Age of Empires IV Announced

[Red Storm]

https://www.ageofempires.com/games/age-of-empires-iv/

Not much revealed in the trailer, but it is being made by Relic, devs of Company of Heroes.

Also announced by Microsoft is that in addition to the AOE1 remaster, they are also planning on releasing remasters for AOE2 and 3 as well. I wonder if they'll do an Age of Mythology remaster...

Expect all of these to be Windows Store exclusives.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Given the recent trend of DRM and making titles like this exclusive to one digital distributor (or one distributor period), I honestly don't care. Not to mention the last good RTS I've seen was Supreme Commander Forged Alliance and given the trend with how they destroyed that franchise, I don't have high hopes for this being a decent game.

 

[Craig234]

Microsoft launched Age of Empires Online, took a lot of money, and shut it down.

 

[Craig234]

I went to post that I haven't forgotten AoeO on their web site, and you can't even register.

It has a 'sign in' and 'register' button. The register button just displays the forum page.

The sign in button wants permission to log in to your Xbox account. I click no. Then it wants an e-mail and display ID, but whatever you enter it gives you an error saying you didn't enter an e-mail or dispaly ID.

 

[Ranulf]

Heh, Relic and Microsoft... possible windows 10 store only. No thanks. Not after Dawn of War3.

 

[BSim500]

Given the recent trend of DRM and making titles like this exclusive to one digital distributor (or one distributor period), I honestly don't care.

Same here. AoE3 already lost the random map generation feature in the first two (plus inferior interface in general). AoE2, AoM and RoN "enhanced" re-releases did nothing more than take already pre-existing community widescreen patches and content, re-package them and stick in more DRM (despite being published by Ubisoft, the Age of Empires "Collectors Edition" DVD-ROM was surprisingly completely DRM-free). With MS pushing their own store, you can guarantee it'll be "exclusively" locked to that. And probably stuffed with micro-transactions for the "modern" gamer. Maybe they'll be extra generous and add Denuvo...

Like many of the community, the only solution for an urge to play AoE2, is to fire up AoE2 again and simply not care about lame cash-ins that come 15 years too late. MS had their chance with Ensemble Studio's, but made it very clear to everyone back then that any game / gameplay that couldn't fit on an XBox + controller + 10ft UI had to go. So we'll see whether it's just PC-only or cross-platform, because if it's the latter, the gameplay will inevitably end up 'evolving' into the usual watered down consolized "MOBA with some strategy elements" hybrid rather than any serious PC-optimised RTS.

 

[you2]

Given the restriction of microsoft store to windows 10 AND MS practice of forcing people to do what 'they' want - no way. I.e, there is nothing that prevents them from disabling windows 10 support for window store in the future to force you to upgrade to windows [whatever].

Then again if they offer it on steam or similar and it is a good game then sure i'd give it a shot.

 

[Rifter]

MS can blow me. Unless this is released on steam i could care less.

 

[quikah]

Given the restriction of microsoft store to windows 10 AND MS practice of forcing people to do what 'they' want - no way. I.e, there is nothing that prevents them from disabling windows 10 support for window store in the future to force you to upgrade to windows [whatever].

Then again if they offer it on steam or similar and it is a good game then sure i'd give it a shot.

There is nothing preventing Valve from disabling steam support in XXX to force you to upgrade to SteamOS...

 

[Rifter]

There is nothing preventing Valve from disabling steam support in XXX to force you to upgrade to SteamOS...

As long as all games worked as good on steam OS and it supported all the current API's as windows id be ok with that. I would have no issues at all dual booting steam OS to game and linux for production/work. Ill drop MS in a hearbeat as soon as i can game as well on any other OS.

 

[clamum]

Heard about this a little earlier. I was a big fan of AoE 2 (only played a little bit of 1) and bought 3 but didn't play it much.

While I'd like to be really excited about it, I'm not sure I'll end up picking it up. I just don't game that much any more and have plenty of games to keep me occupied. But I may pick it up if I can get it on sale and it looks decent; with Relic developing it I have pretty good confidence in it since the Company of Heroes games are fantastic.

 

[dud]

MS can blow me. Unless this is released on steam i could care less.

Hey, it could be worse ... it could be released through Origin!

 

[Dahak]

Hey, it could be worse ... it could be released through Origin!

Some people might prefer that to the MS Store

 

[EpicSurvivor]

I signed up for BETA hope I get an invite.
You gotta use Microsoft account to log in I think.

 

[Red Storm]

A few years back I was a die hard Steam fan. I knew Steam was a flavor of DRM , but I trusted Valve more than EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, or any other gaming related company.

Now, I am less of a die hard fan. Would I prefer these games be released on Steam instead of the Microsoft store? Sure, but it's no longer any kind of deal breaker to me. If I can buy the game and play it without the process being a pain in the ass, I will do so regardless of the platform it is selling on.

 

[EpicSurvivor]

I am going to Buy this game no matter what. lol. Being playing AOE since 1999. Really excited to see what this one will be like. Hoping it releases this year.

 

[dud]

A few years back I was a die hard Steam fan. I knew Steam was a flavor of DRM , but I trusted Valve more than EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, or any other gaming related company.

Now, I am less of a die hard fan. Would I prefer these games be released on Steam instead of the Microsoft store? Sure, but it's no longer any kind of deal breaker to me. If I can buy the game and play it without the process being a pain in the ass, I will do so regardless of the platform it is selling on.

I trust Steam enough to have 50+ games in my library ... but wouldn't it be great if something like this were released through GOG? I can dream, can't I?

 

[paperfist]

What's the Window Store/Windows 10 restriction? I've never used their store to buy games before...

 

[Stg-Flame]

They are moving all of their future games to their store so you have to switch to Windows 10 and use their distribution client to play their games. Just like EA doesn't want their games on Steam because they don't have to pay Steam any money to host their games. Same with Microsoft. None of these million/billion dollar companies want to make it easier on the consumer if it will save them a few dollars in the end.

 

[Craig234]

They are moving all of their future games to their store so you have to switch to Windows 10 and use their distribution client to play their games. Just like EA doesn't want their games on Steam because they don't have to pay Steam any money to host their games. Same with Microsoft. None of these million/billion dollar companies want to make it easier on the consumer if it will save them a few dollars in the end.

It's actually sort of understandable - there's no reason Steam as a company 'deserves' to be the platform taking a cut from everyone else.

But it's ironic since that's how Microsoft got rich by becoming the 'standard platform' others had to port to.

 

[Vivendi]

It's actually a good thing that there is competition out there for Steam.


As for AoE IV, here's hoping they learnt from their past mistakes in AoE III.

Also, why are the trailers for all the 'age of' games always the same. Looks like they spent their whole budget on Charles Dance instead of making a decent trailer.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Competition is good, but it doesn't help us at all having multiple different distributors who lock their games to that client. It would be a different story if AoE4 and all other games were allowed to be on all platforms and the end user decides which one to use - that could facilitate the clients to offer better services which could easily benefit the consumers.

At the moment it's not a huge deal since all these different clients are free to use but it's still unnecessary to have four or five different clients on your computer just to play your games. TV already does this to us with Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO GO, and now Disney is breaking away from Netflix and starting their own service (and taking Marvel with them). It's a situation that we never needed to be in and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, especially with other publishers talking about how a client for just their games would benefit their company and in-turn, benefit the customer.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather go back to DRM-free retail copies and keep countless binders full of install/play discs than deal with logging in and out of multiple clients when I want to play something else (not to mention how often these clients come under cyber attacks which make it far easier to get your identity/bank account stolen). Besides, I miss the smell of a new instruction manual.

 

[paperfist]

Competition is good, but it doesn't help us at all having multiple different distributors who lock their games to that client. It would be a different story if AoE4 and all other games were allowed to be on all platforms and the end user decides which one to use - that could facilitate the clients to offer better services which could easily benefit the consumers.

At the moment it's not a huge deal since all these different clients are free to use but it's still unnecessary to have four or five different clients on your computer just to play your games. TV already does this to us with Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO GO, and now Disney is breaking away from Netflix and starting their own service (and taking Marvel with them). It's a situation that we never needed to be in and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, especially with other publishers talking about how a client for just their games would benefit their company and in-turn, benefit the customer.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather go back to DRM-free retail copies and keep countless binders full of install/play discs than deal with logging in and out of multiple clients when I want to play something else (not to mention how often these clients come under cyber attacks which make it far easier to get your identity/bank account stolen). Besides, I miss the smell of a new instruction manual.

Retail copies used to require the CD in the drive all the time. I'd rather go back one more step and have to look up on page 22, paragraph 6, line 9, the word after submarine

 

[BSim500]

What's the Window Store/Windows 10 restriction? I've never used their store to buy games before...

Windows Store = Locked to one single version of one OS only. Plus it's Microsoft who have a history of dumping things when they get bored a few years on, eg, Zune Marketplace, GFWL, Windows Phone, and of course, dumping on Ensemble Studio's in the first place (which is why you're still waiting for AoE4 instead of enjoying it 10 years ago along with Age of Mythology 2...)

Retail copies used to require the CD in the drive all the time.

Or source a clean "NoCD". Or rip the disc to an ISO and use VirtualCloneDrive to create a fake DVD-ROM drive from it. If that sounds "risky" or "illegal", believe it or not, the DVD-ROM "Collectors Edition" (AoE 1 & 2 plus expansions published by Ubisoft with a blue-colored label), includes community patch 1.0e (which aside from adding exactly the same DirectDraw fixes (no more rainbow colored water, etc) and widescreen patches found on the Steam "HD" version, also includes the very same community-made "NoCD" patch). I bought this version and can confirm, it's completely DRM-free.

Besides, I miss the smell of a new instruction manual.

And for the Age of Empires games, those really useful printed Quick Reference Guides showing building / tech trees, civ attributes, unit counters, etc:-

AoE1 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?1833
AoE2 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?4592
AoE3 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?4215
AoM : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?278

 

[paperfist]

Windows Store = Locked to one single version of one OS only. Plus it's Microsoft who have a history of dumping things when they get bored a few years on, eg, Zune Marketplace, GFWL, Windows Phone, and of course, dumping on Ensemble Studio's in the first place (which is why you're still waiting for AoE4 instead of enjoying it 10 years ago along with Age of Mythology 2...)


Or source a clean "NoCD". Or rip the disc to an ISO and use VirtualCloneDrive to create a fake DVD-ROM drive from it. If that sounds "risky" or "illegal", believe it or not, the DVD-ROM "Collectors Edition" (AoE 1 & 2 plus expansions published by Ubisoft with a blue-colored label), includes community patch 1.0e (which aside from adding exactly the same DirectDraw fixes (no more rainbow colored water, etc) and widescreen patches found on the Steam "HD" version, also includes the very same community-made "NoCD" patch). I bought this version and can confirm, it's completely DRM-free.


And for the Age of Empires games, those really useful printed Quick Reference Guides showing building / tech trees, civ attributes, unit counters, etc:-

AoE1 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?1833
AoE2 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?4592
AoE3 : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?4215
AoM : http://www.replacementdocs.com/request.php?278

Really Ubisoft did that? Aren't they they ones with the crazy online protection these days? I was going to buy the last Settler's game last week, but after reading up on it made it not sound worth it due to DRM.