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GAMING NEWS

Age Of Empires II Set To Release On Steam With Achievements

Posted on Saturday, March 2 @ 09:23:26 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack


To battle!

A quick datamining job by the folks at steamdb.info—and for the record, they've been right 100% of the time in the past—has revealed that Valve will be adding the legendary Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings to its Steam Store. But it won't be alone for the ride, as its sole expansion, Age of Empires II: The Conquerers, will be tagging along. In typical Steam fashion there will be dozens of achievements and presumably cloud save functionality to entice you to play it again and know that your progress won't be lost.

Age of Empires II made it to the number 13 spot on our Top 25 PC Games list, and with good reason. It was hailed as the best game of 1999 by several outlets and has engraved undeniable nostalgia into the minds of those who played it. If there's one thing that can be said about it that no other game in its genre can, it's that even non-RTS fans can enjoy it from the moment they're granted control of their first empire. Seeing an empire advance through the many eras of human history was a fresh take on the genre that everyone could understand, as opposed to the less tangible technology trees of other games (i.e. StarCraft).

Its developer, Ensemble Studios, closed down in 2009 after disappointing reception to both Age of Empires III and Halo Wars. It was a crying shame because the Age of Empires series, if done right, could benefit greatly from the powerful hardware of today. On the plus side, based on the image above Age of Empires II hasn't aged poorly and is a perfect candidate for your next purchase on Steam.


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Comments
  • cyberjim2000
    cyberjim2000

    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 9:25 am
    Wololololoolololololololololol!

    wollolllololololo!r​nwololololololololo!
  • De-Ting
    De-Ting

    Joined: Nov 2006
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 4:53 pm
    RAIDING PARTY!!!
  • hempy420
    hempy420

    Joined: Apr 2012
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 9:42 am
    This is one of my all time favorite games. I played it for countless hours back in the day. Multiplayer was it for me as I hardly touched the campaign. I'm wondering if the multiplayer will be through steam or just link you to the old gamespy online. This might be worth a look if there was a chance of a solid online community.
  • oblivion437
    oblivion437

    Joined: Nov 2006
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 9:46 am
    I think that sound effect wasn't in AoE 2 or its expansion, except perhaps as an Easter Egg.

    Age of Empires 2 was a standout game in a time of standout RTS's. It held its own and carved out a space for a unique voice in real time strategy while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Homeworld, Starcraft, Total Annihilation and Tiberian Sun. It was a high note for the genre and it's been practically a desert since.
  • sliverstorm
    sliverstorm

    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 10:07 am
    ^This--1992-2002 was pretty much the RTS decade, and it's awesome that I have the chance to own a piece of that forever via Steam. I wonder if they'll be updating anything else about it.
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns

    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 1:19 pm
    In multiplayer, if you did the sounds, number 30 was Wololo. It was that way for Age of Mythology too.

    But yeah, that was the AoE1 sound.
  • sg4real
    sg4real

    Joined: Apr 2011
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 9:48 am
    Wood Please.
  • Bras
    Bras

    Joined: Jul 2008
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 12:03 pm
    Just type in: WOODSTOCK.
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns

    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 1:18 pm
    I think you mean "lumberjack"
  • Lien
    Lien

    Joined: Feb 2008
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 1:42 pm
    Don't ya mean "TROJAN HORSE FOR SALE" ?
  • HK-47
    HK-47

    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 am
    I still have Age of Empires II and the Conquerors in their jewel cases, and it's been on my computer for years and one of the first reinstalled after I had to reformat it. Easily one of my favorite games and I wouldn't mind dropping a few bones to repurchase it.

    Byzantines always got my vote. Them or the Britons with their Longbows outranging all but fully upgraded Teutonic Castles in the expansion.
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns

    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 1:00 pm
    And that's why Teutons were the best. Oh, you have range? CASTLES! Bringing in siege now? TEUTONIC KNIGHTS! The only units more powerful were Byzantine cataphracts and war elephants.
  • LawnGnome
    LawnGnome

    Joined: Apr 2007
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 10:24 am
    Maybe it will be free to attract more people to Steam? I got it a few years back for 10 cents during a Games for Windows promotion.
  • bram00
    bram00

    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posted: Mar 3rd, 2013 at 12:06 pm
    I don't think it should be more than $2 or so.
  • xDUMPWEEDx
    xDUMPWEEDx

    Joined: Jan 2012
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 11:19 am
    I still have the physical copy of this game. Defiintely one of my favorite RTS games of all time, and definitely deserving of being in the PC Top 25 list. Target still stocks this game in their stores aswell. 14 years later and still selling.
  • Ivory_Soul
    Ivory_Soul

    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 12:16 pm
    My 7th grade history teacher would give us extra credit if we played this and Civilization III with him online. I spent countless hours back in the day on my parent's ancient Pentium II PC.
  • UrbanMasque
    UrbanMasque

    Joined: May 2007
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 12:56 pm
    best.teacher.ever.
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow

    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 3:33 pm
    My high school chemistry teacher had a video on the internet of her stripping on webcam climaxing with her fisting her *******. Also she was hot. It's a tough battle for best teacher ever.
  • Ivory_Soul
    Ivory_Soul

    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 5:11 pm
    Does GR seriously censor vagina?
  • Ivory_Soul
    Ivory_Soul

    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 5:11 pm
    Nope guess you used the P word.
  • oblivion437
    oblivion437

    Joined: Nov 2006
    Posted: Mar 3rd, 2013 at 1:38 pm
    I would require scientific evidence to validate your thesis.
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow

    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Mar 4th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
    Haha, wrong hole Ivory Soul ;)
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow

    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Mar 4th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
    And oblivion if it didn't get pulled from the internet after it got her fired I would link you to it. You're just going to have to trust me on this one!
  • Kakulukia
    Kakulukia

    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 1:25 pm
    THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS!
  • Axelownz
    Axelownz

    Joined: Apr 2011
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 2:20 pm
    Age Of Empire II killed my computer back in the day, got a defective disc and then my dad returned it, but forgot to put the disc back in. Got a refund and they did not check for the disc, but i never tried to run that disc again.
  • tinymhg
    tinymhg

    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 2:40 pm
    RTS is for the birds.
  • De-Ting
    De-Ting

    Joined: Nov 2006
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 4:56 pm
    CHEEP CHEEP!!!
  • tinymhg
    tinymhg

    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 6:08 pm
    On Steam I'm sure it will be cheap.
  • Sourdeez
    Sourdeez

    Joined: Feb 2012
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 5:54 pm
    Im still waiting for a better age of empires that develops into futuristic society. I dug anno 2070 but really didnt play the way I was looking for.(Had amazing graphics though)
  • cyberjim2000
    cyberjim2000

    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posted: Mar 2nd, 2013 at 6:10 pm
    There's Empire Earth though me and my friends usually stop in the Information Age.
  • Beta_GR
    Beta_GR

    Joined: Jun 2006
    Posted: Mar 3rd, 2013 at 9:15 am
    I'd play Rise of Nations if that ever gets on GOG or Steam.
  • cyberjim2000
    cyberjim2000

    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posted: Mar 3rd, 2013 at 1:45 pm
    I hope they'll do what they did with Supreme Commander where you get to use your retail CD key then convert it into a digital copy.

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