Tag: Age of Empires Online

Grave Digging: Dead MMOs You Can Actually Still Play


Reviving the dead.

Continue reading “Grave Digging: Dead MMOs You Can Actually Still Play”

Age Of Empires Online Shuts Down Today


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Age of Empires Online takes its last breaths today. The pseudo-MMO adaptation of Microsoft’s popular series never fully caught on thanks to its limited content and rather expensive cost of purchases, as well as the cheaper, more readily available alternative titles in the series. We learned last year in January that content development had ceased, and finally in October that the servers would come down in July due to the closure of Games for Windows Live services.

With full Age of Empires titles on sale for cheap, players found little reason to throw down $20 to unlock a single civilization. Following an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign for an RTS called Wildman, Gas Powered Games laid off a number of staff and sold off to Wargaming.net.

Less Massive: GFWL Not Shutting Down


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So, it turns out Games For Windows Live isn’t shutting down next week. According to a statement by Microsoft, you will still be able to download titles from the Games for Windows Live client as usual, however customers will not be able to purchase games or receive title updates.

“As previously announced, as part of the retirement of Microsoft Points the Xbox.com PC marketplace was closed. Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual. We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future.”

Presumably features like achievements will continue to function as well, online play may be dependent on the game.

(Source: Eurogamer)

Reminder: Age of Empires Online Shutting Down July 2014


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Games For Windows Live may have been a hulking pile of poorly managed trash, but it was the pile of trash keeping Age of Empires Online…online. In case you missed it, earlier in August Microsoft accidentally updated the Age of Empires Online page to reveal that the service is shutting down on July 1st, 2014. The news wasn’t so surprising, after all the development on Age of Empires had ceased, the folks at Gas Powered Games no longer had anything to do with the game by this point, and the game could no longer sell currency or bring in new players due to the GFWL marketplace being shut down.

Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014. Although it is available through Steam, Age of Empires Online requires features of the Games for Windows Live service. You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down.

While a growing number of Games for Windows Live titles are already jumping ship and heading over to Steam, Age of Empires Online will be left behind to go down with the ship. This will leave Age of Empires Online with a server lifespan of nearly three years, and a development lifespan of sixteen months until development of new content ceased.

Steam Summer Sales Assault The Wallet


It’s sale time, so get out your wallet and replace the next month’s meals with Ramen because this year is looking fantastic. Right now there aren’t many deals in the MMO realm to speak of, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get in the fun! Check out the current sales below. Remember, as always, prices are in USD and may vary by region. MMO Fallout does not guarantee that items are not region locked, so please read carefully before making your purchase.

Age of Empires Online: Servers Merging This Summer


As far as free to play goes, Age of Empires developer Gas Powered Games will not rest until their MMO is completely free. I have already discussed the Alliances update going live this month in part. Once Alliances goes live, Age of Empires Online will use Empire Points as its real-money currency, allowing players to earn said currency through the Alliances game.

Unfortunately, all silver linings surround a cloud (or however the saying goes), and the update isn’t all great news. The Alliance update will only be implemented on the most popular eight servers. Players on the remaining six servers will need to transfer over in order to enjoy the update, and several weeks after the Alliance update goes live, the six servers will be shut down with anyone remaining transferred off. What GPG would like you to know is that the server mergers are not due to population issues.

We are closing the servers not for financial reasons, but for game design and player experience reasons. In fact, the player base tripled after the Spring Update (Celts, Steam, and more). We are doing it because the game is more fun when more people are concentrated in fewer places. If we start running into performance issues, we will reopen servers as needed.

Check out the patch notes below:

(Source: Age of Empires Online)

Age of Empires Online Will Be Free To Play, Not Free To Try


Age of Empires Online has had something of an identity crisis. Although enjoyed by plenty of players, the team at Gas Powered Games has been on the receiving end of some harsh criticism that the game isn’t so much “free to play” as it is “free to try.” Premium civilizations aren’t so much an optional add-on as they are a necessity to compete, adding a considerable road block at $10 a piece (they used to be $20).

Starting this summer, players will be able to obtain Empire Points either through buying them or by playing the game. Premium civilizations aren’t going anywhere, but by playing Age of Empires Online a player could accrue sufficient Empire Points to purchase the premium packs without paying a dime. According to GPG developers, a regular player might take two to three weeks of playing daily to obtain a premium civilization.

Age of Empires Online becomes more free to play this summer.

(Source: PC Gamer)

Age of Empires Online: Steam, Price Cuts


This is what happens when you, like me, stop paying attention to an MMO for a while. I’ll admit, Age of Empires Online has been offline for a while in my watch list, but today’s announcement that Age of Empires Online was merely worth a tweet until I noticed one important factor: When did the civilization packs come down so far in price?

Instead of spending $20 for a civilization pack, you can now pick these up for $10, which are temporarily on sale on Steam for 50% off. Persian, Greek, and Egyptian packs can be bought for $5.

So check out Age of Empires Online on Steam.

Get Age of Empires Online: Skirmish Mode While It Is Free


Age of Empires Online has always had one major downside: You had to do some major grinding in order to unlock all of the units in the game’s standard leveling mode. What ever happened to a fun skirmish in Age of Empires with everything available? Well the team over at Gas Powered Games has heard your pleas, and has introduced the Skirmish booster pack, allowing for just what the doctor ordered: Massive battles without the need to grind out your units.

The pack is free, but only for a limited time. You’ll still need to go through the process of buying it from Games for Windows marketplace, however.

Video of the Year: Ascend A Friend, Rift


Sure, it may be a blatant parody of the Old Spice guy, but does the Old Spice guy fight invading aliens with a Corgi? I didn’t think so.

Runner Up: Your Mom’s Video Blog, Age of Empires Online

I’ve had a corn sandwich.