PC – Page 60 – StuffWeLike

Microsoft: Age of Empires in Safe Hands

Microsoft has making some funky business decisions and the victim will be the veteran Ensemble Studios, who, after finishing Halo Wars will shut shop. But what about the franchise they are most famous for: Age of Empires? Will it also disappear into the black hole?

Microsoft assures us that it is perfectly safe. “Microsoft continues to own Age of Empires.” says Shane Kim, VP of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft. Of course, with Ensemble Studios biting the bullet, they won’t be the ones making any future games in the franchise. But the franchise isn’t dead either.

“We’re still super excited for the potential for the franchise. The Windows gaming world continues to evolve, and we believe in the future of that property.”

So, who will keep the continue the pedigree? We have no clue. But a good guess would be the new development studio Microsoft is talking about that will probably replace Ensemble Studio. Of course, we have no idea on what this studio is, or what sort of games it will making. But yep, Age of Empires is still alive and well.

And that sparks a question for AoE fans such as myself: where does the series go from here? A logical step in progression would be continue where Age of Empires III left off: at the Industrial Age. We can probably work our way up to World War I, maybe even World War II.

Or perhaps an even enticing proposal would be reboot the franchise and start all over from the Classical Era? Or maybe a sequel to Age of Empries II, to give that awesomesauce medieval action back? The possibilities!

Will Wright’s Top 5 Favourite Video Games!

Tired of random bloggers and trolls and other nobodies listing their top 5 video games, lists that nobody cares about? Now read it from game designer extraordinaire, Will Wright, creator of Spore, Emperor of Maxis and a Geek Hero. Here’s Will Wright’s 5 favourite games, straight from MSNBC.

The ‘Civilization’ series

“I think the strategic diversity of ‘Civilization’ always interested me. There’s just so many different strategic approaches to playing the game.”

‘Grand Theft Auto’ series

“It’s such an open-ended world … you can actually be very nice in the world and drive an ambulance around saving people, or you can be very mean. The game doesn’t really force you down one path or the other unless you’re playing the missions. For me, it’s not really about the missions, it’s about the open-endedness … going out and living a life in this little simulated city. It’s like a big playground.”

‘Battlefield’ series

“I really liked the first one the best – ‘Battlefield 1942.’ I’m a big World War II history buff. It’s a team-based shooter but it’s about the only team-based shooter that I can remember where half the time I’m playing, I’m laughing. It’s humorous because of the weird things that happen. It very much feels like kids playing in the backyard, cowboys-and-Indians-type thing. It’s not so much gritty reality as it is a bunch people just having fun in a multiplayer environment.”

Advance Wars’ on the DS

“This is a turn-based strategy game on the DS. I used to play these board games as a kid – these elaborate, real board games, so it’s kind nostalgic for me, for that reason.”

‘Flight Simulator’ series

“Even though this isn’t a game, one of my very first introductions to computer games was the original ‘Flight Simulator.’ The original one was black-and-white, with wireframe graphics and before Microsoft bought it, Bruce Artwick designed it. It was this little micro world inside the computer that always fascinated me.”

Duke Nukem Movie in Works; Release Date Unknown

With Duke Nukem Forever right around the corner (you wish), it seems that 3D Realms has already gotten some ambitious plans in their delayed minds. Scott Miller from 3D Realms is collaborating with Scott Faye, producer of the upcoming Max Payne movie. The result will be just that: a goddamn Duke Nukem movie.

To start with, there’s the severe lack of potential for Duke Nukem. He worked as a hero back in the 90s, that too as a gaming hero fabled only among hardcore gamers and relatively obscure otherwise. Can he seriously come close to making a dent on film?

Add to that the utter lack of storyline for Duke Nukem. The whole thing was pretty much a pop culture rip-off that worked as a pastiche or a self-parody of itself (see what I did there?) and something to fill in the gaps while to blasted the next pig-faced alien. That for a movie? Go to hell.

And finally comes what 3D Realms are perhaps best known for. Will the movie even make it? Or will it spend another century “under development”?

Spore’s Miniature Billboard’s So Small, You Need a Telescope!

EA’s definitely gone for some innovative marketing when it comes to Spore! This billboard, located in San Francisco’s Union Square is so small, you need a telescope to see it! They probably resisted the urge to make it microscopic, if you ask me.

The billboard is of a miniature size 14″ by 6″, and as you can probably guess, not very visible to the naked eye. EA has, therefore, cut your cost of buying a new telescope by adding one of their own:

I particularly like that telescope more than anything else. Cool sea blue, smooth and sexy (almost phallic, we might say) and totally awesome-looking. There’s no reason why EA shouldn’t be selling that; people will buy that!

Since a trip to San Francisco might a bit too much for viewing EA’s advertising expertise, check out what the billboard actually looks like below. And don’t be such a snob: donate some, goddamit! There are microorganisms dying for your DNA!

Source: Kotaku

Release Dates: Call of Duty 5, Dead Space, Lich King

In October, no one will hear you scream. No, we’re not talking about Halloween, but the release of the highly anticipated sci-fi horror shooter from EA, Dead Space. Yes, we love taking potshots at that tagline that much.

EA has confirmed that the game will be heading into stores on October 14th for all the consoles (all meaning Xbox 360 and PS3), while the PC version will come ambling in on October 20th. Need to give it special time and all, I guess.

In any case, this will make for a good Halloween costume idea…

Next up, on November 4th will be coming World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Man, how long has that been in development? A year and a half? Pretty long for an expansion, methinks. That prolly goes to show how freakin’ awesome it just might be…

There isn’t any official word on this, but Kotaku seems to have found it out by abducting and interrogating random store employees.

And finally, on November 11th, the world goes to war as Call of Duty: World at War will be released. This one’s official, yes sir and comes straight from the investors site at Activision. It’ll be coming out for all consoles on that date, except, of course, the PS2.

In my honest opinion, this won’t be something very special. Especially not as special as the glorious Call of Duty 4. Because this one’s more of a “filler” game, and is, therefore, being developed by Treyarch, instead of everyone’s favourite Call-of-Duty-devs Infinity Ward.

Spore already Cracked, Torrented

Who would have thunk it? Even though the game’s North American release date is still some 4 days off, Pirates of the High Internets have already gotten their measly hands on Spore and are evolving creatures as we speak! That’s right, Spore has been cracked and uploaded on a variety of BitTorrent trackers.

I quick search shows that every major tracker has taken it up and there seem to be dozens of torrents for this. All, of course, trace their roots to the masterful crack team RELOADED. There are thousands of peers and seeds on, so it looks like a lot of people want a shot at Spore before release date.

The torrents are clocking in at 3.39 GB. According to rumours, the leak itself came from some Australian retail stores selling the game way before release time, and then it hits the Internet for the world to enjoy. I’m guessing there won’t be any multiplayer or Internet connectivity in it, like the cracked version of that Spore Creature Creator.

Of course, without Internet connectivity, the game is pretty much poop. Still, that rarely stops pirates, arr!