The webmaster of the ES AOM page has been implementing his new design over the last few hours, and some interesting images have popped up on the new awards page. Forumer IV1066 made the great finding of a series of four small images that show a growing Egyptian town! Visit this post in the forums to list your findings or see what others have been able to locate in the images. ...hmmm, there's the lighthouse again...looks like it's not a Greek specific building... ; )
A very interesting article at Gamers.com has listed the top twenty best selling PC games for the year 2001. Despite being released two years ago, Age of Kings continues to sell very well, cracking the top ten! The Conquerors expansion pack also made the list, taking the #18 spot:
1. The Sims (EA) 2. RollerCoaster Tycoon (Infogrames) 3. Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (EA) 4. Diablo 2 Expansion: Lord of Destruction (Vivendi) 5. The Sims: House Party Expansion (EA) 6. The Sims: Livin' Large Expansion (EA) 7. The Sims: Hot Date Expansion (EA) 8. Diablo 2 (Vivendi) 9. Sim Theme Park (EA) 10. Age Of Empires 2: Age of Kings (Microsoft)
I did mention that The Sims was selling well, and there you see it outselling every other PC game. Electronic Arts obviously had a great year! Half of the games in the top 20 list are published by big bad EA. ...thanks Gaming Groove for the kick in the direction of this article... ; )
Naturally, you'll need to bring along a translator if your portuguese isn't up to snuff. Their screenshots are a collection of the weekly images released, but if you haven't been keeping up with those make sure you stop in for a look. The art has come a long way since last year's E3. ...english sites better get with it or we'll have to learn all sorts of other languages to get our info... ; )
Every Thursday here at AOKH, we will be featuring some of the great scenarios, campaigns, and modpacks that are in, or are destined for, our Blacksmith. There are a ton of fantastic fan created works in there, and we hope to point you to some of the ones which will provide you with great fun. Yes, this will also include reviews of completed works and previews of works in progress!
Before we get into our very first feature though, we must mention and give thanks to BrandNewCar. He has been volunteering his time in the Blacksmith to review scenarios and campaigns for quite some time, and has just recently been added to the official review team. Thanks very much for your dedication!
For our first feature, we're visiting the crew at Wildfire Studios once again. They have already put together some stunning work, such as their famous Rome at War mod which was just updated for the new year. Today though, we are previewing one of their works in progress. It is a very ambitious modpack, going by the name of 0ad.
The idea behind 0ad is to give players the chance to enter the turbulent time between 500bc and 500ad. As the project page sums up this time period, "...the Roman Empire waxes and wanes. Barbarians invade the civilized world. Egypt lost its previous world prominence. Alexander the Great went on his war campaign. Hannibal, Julius, Scipio, Cleopatra, Jesus, Marcus Antonius, Attila and the list goes on and on. An age of heros that was, has never been seen since."
Comparing 0ad to another famous project underway by the same group, their Lord of the Rings mod, WFS founder Dire_Wolf said "...the LOTR mod has a huge following but it is not nearly as big or as near completed as the 0 ad mod." And with nearly 6 months of time invested into 0ad, the team has already implemented new unit and building art inspired from this time period. The project is a total conversion, meaning that essentially all of the building and unit art is going to be replaced and Egyptian, Roman, Celt, Carthage, and many other prominent civilizations from this time will replace the standard AOK civs.
You'll find some screenshots and a summary of the project at the WFS 0ad page, and WFS also has a 0ad discussion forum at their site. There is no word on exactly when this project will be completed, but you can be sure that this very ambitious modpack will make a big splash when it debuts on the mod scene.
I've recieved another press release today from Mike over at Gamescope about a great new feature they have added. Heres the dirt:
Gamescope has announced a newsletter feature to keep you updated on the most popular player ideas. If you sign up, each week they'll email you the Top 5 Ideas for any section you want. It's a great way to stay in touch with the changing ideas and to make sure you always have a say in what's popular. If you already have a Gamescope account, you can sign up for it on your preferences page.
The first Empire Earth on-line survey was a fantastic success! We received a large number of responses and uncovered some very interesting results. Thanks to all of you who responded.
Stainless Steel Studios has now posted its second survey. The survey can be found at <http://www.empireearthcenter.com> . This survey consists of 4 sections of 6 - 8 questions each. Feel free to respond to all sections, which apply to you.
The design team and I are looking forward to reviewing the results. At Stainless Steel Studios, we don't think there is anything more important than hearing directly from you. So, please respond to let us know exactly what you think!
Rick Goodman
If you head over to EEC the survey will come up in a popup when you enter the site.
Thurdl brought this little item on the GoD Stronghold website to my attention.
Build the ultimate castle and you could win the ultimate sound system from Creative Labs! Creative Labs, FireFly Studios and Gathering of Developers are giving away a great prize to the Lord or Lady who creates the BEST castle! Design, sketch, paint, render, construct, or build your ideal stronghold in whichever manner you wish and we'll judge it! All entries will be considered, so don't be afraid to be creative. Here's what you could win!
I suppose management types can get away with not having a nickname, but Shay has a good ring to it no? Shay Girard steps forth into the spotlight today, and apparently she's one of those people playing The Sims:
"Full Name: Shay Girard Joined Ensemble Studios: 1999 Job Title: Office Manager Home Town: Dallas
The Sims and the many expansions for it have been selling so well, I knew there were plenty of people who played the game, but here is the first person I know of who's admitted to playing the game. Kind of fitting that she's a manager. Stop by and read up on the full write-up. ...Sims are out selling just about every other PC game out there... ; )
A reminder that submissions for November's Monthly Challenge, All Things Unequal is due today before 23:59 EST. If you're international, you can check the world time converter. Send all final submissions to Angel Cay. If you're almost done and need an extension, you can appeal to his good will ... bribes and ego stroking work as well.
You really have to wonder sometimes who's team your allies are really on. Or if they bought AOK by mistake, instead of the latest SimCity title for their gaming library. Forumer splastic is looking for a few good tales of really really bad allies to make him feel a little better after his last game. It seems one of his team members was having trouble building farms. Makes you wince just reading that doesn't it? Read his full horror story in this post and share one or two of your own while you're at it.
Group therapy, it can work wonders. ...erm...no...I'm not speaking from personal experience... ; )
A small update has been made to our buildings section this evening. The Greek Buildings have a new addition in the form of the Lighthouse from this week's screenshot released by Ensemble Studios. We know the name of the building, and that the Greeks can build it, but speculation is running wild on what role it plays in the game. So far, nothing has been confirmed, but drop by this forum post to see some ideas that have been put forth. ...hate being in the dark, don't you? ...whew, sorry...bad one! ; )
The Mushroom did a recent review on Empire Earth. A pretty quick review with an overall "You'll like the game" feel to it. Here's a quote:
With a scope that huge, one must wonder if the game is balanced or even remotely playable. I mean, controlling legions of pike men, squads of marines (with artillery backup), and gigantic mecha would require vastly different interfaces, wouldn't they? Amazingly enough, the simple and intuitive interface of EE gets the job done pretty well for all of the ages, though things can get pretty hairy in the later parts. As far as controls go, EE is one of the few games that get almost everything right.
Well, overall EE received a 7.5/10 mushrooms. You can read the rest of the review by clicking here.
Two new articles have been added to the strategy section, Squads and The Basic Startup. They involve information on Atomic Age infantry and the general startup in multiplayer random map games. Be sure to check them out:
The mere mention that Ensemble Studios was considering making another patch for The Conquerors has sparked a lot of interest and debate over what it would and should tweak. Fixing the cost of Goth infantry so that they cost 25% less is a no-brainer, but beyond that there are a wide variety of suggestons. Drop in on this post to add your two-bits to the discussion. ...if they do patch, we may be waiting until after AOM is released... : \
Just in from Mr Ed over at MFO: There will be an EE Random map tournament this Thursday at 8:00 PM EST. All are invited to come. Check out this page for details.
Owner of one of the most hilarious job title descriptions ever, Jake "D_Dawg" Dotson is the latest Ensemble Studios team member to be hit by the spotlight:
"Full Name: Jake Dotson Internet Handle: D_Dawg Joined Ensemble Studios: January 31, 2000 Job Title: I’m the incompetent IT Support Tech that every company has at least one of. I’ve got a great system that they have yet to catch onto…I come into the office at night and break a few of the computers. So when I come in the next morning, (Jake I need help), I fix it (Somehow your IDE cable to your drive came unplugged), I’m the hero plus I retain my job. After that I drink coffee for the rest of the day while I play AOM. It’s a hard life! Home Town: My home was the Marine Corps and where ever they sent my family, but I spent a few hours at the Hospital in Conroe, TX.
Favorite Computer Games: Oh dude! The Age of Empires series of course. Counter-strike, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, NFL Fever 2002 (Xbox), Halo (Xbox), 1943 (Mame)"
Well Jake is proof that it takes more than artists, designers, and programmers to make good games. It also takes a guy who drinks coffee, and fixes things he's broken. Good show! Check out Jake's full write-up which includes an interesting bio. ...hmm, lots of ex-armed forces blokes there... ; )
Another positive review of SWGB. SLcentral.com give it a 8/10, stating that
Speaking relatively, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds redeems LucasArts for its failure with Force Commander. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds does not bring anything new to the genre, nor does it take Ensemble Studios to ground they have not traversed in the past. It does, however, offer an entertaining way of putting all of the races, characters, locals, and technologies from the Star Wars universe into a single real-time strategy game.
Our thanks to the champ, Gary__Payton, who has pointed formers to an interesting bit of voting going on at the official World Cyber Games site. The WCG gang are looking for game recommendations for their next competition, and we are free to vote! The Conquerors expansion pack is among the games on the list for PC games, and you can also recommend Xbox and PS2 titles that you feel should be apart of their competition. Make sure your voice is heard!
Angel Nojd alerted me to the Gamespotting feature of Gamespot.com, where the staff post their hot pics for the coming year.
Andrew Park, Managing Editor, is looking forward to all the turn-based strategy games coming out this year, but he paid special attention to Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne. Here's a clip:
The sequel is going to expand and improve on all these features. For starters, it'll have an enhanced map editor, as well as two brand-new playable races, the Tigrans and the Draconians. What's more, the sequel won't force you to remain with a single race at the beginning of any game--you'll actually be able to recruit different units from different races more or less from the get-go. Though all the races won't work well with each other, it'll be interesting to create more varied armies from the start--and I'm sure that several different races will have interesting unit abilities that'll play off each other well. Age of Wonders II will also have new city upgrades, some of which will actually resemble those of Heroes of Might and Magic's city structures. For instance, rather than simply upgrading a town to level two or three, you'll be able to build miscellaneous structures, like the hall of enchantment, that can grant your armies additional powers. Oh, and I could mention that Age of Wonders II will look considerably better than the first game. It'll make use of particle effects and 3D terrain, as well as larger, more-detailed units, though it'll retain the same sort of distinctive hand-drawn portrait art of the original game, which generally resembled an interesting cross between a fantasy artist's sketchbook and an oil painting.
There's also a nice tactical combat screenshot with a face-off between the Dwarven War Cannon and Frostling Mammoth (which first debuted here at AOWH). Click here to see more animated AOW2 units.
You can read the entire here. There's also a poll so be sure to vote!
The one and only Kong_KK was poking around on the Ensemble Studios site and found an AOM screenshot that was not released. TheShadowDawn has posted it here in the forums for all to see, but you'll notice that it is an older screenshot. Much of the artwork has since been replaced and updated, but it's still worth a look if not only for the flaming stones a catapult is tossing around.
Thanks for sharing guys! ...6-9 month old eye candy...but it's just as sweet... ; )
The AOM News page that Ensemble Studios keeps up has had a facelift! The imposing figre of Odin is watching over their page now, and the familiar blue tiles have been replaced with a lovely blend of borders and backgrounds that we may be seeing in the game itself come September. Drop in for a look! ...Thor looks pretty plain jane next to Odin... : P
Update The new look has been taken down for some more fine tuning. We should see it re-posted in all its splendor in a few days.
Jumping into ES spotlight today is none other than David "DaveTGit" Lewis. He's been with the Ensemble Studios team for a geat long while, and is currently working on everybody's fav upcoming game, AOM:
"Full Name: David Alan Lewis Internet Handle: DaveTGit Joined Ensemble Studios: March 1997 Job Title: Software Test Engineer Home Town: Houston Texas
Anything Else You Desire To Ramble On About: Well I could talk about my spaceship I have in my backyard, and how I am really an alien from the crab nebula but that would take to long."
Alright then, back to work Dave! Read up on his full spotlight article, which reveals more about his hobbies, and the infamous monkey head. ...Dave provided much of the inspiration for the VDML cheap in AOK...or so the vague and distorted story goes... ; )
There is no escape. Gordon Farrell uploaded the final instalment (or is it?) of his immensly popular Usurper campaign. You find yourself outside a massive castle, and you need to get in. Preferably before the enemy shows up outside those very walls as well and destroys any hope of bringing peace to the kingdom.
It's sneaky, it's viscious and you can find it here.
Oh, in case you were wondering who's responsible for these wonderful introdution images, it's none other than Brave Sir Robin
A new patch for AOK? Yes folks, believe it or not, Age of Kings popped up in last night's chat with Ensemble Studios' own Bruce Shelley. The main topic was of course the new game that they are working on, Age of Mythology. But, not only did Gary__Payton stop by to mention that he had just defeated Myll_Barka to become the AOKH Ladder champion, the possibility of a new patch came up as well:
"KES_HAMERDAMAGE> Bruce...great games....love the series alot...september is a long time off my friend...patch of simple things would fire up the aok/tc community again(keeping the interest in the game=better aom sales/$) and is not that labor intensive to do/thank you..ga +Bruce@ES> there is some interest at ES in a new patch. It is being discussed. Keep an ear out. ga"
At least they are talking about! We'll keep our eyes and ears peeled for any patch news, you can be sure. In the meantime, wonder over to AOMH and check out the full chat transcript from the event. ...thanks for coming out Bruce!!! ; )
Well the strat articles keep on coming in, which will hopefully not stop any time soon. Enjoy and if whether you like it or dislike the article/s remember to rate them.
The Basics-Might give the newbies out there a little head start.
The ES spotlight falls on a very new member of the Ensemble Studios team today. David "Learguy" Leary has only been around the studios since October of last year, but he's already hard at work on creating content for Age of Mythology:
"Full Name: David Leary Internet Handle: Learguy Joined Ensemble Studios: October 2001 Job Title: Content Designer Home Town: Farmington, New Hampshire
Most Embarrassing Moment: First year of college, after a lengthy drinking bender, dragging a paper bag full of my own vomit up and down a dormitory hallway for about an hour. The bottom of the bag only lasted the first fifteen minutes. My hallmates were not pleased."
Soiling the hallowed halls of learning. Impressive! The rest of David's write-up isn't quite as crazy, but well worth looking at. ...*whine* cut me right index finger...will be a lil' slower typing and clicking for a bit... : \
For those of you who like to keep on top of virus news, the gang at Avault, among others, have posted news of a new virus that's spreading. The good news is that it's not really destructive, but it does come in a nice disguise:
"The virus arrives as an email with the subject line 'New photos from my party!' It contains an innocuous looking file attachment called www.myparty.yahoo.com. A message in the body of the email reads: 'Hello! My party... It was absolutely amazing! I have attached my web page with new photos! If you can please make color prints of my photos. Thanks!'"
Computer Gaming World Magazine included a review of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds in their latest edition of CGWM. Here's some of what CGW had to say:
The promise of reliving all your favorite Star Wars moments from the commander's chair is finally realized in LucasArt's latest game, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Unlike previous Star Wars strategy games, Galactic Battlegrounds is good, and it delivers sweeping battles as exciting and epic as the famous skirmishes depicted in the movie.
That's right folks, SWGB Heaven now has it's own Forumers Ladder. The ladder is moderated by Cherub ArmageddonUnlimited, and you can join by posting your Zone Name in this thread.
You won't find any battles or god powers creating havoc in this weeks screenshots, but there is still plenty to see! The Greeks aren't being hounded by anyone, so they have their fishing boats out on the ocean, which we get to see from two different camera angles. We also get another look at the mysterious Greek Lighthouse building, and the fabulous water and waves. Note how the waves are limited to the open ocean and aren't part of the river. Pretty slick! Head to the ES screenshot page for a look at two shots of the Greeks taking things easy.
Give us your two cents, and any interesting findings you spot, on these screenshots in this post in the forums. ...the two camera angles are quite a treat... ; )
2 new strategy articles have been added to the section, and it has undergone a couple developments due to the hard work of Sandamnit. It is now possible to rate articles, much like how it is done in the Downloads section. The strategy section has also been organized into 6 different subsections, so that visitors will have an easier time finding the articles that they're looking for. The newly articles added are:
For those of you who are interested in Ensemble Studios' next game, Bruce Shelley will be chatting about Age of Mythology tomorrow with fans! The event takes place in the Zone Chat Theatre stating at 6pm PST. (9pm EST, 2am GMT) Head to AOM Heaven for the full press release announcing the chat, and a heads up from Mike "Archangel" McCart on the status of this week's AOM screenshot. ...or more correctly...screenshots...as we've been getting four every Monday for the past few weeks... ; )
We've had people clamour for the option to build bridges in a future expansion of Stronghold, or even a Stronghold 2. However, thurdl had this lovely brainwave and just went ahead and built one. He was even kind enough to supply us with an article for our Mapmaking 101 section.
You can find it here and read more about it in the forum.
STRONGHOLD HEAVEN Upcoming contest at IChallengeU.COM Posted 1/26/2002 @ 10:54 AM EST by Jayhawk
Stronghold players get ready. I-ChallengeU.com is pleased to announce the first challenge for that section of our site. Take a sneak preview of what is instore at the beginning of the month of Febuary. The map will become available to all of you Feb.1, 2002, but we have provided a screen shot of the terrain now to allow some pre-contest planning.
You can find the exact information right about...here.
Meanwhile we passed the 30k visitor mark and are still counting!
CG Online, website for Computer Games Magazine, did a review on Empire Earth a few days ago. Sadly, it'ld seem the reviewer didn't enjoy it completely, but at least he knows his RTS games. Here's a small quote:
In fact, Empire Earth's greatest strength is that the epochs play like different games. Pay a sum of resources and you can upgrade to the next epoch, unlocking new units and technologies. You can effectively limit games to one or two epochs by playing with standard rules, in which the cost of "epoching up" is so prohibitive you'll only see two or three before the game ends. Alternately, you can play tournament rules, in which the epoch costs are reduced to encourage faster progression and more variety.
Overall, the review gave Empire Earth a 3 out of 5 stars. You can read the rest at this page.
A new interesting clan site has opened a website. The I Love Clan has a number of members you probably remember from the old EE Gamer fansite. In fact, here is part of the message I got from Djfudgebar:
Hi! Djfudgebar here, as you may already know, the I LovE Clan has made a new website! We will have expert strategies, ladders, tournaments, and other cool stuff. ^_^ We are working together with EEG on this, the EEG site isn't up yet... but thats because we are still trying to find a host.
Looks like so far they're doing pretty good with the site with forums, ladders, and other things. You can see the site here.
Well now you can! Forummer JamesMartigo has asked our Scenario Design Forum if they wanted to help out with an upcoming scenario by signing up for a Cameo Appearence.
I thought it might be a good idea to make a small database of people who wouldn't mind appearing in other people's scenario's. The can also state what units they would like to appear as, and what they want for unit stats. This list can than be used by scenario editors who would like to put cameo's in their scenario.
Visit the thread to get your name on this list here
This is Angel Socrateius, and I'm the new strategy angel for EEH. I have previously written content for this site, and have also worked as Strategy Angel and as many other positions in several other HeavenGames sites. Following the reopening of EEH and the opening of her strategy section, five strategy articles have been submitted and added to the site. Those articles are:
If you have any question about the strategy section, writing strategy articles for EEH, or anything else similar, you can contact me at socrateius@eudoramail.com
Ack! I was late posting this... I didn't realize that it was Friday until I was surfing Ebay and found out . Well then this means tomorrow is Saturday, so Saturday means Forum Party right? Yep... as per usual. Think we might get some custom RMS into some games. So grab them over at out Download section, under Random Map Scripts. This weeks theme is Nomad, if you remember that from AoK. So of course, I mean get the three NOmad type scripts: AzN-Final, Deadland, and NOmad--Also, get some of the other quality maps avaliable. We will have some normal games too... so don't fret! I can understand if you cant handle NOmad . Check the Forum Party Thread for complete details and some pre-game trash talking. Okay... lets get out connections straight. Pleeeseeee dont disconnect, especially if your on my team... ehehe. BTW, I looooove this new design. And my posts looks nice in it. ;)
We have recently added a couple new articles to the Scenario Editor section of the site. So if your an avid scenario designer you'll definitley want to check these out!
COSSACKS HEAVEN Release Date for the Art of War in the UK Posted 1/25/2002 @ 5:50 PM EST by TNK
According to The Official Cossacks Site, the Art of War expansion for Cossacks should be released in the UK on February 8th. From the site:
British gamers ready, steady and "go" will follow February 8th 2002. The add-on COSSACKS: THE ART OF WAR will be hitting British shelves and render all Cossacks-fans happy.
Not just a chat, a chat about Age of Mythology! Our chance to grill Ensemble Studios' own Bruce Shelley about the game is just around the corner:
"CHAT WITH BRUCE SHELLEY ABOUT AGE OF MYTHOLOGY - MONDAY, JANUARY 28 ON ZONE.COM
Microsoft today announced that on Monday, January 28, from 6pm to 7pm PST, Bruce Shelley, senior designer at Ensemble Studios, will be in the Zone Theater Chat Room (http://www.zone.com/zzzz/auditorium.asp) to talk about the highly anticipated real-time strategy title Age of Mythology, which is slated for release in September 2002. To participate in the chat and go behind the scenes of Age of Mythology, click "Chats & Events" on the navigation bar across the top of any Zone.com page, and then click "Chat Rooms" and "Zone Theater Chat" in the room list.
Bruce Shelley has been a professional game designer and developer since 1980 when he began working with paper and board games. In 1987, Shelley made the switch to computer games. Prior to the start of Ensemble Studios in 1995, Shelley was best known for assisting Sid Meier on the design of the original editions of Railroad Tycoon and Civilization. He is a senior designer at Ensemble Studios, where he helped organize the company and evolve their development methodology. He contributed to the design of both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.
Using familiar elements of classical mythology, Age of Mythology casts players as ancient Greeks, the Norse and Egyptians. Players can call upon the mighty powers of gods such as Zeus to rain down lightning bolts on unsuspecting enemies. Age of Mythology also incorporates Ensemble Studios' trademark features from previous Age of Empires games, including a compelling economic model, a massive army and battle system, unequaled artificial intelligence, random maps, intuitive gameplay and extreme attention to detail.
Age of Mythology's 3-D engine delivers impressive graphical detail in a fully 3-D environment, including realistic terrain and lighting adjusted to produce the look of any time of day. In-game cinematics create a seamless, story-based and character-driven campaign. In addition, the game features incredible special effects with astonishing levels of detail, including fluid ocean waves, waterspouts, infernos, lava, tornadoes, earthquakes and smoke." - Steve Cherrier
Make sure you show up early as everyone and their monkey will be there to ask a question. For those of you in other timezones, 6pm PST is 9pm EST, and a brutal 2am GMT.
For those of you who haven't been to a chat before, if you're going to be asking a question, have it typed out on notepad or some such program so that you can just paste it into the chat field. It'll make things go faster so more people can ask questions! See you there! ...it's a good idea to have 2 or more questions ready too, in case someone asks yours first... ; )
Our "What's on Matt's Monitor" contest has now closed! We had quite an amazing number of guesses made, thank you all for taking the time to send in yours. Absolutely no one guess exactly what the object is, but we're still awarding the prize, not to worry.
So, what the heck is it?? In the words of Matt Pritchard, "It's a Fallout Tactics knapsack"
All of you who sent in an entry saying that it was some type of sack, or bag, had you names tossed in the hat for the prize draw. You all did a grand job figuring out what it was, and there were about twelve names up for the prize. Our winner is Claudia P.! Congratulations, and thanks once again to all those who entered.
Here are a few of the entries that came in, some make for some great reading:
To me, it looks like a green soft cushy football that has a shark's mouth on it, and a cup holder attached to it.
Is it one of those annoying fish that sing when you go near them?
basically, its a skull of some kind of animal. The (from our point of view) left ear is missing. and it got some black tape/rope/*doesntknowword* around its "face". -- it looks so big and wierd, because its casting a shadow that looks like it belongs to the object itself.
its a web can [cam] that was boring so he decided to make it into something better to look at
a shark candy dispenser
Is it a shark face mask? Or is it a stuffed shark with a mask or something on it? Bondage, anyone?
The very busy lead designer on Age of Mythology was caught standing still for just a moment today and was blinded with the good ol' ES spotlight. Ian "Fish" Fischer has written up a great spotlight, which includes many lists of his favs:
"Full Name: Ian M. Fischer Nickname: Fish, 13 Joined Ensemble Studios: 1997 Job Title: Lead Game Designer Home Town: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Favorite Movies: Memento, Fight Club, Star Wars, Dr. Strangelove, The Thing, Aliens, Snatch, Amores Perros, Run Lola Run, The Matrix, Animal House, Reservoir Dogs, Trainspotting, Blade Runner, Seven Samurai, etc."
Ahhhh, that be a fine list. After you've checked out the full write-up we have a little more on Mr.Fischer. Some of you may remember that we interviewed Ian not long ago, so if you're interested in more on this feller, dust off this interview at AOMH. ...which includes how he got his other nick, 13... ; )
There's no excuse for me putting this up so late again, so I won't even try. GillB managed to collect a wonderful amount of information on the British Royal castle.
Windsor Castle, Berkshire in Berkshire, England, has been an official residence of the Royal Family for the last 900 years and is the only royal castle that has been in continuous occupation since the middle ages.
Enjoy.
I hope I'm a bit sooner uploading the second part of Saint Brigid's tomorrow...
Remember that AOM movie that Mike "Archangel" McCart mentioned was in the marketing plan for release somewhere around this time? Well he's just given us a good news/bad news update on the status of that much anticipated bit of myth:
"The Bad news: Our AVI Capture Equipment had a little problem that required us to do some overnighting of parts and on site repair.
The Good news: Lord Soth (Sean Wolff) said the equipment is back in order this evening and he hopes to capture it Friday or Monday. SO, just making a guess..."
...and the guess he goes on to make is that we may see the new movie as early as the end of January, or very early into February! Read the full post and get the good word straight from Archangel in this post from the forum. ...bottle test...if you get more than two right, you've got a problem... ; )
We now have the entire walkthrough for the Greek Campaign up in the Walkthroughs Section. If you are looking for some help with any of the scenarios take a peek and see if we can help you out. Good luck!
I was flipping through Computer Games World when I suddenly saw an article on Empire Earth. CGW did a 2 page basic strategy article. It won't make you an expert, but might be nice if you get it monthly or see it at the store. My favorite part are the first few sentences, "..Empire Earth is a deep, sophisticated, and very rewarding game.". The article is in the March 2002 issue near the end of the magazine.......magazine also has a great preview on Unreal 2
The very first modpack (at least to me) has hit the scene. Enrique Orduno, well respected designer and forumer, created a small modpack called Space Terrains. It allows a designer to basically use 2 space terrains.
It took a lot of time no doubt to figure out how to make this mod, but EO with the great help of a few others has been able to do it. You can check out the modpack here........one small step for designers but one mile for modpack designers.
As seen on some other fansites around the net (thanks EEC) The Clever Group will be releasing a multiplayer scenario design tool which will allow 8 human players to play a multiplayer scenario.
EE Multiplayer Map Tool v.1.0 is 99% complete and is in the process of bug testing. I'll probably have it available for download within a week or so. It is a map generator and scenario files manager tool. With a click of a button, it generates a blank multiplayer seed map. A scenario file that can be edited via EE's own scenario editor but with one big bonus; it opens all 8 human player slots! The one major feature that Stainless Steel Studios did not activate. It can also take that scenario file after you edited and saved it, with a click of another button, automatically convert and transfer the file to the saved game directory for use as a multiplayer saved game. Plus, you can manage both *.scn and *.ees files and folders on the fly. It's a quicker and more efficient alternative to using windows explorer.
If you are interested in helping us bug test the program or just have some comments and questions, don't hesitate to contact me at ittcnst@go.com or post your toughts here at the forums. Check with our website at: The Clever Group within the next few days for more informaton regarding this tool.
You can download the evaluation version from The Clever Group download page.
This is an memorable moment, as the Stronghold Heaven Downloads section now holds one hundred maps and utilities. Quoting our Download Statistics here's the details
We currently offer 100 downloads. 35 of which are Invasion scenarios, 11 are Economic scenarios, 17 are siege missions, and 5 are freebuild missions. Then there are 10 Siege That! maps and 19 mulitiplayer maps.
Rumour has it our more technically oriented staff is working on an expansion of the statistics. The plan is to change the list on this page into one that shows the top ten downloaded files for the past seven days. This angel is very curious to see that come true.
The Norse god Odin has been spotted! Chep, who has his own AOM site, spotted a great piece of artwork that can be none other than one-eyed Odin. The image has been posted here in the forums, and awaits your comments.
Thanks Chep! He says he spotted it over at the Ensemble Studios store, where you'll find Egyptian, Greek, and Norse t-shirts and other such cool items. ...the store, that must be where I spotted him before... ; )
The deadline for entries in our "What's on Matt's Monitor?" contest is tomorrow at 12 noon EST! If you still haven't got a clue at what this object sitting on Matt "The Optimizer" Pritchard's Monitor is, here is a little hint: this object would be more appropriate on Matt than on his monitor
If you are way off the mark, hopefully that clue will help give you a better idea of what it is. If you have already sent in a guess or two, feel free to send in another! Send your guess to thunder@heavengames.com by 12 noon EST tomorrow. (that's 5pm GMT, and 9am PST) All you have to do is identify this object and you may win a HG t-shirt and a More Music From The Ages CD! ...hope that helps a little... ; )
Another Ensemble Studios without a nickname? That should be against the law. Well, Robert Anderson, the latest ES spotlight victim, hasn't been with the company nearly as long as some of the other team members, so he'll likely pick up a nick as he goes along. In usual spotlight fashion, he gives us a bit of a look at himself:
"Full Name: Robert Anderson Nick Name: No official ‘nick as of yet. Joined Ensemble Studios: April 30, 2001 Job Title: Software Tester Home Town: Dallas
Short Bio: The short version. Born Chicago, IL. Moved to Dallas, Texas at age 5. In 1980 my family purchased an Atari Computer, and I become forever a computer game player. Then a bunch of stuff happens, as I get older. Fast forward to 1996 I get married, and my wife discovers the depth of my computer game hobby, and because she is so awesome she stays with me J. A few years later I leave my job managing an Electronic Boutique store to take a job at ION Storm. I was out of retail at last, hurray. Then in 2001 two awesome things happened in my life; I became a homeowner and I came on staff here an Ensemble. Today, testing stuff in AoM."
Three cheers for Robert on fighting his way out of retail! Stop in and check out his spotlight write-up and take a look at his picture. He's got a pretty cool image on one of his two monitors, but it's too bad that window is covering up the good bit. ...a rather large building perhaps? ; )
Wow, they are a busy crew at Empire Earth Heaven! The day after they go live with their new design, they launch a massive scenario design contest, with a pretty amazing prize or two:
"EMPIRE EARTH HEAVEN ANNOUNCES "RETURN TO DESTINY" SCENARIO DESIGN CONTEST January 24th, 2002
Empire Earth Heaven (http://ee.heavengames.com), a site published by HeavenGames, LLC, announced today the Return to Destiny Empire Earth Heaven Scenario Design Contest. This alternative-history themed contest promises to give amateur scenario designers from around the world a chance to win fabulous prizes, and the opportunity to have their scenario featured in an upcoming issue of PC Gamer (www.pcgamer.com), the world’s best-selling computer gaming magazine.
With the submission deadline set for March 15th, 2002, designers have nearly two months to create and submit their scenarios, which must present a “What-if?” question that could have altered the outcome of a historical event or series of events taking place within the time frame covered by the Renaissance to World War II epochs (approximately 1300 to 1950 A.D.).
A number of the community’s foremost authorities on Scenario Designing shall be judging the contest, including Stephen “Lobby” Ryan and Jason “The Rasher” Dillman, two of the Singleplayer Designers with SSSI whose work can be seen in the Russian and English Empire Earth campaigns respectively. Other judges include EEH staff members “Park”, “Shadow Angel”, “Akavish”, “shadows166”, and “Tartarus”. All judges are some of the foremost authorities on scenario designing in the EE community, and their knowledge and attention to detail shall ensure that the contest is run in as fair and professional a manner as possible.
For more information, as well as the official Rules and Regulations, see the Return to Destiny official site at http://ee.heavengames.com/contests/return_to_destiny. Please direct all comments or questions to rasher@heavengames.com"
Well there's a very inspirational idea for a contest. There are a ton of events during that time period which shaped our world, and it will be interesting to see how designers deal with such events if their outcome were different. What if the Axis countries managed to win WWI? What if Napoleon was successful in defeating Russia? I better stop there. Good luck to everybody! ...having your winning entry in PC Gamer would look great on the resume of a content designer... ; )
That's right! Empire Earth Heaven is proud to present our first-ever Scenario Design Contest. In this Alternative History-themed contest, you have a chance to show your stuff to the world, win some great prizes, and have your scenario reviewed by some of the top scenario designers in the community!
Head on over to the Return to Destiny Official Contest Page for all the latest rules & regulations, along with submission procedures and a list of all the great prizes you can win. We also have a special treat for you as well: we have made a deal with PC Gamer Magazine, in which all winning scenarios will be included in an upcoming edition of the mag, where they are sure to be seen and played by thousands of people!
Head over to the Return to Destiny Official Contest Page and check out the guidelines, then fire up the editor... you have until March 15th to submit your entries, which gives you nearly two months to churn out your perfect masterpiece for the world to see. The submission form will be coming soon!
Want to comment/rant/rejoice/complain about the contest? Visit this thread in our Scenario Design Forum and make your opinion known!
I'm still in awe of the site redesign... I barely even recognize her any more with this fresh new coat of paint!
A trio of HeavenGames sites are generating some extremely noteworthy news of late. First and foremost though is a major redesign of Empire Earth Heaven! The new look is quite a departure from the usual HG style, but more functional and snappy. Stop by for a look, and also a read as much of their content has been updated or is in the process of being updated.
Other HG sites making waves? Well you've no need to look any further than Cossacks Heaven, where not only have they just passed the 200,000 visitor milestone, but the developers of that game are eager for your input! If you're a fan of the game, don't miss out on this chance.
Last, but certainly not least, good ol' Caesar 3 Heaven has passed the 700,000 visitor milestone! Conrats to the C3 team on filling that site with such great content that it still draws quite the number of visitors. ...might end up catching up to AOEH... ; )
Its been in the works for quite a while and here it is, the new EEH redesign! Along with the redesign we have updated much of the content on the site. Feel free to peruse through everything to your left. Some of the larger changes are:
New FAQ Section
New Strategy Database - Submit your own strategy articles!
Walkthroughs for some of the English Campaign and Russian Campaign!
Reworked download section - new search features and more!
If you catch any bugs you can send them my way. Enjoy! ...Rasher was mumbling something about scenarios the other day, we'll have to wait and see what he has up his sleeve... ; )
Some of you may have already heard about John Romero's new company, Monkeystone Games, where you'll also find former Ensemble Studios team member Brian Moon. (not to be confused with Brian Sullivan who has gone off to Iron Lore...thanks to Ben "formerly Angel Washizu" Garvey for setting me straight) Well, the Monkeystone news page reveals that they are going to be helping bring an RTS game called Argentum to a pocket PC near you! Take a look at some of the screenshots for the game, they're pretty damn cool for a pint sized RTS.
With portable devices becoming more and more advanced, it looks like electronic entertainment companies are getting serious about cracking this new market. ...the Monkeystone crew has been very busy of late, check out the rest of their news.... ; )
There's $100 bucks up for grabs, if you don't mind getting your feet wet. This 2on2 team islands tournament is going to be getting underway on Feb 23rd, so you've got a little time to practice up. For more information, drop in on this page on the No Rules Clan site. (thanks RTS Central)
While doing the usual poke around at RTS Central's AOK page, I stumbled on birthday news — or rather it jumped out at me. None other than Mr.Fixit himself is turning another year older today, so here's a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY from over here in Heaven! ...no word on his actualy age...and I won't hazard a guess... ; )
For those of you still scratching your heads over our "What's on Matt's Monitor?" contest, we now have a prize to award the winner! For the lucky lad or lass who manages to figure out what the strange object is that's sitting on Matt Pritchard's monitor, they will be taking home a lovely HeavenGames t-shirt and a More Music From The Ages CD! (you can't find those in stores ya know)
In the unlikely event that more than one person is able to figure out what the object is, we will do a random draw amongst those with the correct answer. For more contest information, see the WOMM Contest post below! ..."A flat football with headphones!"...ummm, no... ; )
The myth units poll has wrapped up at the ES AOM site and they have plastered up a brand new one! It's another major question: What is your favorite Mythological god? Your choices include all nine of the gods, including the Egyptian God Isis, confirming that Osiris has been replaced. Wander on over to the news page on their site and tackle the new poll, located on the bottom right of the page.
It's not a runaway, but so far Odin is in the lead! ...he's always been popular... ; )
The Elven Queen Julia dominates the February cover of Computer Games Magazine and she looks better than ever! That signature armor of hers hasn't tarnished one bit. This is also the same image of Juila that appears on the Official AOW2 site as well. You can download multiple resolution wallpapers of this amazing cover at CGOnline.com.
I'm sorry there hasn't been too much for you to read here lately. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been around the forums much in the last week and a half. I had a real crunch time at work, and in the middle of that chaos my great-aunt passed away, which put everything on hold made it much more difficult to catch up. The holiday weekend turned into a "working weekend" for me, but at least I was able get back on track.
There will be more frequent news updates as we highlight comments from the developers and post news and rumors abot AOW2. The Devs have been pretty active in the AOW2 General Discussions forum lately; stop by check out the latest buzz!
That would be short for, "What's on Matt's Monitor?". The recent spotlight aritcle on Matt "The Optimizer" Pritchard included an image of his office, and a rather strange something or other sitting on his monitor. I'm pretty sure no one is going to be able to guess what it is, but if you're up for the challenge, e-mail your guess to thunder@heavengames.com. (be as specific as you can)
Deadline: 12 noon EST, Friday, Jan 25th. (watch for a hint on the 24th if no one has guessed correctly)
Prize: Unknown...I'm trying to scare up something, but it may just be the title of "Master of the Universe".
Everyone who isn't a member of Ensemble Studios, or HeavenGames is welcome to enter! For those of you without the aid of a slick image editing program, click on the image below to see a picture of the object in question enlarged. ...many thanks to The Optimizer for providing the answer and the inspiration... ; )
Update: We have our hands on a nifty prize for the winner! It will be revealed tomorrow afternoon. Keep those entries coming!
No one can escape the Ensemble Studios spotlight, not even their Senior Designer, Bruce "Bruck" Shelley! If you haven't heard of him, he's worked on just a few really successful games, most of which he has listed in his short bio. Bruce even does a little rambling in his spotlight write-up:
"Full Name: Bruce Campbell Shelley Internet Handle: Bruck Joined Ensemble Studios: February, 1995 Job Title: Game Designer Home Town: Chicago
Anything Else You Desire To Ramble On About: Ensemble Studios is the fifth game company that I have worked for/helped start, and by far the most successful and the most fun. That is a tribute first to our studio head, Tony Goodman, who had the vision for the company and who assembled the early team, and, second, to the talents and drive of our entire staff. Microsoft has been a fantastic partner and life since our acquisition has been all good. When I turned 50 years old a few years ago I began thinking that the next ten years of my life would be the best; so far, that is true."
Make sure you stop in and check out Bruce's spotlight article, and his quote, which is more like great advice. ...may have a small contest coming up...Matt Pritchard's idea... ; )
COSSACKS HEAVEN GSC needs your input! Posted 1/22/2002 @ 2:30 PM EST by TNK
pepsi of GSC has posted two threads in our forums asking for your input. One thread asks about the ranking system in Cossacks for those who have the x-pack the Art of War, and the other asks about your interest in alpha testing GSC's upcomming American Conquest.
Our thanks to Xiphoid for the pointer to a very cool thread in Planet AOE's new AOM forum. Both Chris "Swinger" Rupp and Jerry "Iron" Terry have stopped in to help answer fan questions, with Iron giving us a look at what his average day is like as a playtester:
"To answer about how much we play, it depends on a lot of things. Also, gameplay is interupted at times to write up bugs in the game so that they can be fixed. My day is usually something like this:
Wake up at 9:40, get to work at 10. Go through company emails, answer anyone who needs anything. Go through the bugs im dealing with, do whats nessessary to take care of those. Play a game of AOM. Goto lunch around 12. When back, play another game of AOM. Go through the game and check on any weird things that happened in either game, whether they be balance or bug related. Play another game with a specific goal in mind. After using the screw i found to win the game, tell the designers about the screw Have a meeting with either designers, other tester guys, or "other". Play another game. Create the next "chinese skirm rush" strategy in single player. Play another game using "chinese skirm rush". Email designers about the "chinese skirm rush". Run some test passes on anything new or changed. Make sure the bugs and emails are taken care of for the day. Head home around 7."
Now there's a pretty nifty write-up wouldn't you say? You can check out his full post here, just scroll waaaay down there near the bottom. Many thanks to those ES guys once again for visiting fansite forums! ...I was a little slow finding that great post...I blame it entirely on recently snagging the full version of RTCW... ; )
There is a fantastic new piece of artwork in the rotation above our menu on the top left. Angel Zen has added an evil looking Egyptian Anubis, complete with some stylish garb and a pair of nasty blades. This mythological unit's special ability allows it to leap over impassable terrain, and other such obstacles, in order to get to enemies. You may have to refresh the site a few times to catch a glimpse, but let me assure you, you can't miss it! ...scariest looking unit pic we've seen imo... ; )
Long, long, long time member of Ensemble Studios, Matt "The Optimizer" Pritchard, has finally taken the leap into the blinding spotlight. He is hard at work mucking about with both of ES's current projects, Age of Mythology and that other top secret one, but managed to take a some time and share a little about himself with us. His spotlight article even includes mentions of some pretty unique hobbies:
"Full Name: Matt Pritchard Nickname: The Optimizer Joined Ensemble Studios: Early 1996, one of the original Age programmers Job Title: Graphics Engine and Optimization Specialist (but that’s not all I do) Home Town: Grew up in Algonac, Michigan, but I call the Dallas area home. Family Status: Happily Married to a beautiful redhead, with one Daughter and one Dog.
Interests / Hobbies: Music (My wife and I own over 1,500 Music CDs), High Performance Automobiles, Games of all kinds, Writing (I’ve been published numerous times in multiple languages and been mentioned in such places as the Economist and New York Times), anything MP3, sports (Go Cowboys!), reading, travel, boating, collecting antique computers and game systems."
As always, this spotlight article is an interesting read, giving us a little bit of insight into the folks that make some of the best RTS games out there. Those of you interested in hearing more from Matt may want to check out an old interview with him done by Angel Washizu, shortly before the Conquerors expansion pack was released. You can dust it off and give it a read here. ...what the heck does Matt have sitting on his monitor? ; )
A recent survey done by a few fansites including EENC and other European fansites has come to a close. Around 2,500 people were part of the survey, no doubt they provided some helpful feedback. To learn more click here.
Grab a partner and get set to beat the heck out of the competition in the 4th 2v2 Ladder Tournament! Tonto_Simfish is organizing this event which will get underway this Saturday, the 26th. The map will be the always unpredictable ES@Capricious_v2. For more information and a look at the complete rules, check out this post in the forum. ...love that map...makes for wide open crazy games... ; )
To heck with boar luring! The Ensemble Studios guys got a very early start on the weekly screenshots this time around. It's another series of four images that show the effects of one of the game's God Powers. This one attracts a huge herd of animals, of various species. There are some great looking Walruses, Zebras, and, well a lot more! At what appears to be the spot where the God Power was activated, a large stone with ruins on it raises from the ground and there are some lovely lighting effects.
Feel free to share your two-bits on this latest mini-series of screenshots will us in the forum. As usual, a screenshot discussion post awaits you! ...stampede!!!! ; )
Apparently on www.amazon.com has put up a release date for the EE X-Pack. They have slated the release for October 2, 2002. That is about all we know right now, besides that SSSI_Eggman hasn't denied it. Thanks to Mark_Aurel for pointing this out. Go to this thread and maybe the developers will drop us info.
After getting a positive reaction to this mini-campaign idea when I posted it in the Recovery Room, I decided to go ahead and try it.
Saint Brigid's Falls: The Chapel is the first of a series of five linked scenarios following the history and growth of the hamlet of Saint Brigid's Falls. In this first chapter, you will be asked to build a chapel next to the well created when Saint Brigid prayed here for water.
NOTE: Even though these games are labelled as Invasion maps, they concentrate at least as much, if not more on the Economic challenges.
And you know what to do when you finished it? Right! Write a review.
In case you are wondering about the litte map, no, it's not done with a screenshot. Our code-wiz Dirus has managed to decode the map data and wrote a little program on which you can drop a mapfile and have a PNG file automatically generated. You can find this little gizmo here
As if we needed another reason to stop by the ES AOM site, but we're getting one. Mike "Archangel" McCart popped into the forum in the overnight hours and mentioned that sometime around the end of February, weekly screenshots won't be the only way to kill some time before the AOM civilization showcases start up:
"If you have been a long time AGER, you may remember (or you can check them out now at http://www.gamespot.com ) the AOK Showcases Series which went into some details about gameplay, civ details, etc, etc.
This will be starting up soon (I will pass a solid date when I know it). Plus to help you pass the time, you will have another reason to visit the ES AOM site weekly starting around the end of Feb. (But now I am getting ahead of myself :)."
Despite my pathetic efforts to get a bit of a clue out of the tight lipped Archangel, that's about all we have to go on. It's likely that the game will be feature complete by then, so they may be a little more forthcoming with details at that time. ...thanks for visiting Archangel... ; )
EMPIRE EARTH HEAVEN Forum Party Tomorrow! January 19 Posted 1/18/2002 @ 3:47 PM EST by C
. Well then this means tomorrow is Saturday, so Saturday means Forum Party right? Yep... as per usual. Think we might get some custom RMS into some games. So grab them over at out Download section, under 
. Check the 
Our "What's on Matt's Monitor" contest has now closed! We had quite an amazing number of guesses made, thank you all for taking the time to send in yours. Absolutely no one guess exactly what the object is, but we're still awarding the prize, not to worry.
The Elven Queen Julia dominates the February cover of Computer Games Magazine and she looks better than ever! That signature armor of hers hasn't tarnished one bit. 
This is also the same image of Juila that appears on the 
Saint Brigid's Falls: The Chapel is the first of a series of five linked scenarios following the history and growth of the hamlet of Saint Brigid's Falls. In this first chapter, you will be asked to build a chapel next to the well created when Saint Brigid prayed here for water.