Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

Robot Entertainment announced today the formation of its new game development studio in Plano, Texas. Founded by many of the original founders of Ensemble Studios, Robot has a staff of 45 comprised entirely of former Ensemble employees. Robot's team developed the hit franchise Age of Empires, selling over 20 million units worldwide, and the soon-to-be released Halo Wars for Xbox 360. Tony Goodman, the founder of Ensemble, is the CEO of Robot.

Following an unveiling last week, Robot Entertainment has officially announced itself today, confirming that the independent studio is in fact made up of Ensemble veterans. Starting where Ensemble ended after it was closed by Microsoft, Robot is developing additional content for the now deceased studio's final project, the Xbox 360 strategy title Halo Wars...

Ensemble Studios, creator of the Age of Empires series all the way to the upcoming Halo Wars game, has been a dominating developer for Real Time Strategy (RTS) games. Ensemble cranked out a total of ten RTS games including Halo Wars and expansion packs, most if not all of which were high-rated top sellers.

Soon-to-be-closed Ensemble Studios will have some form of successor, according to developer Graeme Devine. In September Microsoft announced plans to shut down the Age of Empires creators, much to the dismay of RTS fans around the world. There's a new studio forming that will rise from Ensemble, Devine confirmed to VideoGamer.com last week. They haven't announced specific plans, so I can't comment on that. Microsoft is looking at people to find them homes, but frankly right now we're just focusing on finishing the darn game and making sure that's job number one. I don't think anyone has really thought much beyond that yet. Let's get Halo Wars finished. In this industry, you're only as good as your last game.

Mythic Boss Mark Jacobs has commented on how feels the closure of Ensemble Studios is a terrible thing but that his studio has been careful to guard against mistakes.

Following the revelation that Ensemble Studios is to be shut down following the release of 360 exclusive Halo Wars next year, corporate vice president of interactive entertainment Shane Kim has reassured fans of the popular Age of Empires strategy series, also developed by Ensemble, that Microsoft is still super excited for the potential for the franchise.

Eurogamer: Microsoft may have announced plans yesterday to shut down Ensemble Studios when Halo Wars ships, but Age of Empires fans are told not to worry! I want to reassure you that Microsoft will still own the Age of Empires intellectual property, Games for Windows boss Kevin Unangst wrote on Gamerscoreblog overnight. So that's alright then. As a company, we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires, and as a PC gamer I'm looking forward to what that future holds. Stay tuned, he concluded.

Destineer's MacSoft unit announces today that Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, the second expansion pack for Ensemble Studios' award-winning strategy game, is headed to Macintosh computers with new playable Civilizations, new units, campaigns, game modes, and more.

The NPD Group has released the latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in the US, this time for the week ending November 3. It seems that despite bad reviews, Flagship Studios have done something right, as people buy Hellgate: London despite many reviewers' opinion that it needed a few more months in production. 1. Hellgate: London - Namco/EA 2. Hellgate: London Collectors Edition - Namco/EA 3. Half Life 2: Episode 2 The Orange Box - Valve/EA 4. Age Of Empires III: Asian Dynasties - Microsoft 5. The Sims 2 Bon Voyage - Electronic Arts 6. Nancy Drew: Legend Of The Crystal Skull - Her Interactive 7. Flight Simulator X: Acceleration - Microsoft 8. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard 9. The Witcher - Atari 10. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts

Ensemble Studios' RTS sequel Age of Empires III is getting a new expansion in the shape of The Asian Dynasties, which is due out this autumn. In development at Rise of Nations dev Big Huge Games, as opposed to Ensemble, the expansion introduces Asian civilizations and players will get to command and conquer and expand empires in the Eastern world. New content includes "several new gameplay elements," Microsoft has told us, that include new ways of winning and trading, random map styles that