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MS hiring team lead for new AAA title in established & well-loved strategy game serie

Sothpaw

Member
I guess I'm in the minority, I thought Halo Wars controls worked pretty good for a RTS on a console.
I also thought Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II worked really well for consoles as well. Yes the game had performance issues but that wasn't due to the control scheme.
Command and Conquer for 360 would have been good too but the missions were not balanced properly for the controller controls so some missions were an exercise in frustration.

There are enough examples of RTS games working on consoles if enough planning and design is put into using a controller. Couple that with voice, gesture controls and I don't see why we couldn't see something like Age of Empires "console edition".

How do you even click on the minimap? RTS on console sounds as bad as Gran Turismo on k/m.
 

Mindlog

Member
Blerg.
Age of Empires is nice and all, but I'd be way more interested in a proper Close Combat sequel. Maybe throw some money Matrix way to up the production values? Wish we knew something more about, 'The Bloody First.' It's supposed to be out this year and I haven't heard jack about it.

Wait a minute.

E3 Reveal confirmed!
How do you even click on the minimap? RTS on console sounds as bad as Gran Turismo on k/m.
As a long time PC RTS fan I didn't have too many issues with Halo Wars. Would be nice to see another one. RUSE also worked OK on console. A quick solution to console minimap would be to copy CoH's big map. RT to bring it up and just click where you want to go. There were plenty of great CoH players that skipped mini-map use entirely.
 

demolitio

Member
Too bad Rise of Nations is never coming back. What a great game.

Then again, I don't have faith in MS making a good RTS game again since they talk the talk but never walk the walk when it comes to PC gaming. Age of Empires is a wonderful series and another flop like the F2P game will be enough to cause riots...in my head.
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Then again, I don't have faith in MS making a good RTS game again since they talk the talk but never walk the walk when it comes to PC gaming. Age of Empires is a wonderful series and another flop like the F2P game will be enough to cause riots...in my head.

I think their "experimenting" with AoE on PC has been beaten out of them. If it does end up being AoE/AoM, I can only see them compromising it by trying to make it fit on console as well.
 

patapuf

Member
I think their "experimenting" with AoE on PC has been beaten out of them. If it does end up being AoE/AoM, I can only see them compromising it by trying to make it fit on console as well.

They'll have to be really creative then. RTS's haven't exactly been big enough to warant an AAA budget on consoles and a heavily compromised RTS on PC will tank just like AoE online did. Competitively anyway.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yes lets fire Ensemble and then build a new studio from scratch to make the same shit they were already nailing.

Fucking Microsoft.
 

RdN

Member
Age of Empires 4!!!!

But I don't know how I feel about it without Ensemble.. I mean, Robot did a good job on Age of Empires: Online.. But still, hope it turns out ok.
 

Acosta

Member
They closed them down 5-6 years ago...

And still makes no sense. They were a solid studio with a fantastic track and a beloved franchise that was still doing more than fine.

The idea of making a highly specialized and successful team try to make a completely different game (a MMO for crying loud) and then close it after pouring god knows how many millions without a result must be one of the most ridiculous examples of management in this industry.
 

Caayn

Member
So AoE, Halo Wars 2 or Rise of Nations? I doubt that it's going to be Halo Wars 2, as Halo is not an established strategy franchise. That leaves only AoE and Rise of Nations over. I'd be more happy with a new Rise of Nations than with a new AoE, sorry gaf.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
I'm simultaneously incredibly excited at the prospect of a new full-fledged Age of Empires on PC and incredibly saddened that, if it does exist, it won't have Ensemble at the helm.
 

demolitio

Member
I think their "experimenting" with AoE on PC has been beaten out of them. If it does end up being AoE/AoM, I can only see them compromising it by trying to make it fit on console as well.

And that's what I'm worried about this time. Dumbing it down in hopes of bringing in new audiences while just pissing off the existing audience. It's happened time and time again with old franchises and I don't really see it being any different this time around although I'd love to be proved wrong.

When it comes to PC franchises, I have very little faith based on past experiences.
 

Mohonky

Member
Halo Wars was terrible, way to simplified and the worst of all the games produced by Ensemble Studios imo...

Proper RTS games never worked or will work on console controllers period.
(maybe the with the new Steam controller...)

I really enjoyed Halo Wars, it is probably my favourite Halo title. Obviously it was dumbed down to work on controllers but it was easy to sit back and just enjoy.
 

Hyunashi

Member
Wow wow wow. This would be amazing, I still remember playing Age of Empires constantly while I was younger. I would get hyped if it was any of Age of Empires, Age of Mythologies and Rise of Nations. Ugh the memories, I loved Rise of Nations and played the game to death so I would be super hyped.
 
I loved AoE 2 and 3, and Halo Wars. AoE is a strategy series, Halo Wars is not. AoE IV in WWI or WWII would be amazing.
aoe3.jpg
 

harSon

Banned
And still makes no sense. They were a solid studio with a fantastic track and a beloved franchise that was still doing more than fine.

The idea of making a highly specialized and successful team try to make a completely different game (a MMO for crying loud) and then close it after pouring god knows how many millions without a result must be one of the most ridiculous examples of management in this industry.

I agree 100%

But it was six years ago, and the Xbox team has changed considerably since then. Just because they closed down Ensemble doesn't mean that Microsoft should forever blackball themselves from developing an RTS...
 

DocSeuss

Member
Yes lets fire Ensemble and then build a new studio from scratch to make the same shit they were already nailing.

Fucking Microsoft.

Did you even play Age of Empires 3?

I comfort myself at night by considering Ensemble's demise a mercy kill.
 

Tablo

Member
Be it Halo Wars or Age of Empires I literally just gasped out of happiness. Only issue if they can live up to Ensemble Studios...Wish they could get those devs back...
 
Impossible Creatures returns at last!

Seriously, I'd prefer a new Rise of Nations game or even something like MechCommander or BattleTech, but it's probably an Age of... title.


Everyone saying AOE, im sitting here hoping for Viva Pinata.....its a type of strategy right?

That occurred to me as well, but I think Rare does their own recruiting, and the position seems to be in the US.
 

Tablo

Member
Did you even play Age of Empires 3?

I comfort myself at night by considering Ensemble's demise a mercy kill.
Are you insane? I've been playing since AoM and Ao3 and expansions are awesome. Still play it. Granted this is all subjective, but I'll be damned if someone disses that game.
 
Weren't they a huge money sink? Terrible with time management causing them to be over budget consistently or was that a different studio I'm thinking of?

I visited ES before AoE3 was released. The studio wasn't that big so I can't see how it would have been a money sink compared to the cost of Rare or Lionhead.

And AoE3 sold pretty darn well too.

Interestingly, Halo Wars was codenamed Project Phoenix. I took a picture of it and posted on HG site, ES emailed me to take it down.
 
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