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.
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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...
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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".
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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."
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Gamedaily reports:

Yesterday Gamedaily provided you with the top 10 PC games for 2007, according to NPD data. Today, however, The NPD Group informed Gamedaily that they actually made an error with their chart. Below you will find the amended Top 10 PC games.

So what's changed? The Sims 2 has jumped up to third place with many more units sold, while Call of Duty 4 drops from fourth to fifth. Also, The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack drops to tenth while the The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack is no longer in the top 10. Age of Empires III moves up from ninth to seventh and MS Flight Simulator X now makes an appearance in ninth. The problem appears to have stemmed from the exclusion of Deluxe and Gold versions on certain titles ¿ you'll notice several more asterisks now.

Top 10 PC Games of 2007 (Corrected)

1. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade*¿ Vivendi(Blizzard) ¿ 2.25 million
2. World of Warcraft* ¿ Vivendi (Blizzard) ¿ 914K
3. The Sims 2* ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 534K
4. The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 433K
5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare* ¿ Activision ¿ 383K
6. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars* ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 350K
7. MS Age of Empires III* ¿ Microsoft ¿ 313K
8. Sim City 4* - Electronic Arts ¿ 294K
9. MS Flight Simulator X* - Microsoft - 280K
10. The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 272K
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The NPD Group has released the list of the top 10 best selling PC games of 2007 in the US:

1. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard ¿ 2.25 million
2. World of Warcraft ¿ Blizzard ¿ 914,000
3. The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 433,000
4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ¿ Activision ¿ 383,000
5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 343,000
6. Sim City 4 Deluxe ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 284,000
7. The Sims 2 ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 281,000
8. The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 271,000
9. Age of Empires III ¿ Microsoft ¿ 259,000
10. The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack ¿ Electronic Arts ¿ 236,000

[ January 24, 2008 ]
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Competing against more than 700 gamers from a record 74 countries, the United States overcame the toughest competition in World Cyber Games (WCG) history to capture three gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal in twelve PC and Xbox 360 titles, and won the overall team championship at the Grand Final in Seattle.

It is the United States' second team title and first since the 2005 WCG Grand Final in Singapore. Team USA captured gold medals in "Tony Hawk Project 8," "Gears of War," and "Dead Or Alive 4." South Korea and Brazil each earned two gold medals while Germany had one gold, one silver and three bronze.

The seven-year-old WCG competition, which started in South Korea, has been dominated by South Koreans and Germans since its inception. So far South Korea has won three Grand Finals including last year's. According to organizers, WCG is the largest international gaming festival with over one million attendees and visitors every year.

For complete results, visit worldcybergames.com (i.e., first link under Alternative Sources.)
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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 ... » Read More

Gamerscoreblog , a blog run by members of Microsoft's Games Global Marketing team, hopes to put the GoW for PC rumors to rest.

From the blog:

"Yes, Microsoft provided the image that is published in the Games for Windows cover story in the Holiday issue of PC Gamer magazine.
Yes, this image contains what looks to be box shots of Gears of War with the Games for Windows branding bar on the box art.

NO, this is not a confirmation, leak, tease, or sly viral attempt to announce, confirm, or admit that Gears of War will be published for Windows.

Here's what happened: These images were created using draft templates for the Games for Windows box art and a variety of Microsoft Game Studios cover images. Gears of War was accidentally included by the artist as one of the MGS titles used as examples to show what our retail setup would look like. This DOES NOT indicate a confirmation that Gears of Wars will be a Games for Windows title -- it was a concept image created by a concept artist, nothing more. In fact, if you look closely you'll also see that Age of Empires III and Rise of Legends are also branded Games for Windows, and this is not actually the case (Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs is a Games for Windows branded game, but not the original Age III).

We created this image around the E3 timeframe when we were first preparing to announce and show our Games for Windows retail efforts. Shortly after the insanity that is E3, we noticed the box art, and the image was supposed to be removed from circulation. When we provided the package of art assets to PC Gamer for their cover story, we zipped up a directory of our already-public E3 assets as well as more current images (many of which PC Gamer did not use). Unfortunately, we didn't realize that this image was in that directory, and it just happens to be the one that PC Gamer figured prominently in their story. Our bad.

We're incred...
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When Buena Vista Games announced that it was releasing a PC game based on Desperate Housewives, the title instantly became the subject of widespread derision. However, according to the latest list of top-selling PC games, the publisher may be having the last laugh. According to industry research firm The NPD Group, Desperate Housewives was the sixth most popular PC game in the US during the week of October 8-14, besting both Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (seventh) and Age of Empires III (ninth).
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Tuesday 4 April 2006 Ensemble Studios, the developer behind the hugely popular real-time strategy series Age of Empires, has revealed a few details regarding two of its current projects: an RTS aimed squarely at console gamers, and a move into new territory with a massively multiplayer online game. The developer has been working on a console-based RTS for some time and has apparently spent a whole year just constructing a control system that works well with console game pads. Ensemble's CEO, ... » Read More

We've conquered and captured a wealth of new shots from the latest instalment of the popular Age of Empires series. Age of Empires III is set between the 16th and 19th centuries, continuing where its predecessor's - The Age of Kings - timeline finished. In addition to a change in period, players will also experience an entirely new Home City feature - a capital that can thrive and benefit the player depending on their performance in the New World. A spruced combat system with realistic ... » Read More

Like the location of London's BT tower, the famed UFO base Area 51 and Lockheed Martin's jet-building Skunk Works*, the existence of realtime strategy game Age of Empires III has been an open secret for quite a while. We weren't all meant to know about it but somehow we all did.At least we can now take Ensemble Studios' RTS off that forbidden list because the famed developers have finally decided to step out of the shadows and they've brought a whole heap of screenshots to prove that their game ... » Read More