age-of-empires-3 posts

Last Sunday Microsoft held a 10 cent sale for the Complete Version of Age of Empires III at the Games For Windows Marketplace web site. The extra special sale of the historical RTS game caused many of the 10 cent orders to be fulfilled without a digital download CD key. Microsoft ran out of such keys due to the popularity of the sale and left many who bought Age of Empires III not able to play the game.

Now The Games For Windows Live Facebook page has confirmed that all of the CD keys for the game have been distributed to those folks who purchased it during the 10 cent sale. Microsoft stated, "Thanks so much for your patience, folks. We really appreciate it!"

Age of Empires III has been under a 10 cent sale since Microsoft put the super-low price on the RTS game earlier today on the Games For Windows Marketplace web site. Now Microsoft has announced via the Games For Windows Facebook page that because of the high demand they have temporarily run out of CD keys that are necessary to authenticate the game.

Microsoft states, "You can still buy the game during the sale, and we will auto-assign your key in the next week. There is no action needed on your part, this will be done automatically." The Age Of Empires III 10 cent sale (which includes the original game and the expansion packs The WarChiefs and the Asian Dynasties) ends in about 90 minutes at 1 am Eastern time.

Today is the final day of the daily deals promotion for Microsoft's newly relaunched Games For Windows Marketplace web site and they have ended it with a bang. For today only (until 1 am Eastern time) you can download and purchase the full version of Age of Empires III for just 10 cents.

Nope, that's not a typo. The last PC RTS game from the now shut down developer Ensemble Studios cost just a thin dime to purchase from Games For Windows Marketplace for the next 20 or so hours. Once more it looks like this is the Complete Edition with the game's two expansion packs (The WarChiefs and the Asian Dynasties) included along with the original game. Any way you slice it this is a massive value.

A free multiplayer server software product and service that many PC gamers might not even know exists is celebrating its 1 million player this week. Australia-based GameRanger announced today that its 1 millionth player signed up to use the software on Sunday morning.

Originally launched in 1999 as an Mac gaming alternative to server browser software products like GameSpy, GameRanger expanded to include support for PC games in 2008. Today GameRanger supports over 600 PC games, close to 200 Mac games and 29 games that are cross-platform compatible. Last month over 3.2 million online games were player via the GameRanger client.

Microsoft's announcement of Age of Empires Online earlier this week made more than one RTS fan happy. Now Microsoft is celebrating the revival of its own RTS game franchise with a special sale at the Games For Windows web site. From now until Monday five RTS titles will have price cuts on the site. The games are downloaded via the Games For Windows Live client.

The games include Microsoft's own Age of Empires III: Complete Collection which has the last game in the series and its two expansion packs that were made by the now defunct Ensemble Studios. The game is now available for $19.99, a 50 percent price cut. The other games that are on sale have prices of $9.99 each and include Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, Dawn of War Dark Crusade, Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.

Gamers are still in shock at Microsoft's decision last month to shutter Ensemble Studios. The developer is still considered one of the best in the business and their Age of Empires/Mythology RTS games for the PC have sold tens of millions of copies. Since that decision, many fans of Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III have wondered what will happen to those game's online matchmaking servers which were handled by Ensemble.

The official Age of Empires III community web site has an answer for those folks, saying, "The ESO matchmaking service for Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3 and the expansion packs will continue to be operated and be supported after Ensemble closes its doors." Microsoft is scheduled to close Ensemble in a couple of months after the team completes its work on their Xbox 360 RTS game Halo Wars (although a new independent team made up of former Ensemble team members will launch afterwards).