work on, or somebody somewhere is really pissed off right now.

    As for Big Huge breathing life into the franchise... considering how much Legends failed to live up to Nations' legacy, and the fact that it's only an addon, I chose to remain skeptical.

  • UncleLou #8 5 years ago

    Microsoft just took it away from Ensemble? Either they've got something REALLY huge to work on, or somebody somewhere is really pissed off right now.

    Halo Wars.

    Pretty safe to say that MS aren't pissed off with ES, I dare say. :p

  • MightyPenguin #9 5 years ago

    So a quick peek at the Ensemble site told me. But this begs the question; why Ensemble? Obviously it makes sense to put the RTS in the hands of an RTS studio, but surely if Big Huge are free to do the expansion they could do HW. And Ensemble could work on their own game.

    I'm guessing it's a simple case of prestige. Ensemble was the studio that made microsoft into a credible games publisher, Halo is Microsoft's favourite shiny.

  • UncleLou #10 5 years ago

    Well, Ensemble Studios belong to Microsoft, Big Huge Games do not, as far as I know. Besides, I'd guess that Ensemble Studios are quite a bit bigger than BHG are.

    Outsourcing the addon to an external studio (founded by one of the cocreaters of the AoE series) and letting the big "internal" team develop the 360 game sounds pretty logical to me. :)