Asian Dynasties strikes gold

Big Huge Games' take on Age of Empires III sets sail to manufacturers, arrives for Vista, XP PCs on October 23.

One of the biggest announcements coming out of Microsoft's X06 event in Barcelona, Spain, last year was that not only was a Halo-themed real-time strategy game in the works, but also Microsoft's real-time strategy gurus at Ensemble Studios were working on it. Widely heralded as good news, the announcement cast a shadow on the future of Ensemble's current flagship franchise, Age of Empires III, which was slated to receive its first expansion not a month after Microsoft's big reveal of Halo Wars.

However, this May, cause for concern seemed to be for naught, as Microsoft announced that Age of Empires III would expand again with The Asian Dynasties. Heartening still, the publishing giant revealed that development duties would reside with Big Huge Games, better known as the creator of GameSpot's Best PC Strategy Game of 2003, Rise of Nations. Big Huge is now done "playing around in [Ensemble's] sandbox," as Microsoft sends word today that Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties has gone gold and will ship to retail October 23 for Windows Vista and XP PCs.

The Asian Dynasties expands Age of Empires III into the East, introducing the Chinese, Japanese, and Indian civilizations. The newest expansion will also introduce several new gameplay features, including new methods of winning the game and fostering commerce. It will also reintroduce wonders into the Age of Empires series, as well as rework several Asia-based maps from previous Age of Empires games.

Rated T for Teen, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties retails for $29.99. The expansion requires the original Age of Empires III to play.

26 Comments

  • IIBlackknightII

    Posted Jan 1, 2008 6:01 am PT

    Nice!.

  • Mohm1234

    Posted Oct 4, 2007 2:26 am PT

    Hey the demo is out already. You can find it at http://agecommunity.com/all_downloads_tad.aspx I got it early so it downloaded pretty quickly(600 KB/sec for 15 min) but I don't know how long it will take you.

  • Chinese_J3ST3R

    Posted Oct 3, 2007 8:18 pm PT

    HATAMOTO SAMURAI'S + CHO - KU - NU'S + WAR ELEPHANTS = AWESOME!!!

  • threegde

    Posted Oct 2, 2007 9:40 pm PT

    nICE

  • gfile

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 1:18 pm PT

    Cant wait, great game!

  • geomyr

    Posted Sep 30, 2007 6:13 am PT

    AOE is one of the best rts that i have ever played in my pc it is next to warcraft and starcraft. to bad my pc is down i cant play the 3rd expansion in the aoe3 series huuuhhuuuuuu

  • phalluman

    Posted Sep 29, 2007 9:00 pm PT

    haseeb_1989 gone gold means the company shipped a master copy to be duplicated

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Sep 29, 2007 11:40 am PT

    Awesome AOE3 is my favourite strategy game.

  • Lonelynight

    Posted Sep 29, 2007 3:07 am PT

    My AoE 3 Cds are scathed

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 10:24 pm PT

    I hope this comes out for Mac as well I love playing these games on my MacBook Pro when I travel!

  • Lord_Artix

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 8:33 pm PT

    One more game for my Holiday List...

  • senan_3000

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 7:15 pm PT

    waiting eargerly

  • Mattyrock

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 5:43 pm PT

    I better get into this game, it looks fantastic!

  • RomisSandthief

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 3:52 pm PT

    This series needs a big update to compete with all the awesome strategy games around now a days. An expansion simply does not cut it for Age of Empires

  • LouieV13

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 3:07 pm PT

    meh I play AoE3 everynow and then but I dont have any expansions

  • haseeb_1989

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 2:49 pm PT

    Why are all these games getting articles that says so and so strikes gold?

  • GIF

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 2:25 pm PT

    Age of Empires 3 was not that great because even though the graphics were awesome, it was ultimately irrelevant since one could not control the pitch of the zoomable camera like one can in a game like Dawn of War, Company of Heros or Supreme Commander?-The answer is not good at all. What good are awesome visuals or a zoom feature on the game camera if you cannot use it strategically?-So I can zoom in and not see what the enemy is attacking me with? The main city was also useless since all you could so was customize the look to a certain and irrelevant extent as well. Lame feature. I still cannot wait to see Halo Wars from Ensemble though since Bungie is consulting and hopefully helps make the game fun rather than snore inducing like Age of Empires 3. Hopefull Big Huge Games handling of this expansion equates to a fun add on.

  • ppau08223

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 2:03 pm PT

    well ill be picking this up just to see the indians

  • SoupNatsi

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 1:59 pm PT

    This game is too damn old for another expansion that requires installing the original, this should be a stand alone game for the same price. Why should people have to fish out their old discs and install a big ass game that they beat 2 years ago? Its such a waste of gbs, just let us install the expansion by itself! Damn.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    I really didn't think much of Age of Empires II until it came free on a new computer I had a while back, then I absolutely loved it. Though, I don't have anything that'll run the 3rd one, but if I do get one, I'll definitely get this.

  • dr_taffin

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 1:31 pm PT

    This isn't a new Dynasty Warriors?

  • LoJo10

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 11:39 am PT

    I haven't gotten AOE3 yet, I kind of want to, but I want the platinum edition when it comes out and when its $20, or maybe $30.

    The gold edition is coming out in about a month and will come with aoe3 and the warchiefs for $30 I think.

    I want all three for $20; I hope people will still be playing the game then. I picked up a copy of AOE2 a few months back, and the gamespy servers are garbage and no one is on, or it just doesn't work.

    So I want to get an RTS that people are actually playing - I really liked rise of nations too, but no one is playing it online anymore.

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 11:38 am PT

    I see as more money coming out from my pocket

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 11:22 am PT

    that asian dynasties i think will really bring in some sales.

  • Reetesh

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 11:05 am PT

    This Expansion is going to be really cool, Many Indians already play AoE, and having Indian Dynasty in it will add more to the fun factor

  • Thorpe89 Site moderator

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 10:48 am PT

    Good to see it has gone gold. Just hope this can prove a good edition to the series.

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