Age of Empires 2 HD

[Onkel Neal]

As many know, I still play AOE and AOE2 (or also known as Age of Kings (AOK). Two of the best games I ever played, I have more hours with these than any other game (yes, including AOD and SH3). They even still look pretty good, the little sprite figures are sharp and fun to watch. I always dreamed of an updated version that would be compatible with new OS and take adnvantage of better graphics (without changing the graphics approach and game mechanincs the way AOE3 did--really didn't care for it all that much).

Well, apparently someone took this ball and ran with it.



Also, I found this: a post from one of the original developers who had the idea 2 years ago, and could not get anyone at Microsoft Games to hold still long enough to get this greenlit. Of course, he had to pitch the idea as freeware, and fun and cool as that sounds, it won't pay the bills. He should have suggested this as some decently priced DLC or something.

I had a good idea why AoK is remembered so fondly. Ensemble made a number of good, and very good games. You could do much worse than having Ensemble's quality bar. But as a former co-worker once said "AoE is a good game. AoK is a *GREAT* game". Harter R, who now heads up Robot had once said "We caught Lightning in a Bottle with Age 2". And he was right. Of all the games we did at Ensemble, AoK was something extra special and it showed. Lifetime retail sales are near or around 10 Million. None of our other games did half that. It was indeed 'Lightning in a bottle'. It was just the right amount, with extra broad appeal, at the right time.

And what probably drove it home best was seeing that Age of Kings was still being sold on store shelves at Retail - and I'm not talking about the Discount bin Jewel case releases. Microsoft was, until earlier this year, selling the Age of Kings gold edition, full box, at full price - US $20, and I could find it online at Amazon and on store shelves like Fry's Electronics. …….. AND IT STILL SOLD COPIES…. After 12 years. Amazing.

Well, yeah, it is remembered fondly because it is a classic, it still is great fun to play and looks good. I would be so happy to have the same game but more options and environment elements, such as swamps, more farming choices, and stuff like that. Once in a while a computer game is so good, it falls into the category with Risk, Chess, and Monopoly--it's timeless.

Another thing about the developer's post... how weird that a game company like MS cannot manage it's catalog any better than this, or manage queries to re-market it. Really makes a strong case for the abandonware concept. Oh, don't jump up and say MS is stoopid, if they are like most everyone else, they probably have a full plate managing their current titles. But still...seems odd that the original developer could not get a solid contact with MS.