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Age of Empires Online could make free-to-play games mainstream

A new age is dawning in the video game business, and Microsoft wants to be part of it. Today, Microsoft is formally launching its Age of Empires Online game as a free-to-play online-only title. That means users can start playing the game online for free and can purchase upgrades and virtual goods with real money.

While free-to-play games have nibbled at the edges of the game business for a while, Age of Empires Online is a major release that validates the business model. The mainstream of Age of Empires series has sold more than 25 million copies since 1997. This new title really takes free-to-play games to a new level because of the quality of the game play, graphics and depth.

“This game is in the big leagues,” said Chris Taylor (pictured, right), chief executive and creative director at Gas Powered Games, which developed the game along with Robot Entertainment for Microsoft. “If you’re wondering where PC gaming is going next, this is where it’s going. It’s a huge shift.”

Taylor said in an interview that the free-to-play model will let lots of players sample a game that has been built from the ground up as an online title. They can download the game and play either the Greek or Egyptian players. If they want to save their civilization as a permanent city, they have to pay about $20 (or 1,600 Microsoft Points in the company’s virtual currency). And they can unlock new civilizations for $19.99. You can also buy decorative buildings for $4.99 and other features for relatively small amounts, much like you can in free-to-play mobile or Facebook games.

The download is two gigabytes of data. That may scare off some folks who have lousy internet connections or weak computers. But it doesn’t take that long to download, and it enables much richer graphics and smooth character movement, Taylor said. Since you can play multiplayer battles against your friends, the game play is virtually unlimited. If you want to play single-player quests, you can stay busy for something like 50 to 100 hours.

The user interface on a mission map is well designed. You can see how many of your villagers are sitting idle and set them to work gathering resources. You can also see if you have too many people collecting gold and not enough chopping wood.

The art style of the game looks great, but it is slightly less realistic and a little more cartoonish than the previous Age of Empires games.

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