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Sunday, April 22, 2007 |
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Empire Earth III Announced
10:04 PST | by Matt
For those of you who are a little behind:
Australia, February 25, 2007 - After two very successful world-conquering outings, the Empire Earth series is back for another dose of era-spanning strategy. Currently in development by Mad Doc Software, Empire Earth III is the next step forward for the series, and we originally awarded Empire Earth II with our Editor's Choice Award.
"The Empire Earth series has been the recipient of much deserved praise from the media and fans alike, making it a multi-million unit selling franchise for Sierra Entertainment," said Cindy Cook, chief strategy and marketing officer for Vivendi Games. "Empire Earth III will take the series to the next level with its ability to capture the entire scope of the globe and give it to the hands of the player."
Empire Earth is the only RTS series that allows players to build and rule an empire from the ancient world to the distant future, battling it out across the globe through the eons in a bid for worldwide control. Unlike other RTS games that take away the spoils of victory, Empire Earth III will offer continuous free-form gameplay that will allow players to keep units from one battle to the next.
Empire Earth III is slotted for release on PC in spring 2007.
Source
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Thursday, May 26, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II - Patch 1.1
01:05 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
VUG just released the new Patch 1.1 for the retail version of Empire Earth II.
The change log is huge, so you better click here to view it.
You can get the US Version of the Patch here.
For other Patch languages (English - UK, German, French,...,...) you may look into this thread.
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005 |
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Empire Earth 2 - Patch 1.05
14:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
First Patch availible already for the retail version!
This file updates Empire Earth II 1.0 (original retail version) to version 1.05. Additions in 1.05 are:
� Resolution of known multiplayer lobby issues.
� Addition of autopatch functionality
You can get the English version of the patch here.
Check out this thread for the other patch language versions and updated mirrors!
Empire Earth 2 Finally Released !
08:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
Finally Empire Earth II is released! Exactly one year after its announcement on the 04/26/2004. Be sure to contact your local retailer for a more detailed release date!
At this point, I want to send congratulations from the Aeon-Team to Maddoc for making such a cool game, and to VUG for their amazing marketing strategy.
Keep up the good work, guys!
I hope that everyone enjoys the game and we could soon meet on the servers to play a match.
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Monday, April 25, 2005 |
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Lots Of New Empire Earth 2 Stuff
07:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
In the last days Vivendi Universal Games put up a lot of content, including the Soundtrack,"Behind the Scenes"-Movies, and more on their Official Empire Earth II homepage.
Check the "Downloads" and "Gallery" Sections to access the new content.
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Thursday, April 21, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II Demo Patch 1.1 Released !
07:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
Vivendi Universal Games just released the Patch 1.1 for the Empire Earth 2 Multiplayer Demo.
According to the readme file, it fixes the multiplayer lag issues and adds a note to the login box which tells you that you have to have port 2600 UDP forwarded in order to host.
There are two ways to get the patch.
If you don't have the 1.0 demo already you can download the patched 1.1, 203 MB weighing Demo from here.
But if you have the 1.0 Demo already you can just download the 15 MB light Patch from here.
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Friday, April 8, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II "Goes Gold" !
07:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
I just received the message that Empire Earth II went gold. ...
Empire Earth II has gone gold and will begin hitting store shelves around the world on Thursday, April 28th. The game carries a suggested retail price of $49.99, with an ESRB "T" for Teen Rating (Blood, Violence).
Please contact your local retailer for availability in your area or pre-order online and score a Bonus DVD packed full of bonus features!
... What basically means that the final version of the game is in the manufactories and is becoming duplicated a dozens of times for the mass-market.
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Monday, April 4, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II Multiplayer Demo Released!
07:04 PST | by the_ruleing_ruler
The new Empire Earth II multiplayer demo is officially released since today!
A new age of epic conquest has arrived! In the Empire Earth II Multiplayer Demo you'll experience three of the game's fifteen exciting epochs (Renaissance, Imperial, and Enlightenment) as you match wits against players around the globe. Adapt your tactics to manage changing seasons and inclement weather as you lead the German, American, or Korean civilizations to victory.
You can get the demo from the
Sierra FTP
Have fun!
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Friday, March 25, 2005 |
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March Newsletter
13:03 PST | by DK
March's edition of the Empire Earth II newsletter is now online and contains new batch of epoch specific screen shots, unit higlights, and developer diaries. The newsletter can be found here.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2005 |
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New EEII FAQ
03:03 PST | by DK
There's a new Empire Earth II FAQ on the official site which offers answers to pretty much every question you may have about Empire Earth II. Amongst other things, the FAQ makes it clear that the long awaited multiplayer demo probably will be released in early April. You can find the FAQ here.
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Monday, March 21, 2005 |
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Computer Games Magazine Interview
03:03 PST | by DK
Computer Games Magazine features a new interview with Mad Doc CEO Ian Davis. Besides providing us with the typical walk through of Empire Earth II's exciting features, Ian Davis also provides us with several interesting snippets of information - such as the fact that the "Quick Start" feature wasn't planned from the beginning:
Computer Games - What have been some of the more unexpected things that have cropped up in the development of Empire Earth II since Mad Doc started to work on it?
Ian Davis - Making a game is an interesting process. You assess the situation, you plan, you roll up your sleeves, and then you get in there and start creating. The cool thing is, every once in awhile, something pops up you didn�t plan for -- and often, it�s these moments of chance -- these �in the moment ideas� -- that provide the greatest moments of clarity. For instance, we didn�t go into the making of Empire Earth II with the intent to create the �Quick Start� games, yet I think it�s one of the most exciting new features of Empire Earth II.
You can find the entire interview here.
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Sunday, March 20, 2005 |
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HeavenGames Empire Earth II Preview
14:03 PST | by DK
HeavenGames features a new 5-paged Empire Earth II preview. The preview naturally goes into detail on all the well-known features and concludes that while some of Empire Earth II's features might slightly resemble those of Rise of Nations, the gameplay has a distinct and unique feel to it. You can read the preview here.
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Saturday, March 19, 2005 |
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The Spartan Clan's EEIIU Write Up
11:03 PST | by DK
The Spartan Clan's web site features an Empire Earth II University Write Up by Mokon. The interesting write up can be found here.
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Friday, March 18, 2005 |
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GameSpy EEIIU Coverage
11:03 PST | by DK
Our host, GameSpy, features lots of premium coverage of the Empire Earth II University event. The coverage includes two interesting articles dealing respectively with the balancing of Empire Earth II and the diplomacy in the game. Furthermore, is a war story and a "Behind The Scenes" video available. You can find it all here.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2005 |
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New Video Developer Diary
13:03 PST | by DK
The official Empire Earth II site has a new video developer diary, this one features Mad Doc's Lead Level Designer Dan McClure who discusses the matters of scenario design and
What kind of research that went into the game. The diary can be found here.
What kind of research that went into the game
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Monday, March 14, 2005 |
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Back From London - Update
11:03 PST | by DK
Am I the only one that hates the fact that English pubs close at 11 pm?
Anyways, as I've been in London for a week (yah!), there are few news pieces that has gone unnoticed. Chronologically, first up is the fact that the first advertisements for Empire Earth II began to appear in games-related print magazines world-wide last week, as a part of the so called "Twice" magazine campaign marketed by the slogan "Twice the Power. Twice the Glory." You can find one of the ads in PDF format here.
Secondly, Worthplaying featured a positive preview (yet another) of Empire Earth II. The preview can be found here. Finally, we soon hope to be able to bring you coverage of the recent Empire Earth 2 University, to which we where able to send one pretty darn lucky delegate courtesy of VUG and Mad Doc. Thanks!
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Saturday, March 5, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II ads on GameSpy
05:03 PST | by DK
When visiting our host GameSpy, you may be lucky enough to be treated with a cool Empire Earth II ad!
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Tuesday, March 1, 2005 |
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New Poll!
13:03 PST | by DK
We've updated our monthly poll with a new question, this time asking our visitors exactly how good they found the Empire Earth II single player demo to be. This naturally also marks the closure of our the latest poll asking the always relevant question: "Do you think Empire Earth 2 will be better than its predecessor?" Out of the 704 registered votes, an impressive 66% thought that this would be the case.
A Message From The Mad Doctor
12:03 PST | by DK
In an admirable move from Mad Doc, CEO Ian Davis has written very, very long post at the official Empire Earth II forums to address the both positive and negative feedback the single player demo has garnered:
Thanks for the feedback on the single player demo, I appreciate your input and suggestions. I have actually read through all of the notes (you guys write a lot!), and wanted to address some of the questions you've brought up. We've been working hard to create a game in your best interests, and all of this helps Empire Earth II become a better game.
For those of you too lazy to read the full and very interesting post, his message is that the single player demo build is a very, very old one that is severely outdated with regards to balance and optimization. Furthermore, Ian Davis reveals that a multi player demo will be released shortly! You can find the post
here and discuss it in our forum here.
New Empire Earth II Newsletter
12:03 PST | by DK
This new edition of the Empire Earth II newsletter features a stunning total of four video diaries, a developer's letter on the subject of AI, and naturally the obligatory age-specific screen shots and "units of the month". The newsletter can be found here online.
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Monday, February 28, 2005 |
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New Interview with Dr. Ian Davis
01:02 PST | by Matt
The Spartan Clan has posted a new, quite lengthy interview with Mad Doc CEO and founder, Dr. Ian Davis. Here's an excerpt:
Q: One thing we�ve been wondering about is what type, if any, of a recorded game system will you have? Could you just explain it a little to us?
A: It�s actually quite complicated, but just to give you some idea of what�s going on here�think of it as a recording of all the input commands. This allows the game to play itself over, exactly as it played itself through the first time. It does other cool things as well: it allows you to view the game from other people�s perspectives, and it allows you to just �jump in� at any point (so, if you just played and were thinking, �I wonder what would�ve happened if I had done X�� � you can go back to that exact point and try a different tactic).
Q: Another feature your game boasts in the Territory System. Now in terms of importance and effect on the game, do these act more like Rise of Nations Territory System or Age of Mythologies Settlements?
A: It�s sort of a mix between the two. The Territories are discrete like in AoM, but you can place your City Centers anywhere in them, and there are far more bonuses associated with them than in AoM. It�s different from RoN because it�s less of a historical note, and more of a goal. You get more for capturing Territories, and the discrete count of how many you have is a yardstick for how well you�re doing (and you know who to take out!).
The full interview can be found here. Thanks goes to TSC_Blade for this news.
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Saturday, February 26, 2005 |
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New Forum Online
22:02 PST | by Matt
As some of you may remember, several months ago the GameSpy network came under attack by a malicious web script which took advantage of an exploit in the phpBB forum software. Dozens of sites across the GameSpy network were affected, including Empire Earth Aeon. Many of our core forum files were destroyed or otherwise corrupted, and the attacker gained access to our MySQL database. Subsequently, the Aeon forum has been offline ever since.
Today, however, I have some good news. We've finally finished setting up our brand new forum, which is online and ready for business. The exploits in the forum software have been corrected and GameSpy has taken extra steps to improve the security of the entire network.
That being said, I would like to welcome you all to join us in our new forum to discuss, among other things, the newly-released Empire Earth 2 demo.
View: Empire Earth Aeon Forum
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Friday, February 25, 2005 |
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Empire Earth II Demo Out!
15:02 PST | by DK
Just as I was preparing to post about the upcoming release of a Empire Earth II demo March the 1st, I stumbled upon the news that it already had been released! The single-player demo lets gamers lead one of three civilizations - the Germans, Americans, or Koreans - through three of the game's 15 epochs, including the Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment. There are two games types to choose from: conquest and territory control. The demo, coming in at 177MB, can be found at these mirrors: FileRush, Worthplaying, 3DGamers, GGMania, ActionTrip.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2005 |
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Warcry Preview
11:02 PST | by DK
The Warcry Network has a You can find the preview new preview of Empire Earth II, as with the other previews linked to today, it isn't worth reading if you're on the look for new details, however, the sheer enthusiasm the previewer shows for the game brings joy to an Empire Earth fan's heart:
Combine giant robots, several significant improvements to the genre, and a non-cheating AI, and you have an RTS worth looking at. Now add all these cool little Civ-type features and enough variations and options to make gameplay last hundreds of hours, and you have Empire Earth 2. If you�re going to play one RTS this year, play this one.
You can find the preview here.
New Previews
06:02 PST | by DK
Both Games Domain and Computer & Video Games offers previews of Empire Earth II. The previews are only worth a read if you haven't read any previous previews, as they reveal nothing new. They can be found here and here.
New Official Empire Earth II Site
06:02 PST | by DK
Sierra and Mad Doc has just launched the new Empire Earth II official site. Besides the new looks, the site also features tons of new content; so much, that it take hours to list it. In other words: Check it out!
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Friday, February 11, 2005 |
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On Vacation!
15:02 PST | by DK
As I'll be going to Italy tomorrow, there will most likely not be any news posting made until next sunday (the 20th that is). I'll naturally update the site when I return!
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Wednesday, February 9, 2005 |
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A Batch of News
12:02 PST | by DK
As I haven't been able to update the news in the last few days, there's quite a bit of Empire Earth II coverage that has been left unnoted here at the site:
First of all, Worthplaying features five new stunning screen shots, which are some of the best shots of Empir Earth II. Secondly, GameSpot has the second video diary from the hands of Mad Doc CEO Ian Davis. Finally, GameSpy, as promised in their last preview, has a new hands-on preview of the multiplayer aspect of Empire Earth II.
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Saturday, February 5, 2005 |
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IGN Preview
05:02 PST | by DK
IGN has yet another hands-on preview of Empire Earth II:
Empire Earth II received a facelift from the original, as one would expect. This is a new engine that allows for better realization of battles and armies. It isn't going to wow anyone like some of the Age of Empires III or Earth 2160 screens have been, but everything is certainly functional with a good level of detail.
But aside from mere environments, buildings, and units, Empire Earth II has some nice effects. Explosions are pretty and bright, but there are also those with meaning. Weather effects have a drastic effect on how the game plays. While units won't necessarily stop working (unless they're aircraft that's been grounded by storms), they'll suffer a huge drop in speed and sight radius. This means keeping an eye on the month and time is a good idea. Sending your giant army out only to get caught in a blizzard could be detrimental to their health when they accidentally wander into a fortified base.
Empire Earth II has a lot going for it. There certainly are some things that need to get fixed before everything is running perfectly, but they have a while to finish things up so hopefully that will be enough time. If so, this game could be one that fans of the hardcore RTS genre can get all bubbly about.
Its sort of funny, but admittedly also logical, how the three big gaming networks all preview the game within the same week.
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Friday, February 4, 2005 |
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GameSpot's Empire Earth II Frenzy
11:02 PST | by DK
GameSpot has a hands-on preview of Empire Earth, 27 new screen shots, and 4 new gameplay videos. The preview touches the same subjects as the recent GameSpy preview, but is more in-depth. You can find an overview of GameSpot's Empire Earth II coverage here.
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