Ex Ensembler’s thoughts on AOE 2 HD and AOM:EE
If you’re a Steam user you have have seen for a while prominent features of Age of Empires 2 HD and Age of Mythology Extended Edition available to play on Steam. Its great to see these classic Ensemble titles back in the game for purchase. Joining Age of Empires 3 which is also available for purchase on Steam there are now three major games in Ensemble’s legacy in the modern day Steam store and audiences both old and new can enjoy these great games. Read more
Age of Empires Online is free to play with premium expansion packs
One of Robot Entertainment’s designers, Jerome Jones has commented in the press about the Age of Empires buisness model. Age of Empires Online will be available for free come Spring 2011 via the Games for Windows Live Platform. There will also be premium content to purchase separately but this content will be fully featured content and not just micro transaction for small items. Instead the premium content will be stuff like whole new civilisations with a whole set of brand new quests, similar to the size of previous expansion packs as previous games in the Age of Empires series. Jerome speaks to VG247 as follows:
“So it would be like paying for an expansion pack. … You won’t buy one thing at a time. You might buy an entire civ or another region with a bunch of quests in it”
13 minute preview of Age of Empires Online at Gamespot
Those trying to dig out as much Age of Empires Online video content as they can will be pleased to know that Gamespot have a 13 minute preview video of the new Age game where Jerome Jones from Robot Entertainment walks us through some of the core gameplay elements for both new and old Age fans. Take a look at this:
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/video/6273820/
Robot Entertainment website goes live!
Robot Entertainment has (finally) launched its website! The studio is responsible for Age of Empires and Halo Wars support along with developing thier own new game. Robot is headed up by Ex Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman.
The website has a news section and a detailed studio information section. Similar to the independent days of Ensemble Studios the website lists all staff members and thier role along with a pretty humours description of each! The brand is actually quite a wild change from the brand of Ensemble, Robot is young and youthful, despite having the talent of Ensemble Veterans.
Be sure to check out some pictures of the studio, the office looks very funky just take a look at some of these:
Its a meeting, not dinner
Some funky chairs
Thats a rather fancy desk! What are you working on? A new game? :O
Mr Pottinger demoing the new conference room features. Is that Jerome on an iPhone?! What is with the Ensemble vets and iPhones?!?
Want to work here? I can understand why you would, but you cant as Robot isnt hiring at the moment.
Be sure to check out the rest of the Robot Entertainment website here: http://www.robotentertainment.com/
A list of Robot employees (bots) can be found on the website but also on the new “Robot Entertainment” page on this blog.
Robots at work; Halo Wars.com gets re-branded and DLC coming
Halo Wars fans who often visit the official Halo Wars community website may have noticed that as of yesterday the site had been re-branded from Ensemble Studios to Robot Entertainment. Whilst I am pleased that Robot get to make their mark its somewhat sad that the Ensemble name has been removed.
Robot Entertainment folk are working on Halo Wars DLC which I imagine will be announced in the next few weeks. It is unknown whether the DLC will completely or partially re-brand the game to Robot Entertainment. Tony Goodman’s crew are staying zipped about what the DLC is going to include. Good news is however in traditional Ensemble fashion they are actively listening to fans and players on the forums. You can catch people like Dave Pottinger and Jerome Jones who were both leads on Halo Wars browsing the forums. Just look for the Robot logo under their names.
Of course another thing we can expect soon is the launch of the Robot Entertainment website which has been displaying a splash screen for quite a while; keep checking back here by adding us to your RSS feed and we’ll let you know when it goes live.
A few other updates…
I know I’ve promised updates to the Bruce Shelley and Ben Donges blogs, I’ll try to get them up soon.
Oh, and, I’m sorry to report that ES_Paragon and ES_Solus are no longer with the Ensemble crew at Robot or Bonfire, but are pursuing other opportunities. We wish them good luck with that. 🙂
Halo Wars Vid Doc 3 is up
A quick post from me to let you know that the third Halo Wars vid doc can now be viewed here:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halowars/
Halo Wars vid doc 2
The 2nd Halo Wars video documentary is now available on Xbox Live but also on YouTube here:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=QU7pYjVNm-w
Link courtesy of Peterport on HaloWars.com forums
