Age of Empires III Announced

Microsoft and Ensemble Studios today announced the return of the self appointed king of real-time strategy games: Age of Empires III is scheduled to ship in the second half of 2005. This will be the latest release in the award-winning franchise that has sold an impressive 16 million units worldwide.

The Rumour Monkey would like to step in here and say, ?Ha, I was right ya? m-*beeeeeeeeeep*.?

Age of Empires III is set to offer the next level of realism; with advanced battle physics and visual detail that takes a much needed leap from the series previous incarnations. And at the moment we have to say the game is looking beautiful. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. Players will move from areas filled with towering European cathedrals to the Americas inhabited by courageous tribes of Native Americans, and engage in combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.

So far the only civilizations known are the Spanish, French and British. But expect more to be revealed in the upcoming months along with more details on the game play itself.

Early in game screenshots can be found at Ensemble Studio?s official website here.

NZGamer will have any updates on Age of Empires III, but for now feel free to rant/talk/chat about it in our forums.

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