The guys at AgeSanctuary, in association with Ensemble Studios, have announced another tournament for TAD. The $500 'Rise of a New Dynasty' Tournament is intended as a practice event for those who'll be competing in the World Cyber Games (WCG), but participation is open to all. The tourney will be played in a 1v1, best-of-3 format with each round lasting for a week. As of now, spots are limited to the first 128 entrants so do register as soon as you can! The cap on the entrants may be extended if enough people register for the tourney. Sign ups will close on the 28th of June, when the tournament is set to begin.

Rise of a New Dynasty Tournament | View Source

NaturePhoenix, the current TAD Ladder Leader and Bronze Medalist in the Warchiefs event at WCG 2007, was interviewed recently by the team at Age of Empires 3 Heaven. The interview, conducted by Myll_Erik, is a part of a series of interviews being conducted by AoE 3 Heaven with expert Age players. It covers topics such as his normal gaming week, his views on the latest patch, two things he'd change about AoE3, his thoughts on AoE4 & halo Wars, his biggest rival and prediction for this years WCG finalists!! Use the link below to check it out!

NaturePhoenix Interviewed | View Source

Bruce Shelley recently posted another entry in the developer's blog. He starts off by talking about the success of the recent TAD patch and the ES Live Team blog started by Ben Donges. He also has an update on the upcoming Halo Wars in which he mentions that an extensive early article on the game will be published in the July edition of Game Pro magazine. He then goes on to talk about the announcement of AoM for the DS and confirms that several ES'ers will be helping Griptonite with the game. Here's an excerpt from the blog:

"Desperate Housewives and Age of Empires: This ABC television show used our game in a recent episode. At one point a boy in one of the families asks his dad if they would become a stronger family if they learned how to play Age of Empires III together. The dad responded positively saying he wanted to learn how to play the game. We were totally unaware this was going to happen and assume it was just the whim of the show’s writers."

Bruce's Blog | View Source

Today THQ announced that they are bringing the classic PC game Age of Mythology to the DS as 'Age of Empires: Mythologies'. The game will use the same engine that Backbone Entertainment created for the early DS version of Age of Empires: The Age of Kings. The game is scheduled to be released this Fall. Here is what THQ had to say about the game:

“Age of Empires: Mythologies will combine one of the most successful Windows PC franchises of all time with the innovative style and controls of Nintendo DS, bringing a totally unique experience to handheld gamers,” said Kevin Kraff, vice president of global brand management, THQ. “With three playable civilizations, a fast-paced combat system and extensive multi-player options, Age of Empires: Mythologies will be one of the must-have tactical strategy games this year.”

View Source | IGN Interview

World Cyber Games is making big news the world over! First up are the results of the US qualification leg. The TAD finale for the top spot was grabbed by none other than 2007 TWC Silver-Medalist Parfait while ES's own, MrMilo, booked the other ticket to the finals in Cologne, Germany. In another related news-piece, Michael Arzt, the US General Manager of the World Cyber games, was interviewed by Crave Online. He had some pretty interesting to things to say about the hugely popular contest. And the other big WCG news of the day is the inclusion of the world-wide gaming extravaganza into the Guinness Book of World Records! WCG was presented with a certificate for being the largest video-gaming competition in the world. We'll cover more updates on the competition as they become available.

US TAD Qualifiers | Michael Artz Interviewed | WCG in the record books | Sources (1 2 3)

Ensemble studios, along with the guys at RTSCups, are sponsoring an Asian Dynasties tournament with a total prize money of $500. The tournament is going to be played in a two stage elimination style format. The first stage will eliminate the field to 32 players by means of single elimination. The remaining 32 players will then fight it out in a double elimination bracket for the great prizes. The tournament will be open to everyone and to participate you only need to sign up at RTSCups.de and join the tournament. Over a hundred players (including experts like NightSc3aM, Parfait, StarSky, Flooky and n!Phoenix) have already registered. Follow the links below to register and do post here in case you plan to participate.

$500 TAD Tourney | View Source

Cyclohexane is one dedicated guy!! With the recent release of the TAD patches, he's uploaded the latest versions of his Quick Reference and Unit Comparison guides as well. The guides now reflect the many balance changes and fixes introduced by the latest patchwork to the y-pack. While the Quick Reference Guide contains information on buildings, the Fire Pit, shipments, Minor Natives, gather rates etc.; the Unit Comparison guide includes unit classifications, counters and statistics. The two guides have also been updated with all hidden information which wasn't clearly defined in the patch notes!! Follow the links below to get the updated version of these awesome guides.

Quick Reference Guide | Unit Comparison Guide | View Source

Luigi (aka iGiuL on ESO), the winner of the fourth Age Sanctuary Smackdown tournament, was interviewed recently by the team at Age of Empires 3 Heaven. The interview, conducted by Myll_Erik, is a part of a series of interviews conducted by AoE 3 Heaven with expert Age players. It covers topics such as how he got hooked to the series, his play style, his aspirations, his favorite recs and the history behind his nick name!! Use the link below to check it out!

Luigi Interviewed | View Source

Age expert and ES employee MrMilo has posted yet another strategy in over at the Age Community forums. This time the strategy revolves around India. Variations of the Agra Fort Rush strategy have been going around on ESO and you might have come across it if you're regular. Milo has posted a comprehensive guide of the strat that goes over its strengths and weaknesses and includes extensive start-up details, card choices and adaptation techniques as well. In addition to writing up that strat, MrMilo has posted a VOD over at RTS Professional in which he goes over some small tricks to help you get better starts.

India Agra Fort Rush | Milo's Early Game Guide | View Source

Ben [SOLUS] Donges has posted his first blog entry over at EnsembleStudios.com to discuss the workings of the Live Team. The entry starts off with SOLUS giving a brief introduction about himself and how he started off at ES. He also talks about the evolution of the live team and goes on to describe what they do, where they've come from and where we're going. He also reassures Age fans that althought they'll be trying to better themselves with the upcoming Halo Wars Age3 will continue to be a part of their focus. The entry is a good (and funny) start to the blog. Lets hope he keeps 'em coming! Here's an excerpt:

"The live team is a people team. We deal in the commodity of emotions and opinions, which is to say we live and work in what is sometimes, a very chaotic space. What makes it even more interesting is that we deal with many of our hard core players daily, so you have to add in a small amount of obsessive compulsive disorder and fanaticism. However those of us on the team like this niche that we have carved out and would not trade it for anything in the world. We want to make all of our players as happy as we can with support, patches, and policing."

SOLUS's Blog | EnsembleStudios.com | View Source

Parfait, the runner up in the Warchiefs event at WCG 2007, was interviewed by the team at Age of Empires 3 Heaven. The interview, conducted by Myll_Erik, is a part of a series of interviews conducted by AoE 3 Heaven with expert Age players. It covers topics such as his favorite strat, his passion for AoE, his thoughts on the current balance situation, his favorite RTS and the history behind his nick name!! Use the link below to check it out!

Parfait Interviewed | View Source

The guys at SkWizZ (Clan) always come up with unique things that make being an Age fan a lot more cooler! You've probably come accross the app that allows you to create customizable sigs that display your ELO rating and PR. This time they've come up with an app which allows Agers to enter their location and tag a World Map with an AoE helmet! Its a cool and fun way to discover players in and around your area. Tag away!!

SkWizZ World's Map | Custom Sigs | View Source

_VipeR_, administrator of Age Sanctuary, was interviewed recently by the team at Age of Empires 3 Heaven. The interview is part one of a series of interviews for Age of Empires 3 Heaven with expert Age players, and covers topics such as how he became administrator of Age Sanctuary, why he does it, and his real life aspirations. Use the link below to check it out!

_VipeR_ Interviewed | View Source

Bruce's latest blog starts off with a warning for cheaters in Age of Empires 3 about rumors of a Trojan in an Age-related hack. He then goes on to announce the new ladder organization since they were reset at the end of April, which got rid of the civilization-specific ladders and separated the Treaty game ladders from those for Supremacy games. Also included in the entry is a description of a recent Ensemble Studios family picnic, some ideas for the new office space in Plano, Texas, and a humorous paragraph about the "Muffin Bandit Mystery." Here is an excerpt from the blog:

"Our studio has provided snacks and drinks since our earliest days, and each week we get delivery of sodas, energy drinks, beef jerky, fresh fruit, vegetable trays, nuts, candy, yogurt, cookies, etc. A popular item is packages of muffins, with one package usually delivered to each of our three floors. Several months ago someone started ripping off the tops of muffins, leaving the rest behind. The depredations of the muffin bandit have continued intermittently ever since, providing a lot of amusement. We don’t know if we are dealing with one muffin bandit, or several imitators of the original. So far no one has been caught, or at least publicly exposed."

Bruce's Blog | View Source