Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Destruction sandbox Mercenaries 2 caps off its story in the only way it possibly could – by giving the player a mini nuke to break open the enemy’s bunker. Going forward, it’s possible to purchase more mini-nukes, thus allowing for more wanton nuclear destruction across the map. It’s a living, we suppose.

This is the briefest of tweets of all time- but it might set off a round of unprecedented speculations and discussions. When asked on Twitter by a fan if a strategy game would be coming to the Xbox One, Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer replied with a monosyllabic ‘Yes.’

To those who are initiated with Microsoft’s catalog of classic franchises, this can be potentially a very big deal- you see, Microsoft has some of the most beloved strategy games of all time, from the Age of Empires franchise to Rise of Nations. They have been teasing a return of those franchises for some time now, and this might be referring to a new Age of Empires, for example, coming to Xbox One.

Now, of course, there is an argument to be made that you don’t want to see a classic RTS franchise on a console at all- and while I can understand how the prospect of the first new Age of Empires game in over a decade being made for consoles would be distasteful to some, I personally think that, if handled right, it could herald a return to form for the franchise.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

Okay, guys, it looks like it might finally be happening. The pieces have been falling into place for the longest time- from Microsoft’s purchase of the Age of Empires and Rise of Nations IPs recently, to them then releasing Age of Empires and Rise of Nations games on Steam, remastered. From them teasing that their older PC IPs will return some time soon, to them teasing a focus on PC gaming at the upcoming Windows 10 event this month.

And now, it seems like it might finally be happening. Meet Decisive Games- it appears to be a brand new studio formed by Microsoft to bring the “next installment in a beloved strategy game franchise to the next generation of gamers”.

Guys, it is very clear what this listing is referring to.

The only sour patch in this entire celebratory moment is that the listing seems to indicate the game will be for Xbox as well as for PC, but you know what, The Battle for Middle Earth II or Halo Wars were both released for Xbox as well, and they were great RTSs regardless. If this is what it takes for me to get a brand new Age of Empires, Microsoft, bring it on.

Remember Big Huge Games? You have to. Created by Brian Reynolds, the co-creator of the excellent Civilization series, the studio had a trailblazing start, when they debuted with the paradigm setting real time strategy game, Rise of Nations. Big Huge Games’ subsequent output, however, which usually involved expansion packs for Microsoft’s strategy or sim games, such as Age of Empires III or Zoo Tycoon 2, never lived up to the potential of their first game, and by the time the studio released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning with 38 Studios, it was folded up as part of the latter’s bankruptcy, as part of the game’s failure.

Well, now Brian Reynolds has revived the studio, and they have already announced their new game. It is called DomiNations, and it is an ‘epic’ and ‘innovative’ strategy game, that will let players virtually travel through history, from the stone age to the space age.

It is also a mobile title. For iOS and Android tablets and smartphones.

And it will be releasing in 2015.

If ever there was a case of mixed emotions, this would be it.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more, I guess.

Although in recent years, Microsoft has reduced its support for PC gaming, with its emphasis on Xbox, Windows 8, and Windows Phone, and has even often actively antagonized PC gaming, one needs to remember that there used to be a time when Microsoft was leading the charge of PC gaming- they were the ones who first gave developers a set of standardized APIs for their games with the DirectX toolset, and an OS to run them on, with Windows.

They were the ones who standardized controller support for PC gaming with their bid to make the 360 controller the de facto controller for PC games. And they also gave us many PC game classics, such as Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, Zoo Tycoon, and Midtown Madness.

Phil Spencer, who heads Microsoft’s Xbox division, probably recognizes Microsoft’s rich legacy with PC gaming, because he took to his Twitter to explicitly state that Microsoft needs to be doing more for PC gaming.

“Steam is a great place to sell Win32 games. We acquired the [Rise of Nations] IP for future work; I’m a big fan of the franchise,” Phil Spencer said, also opening up the possibility for a future Rise of Nations game.

“I agree that Microsoft needs to up our gaming presence on Windows. Part of my Xbox role is to bring back our Windows gaming focus,” he added.

Microsoft has openly stated that it does not plan on competing with Steam, rather opting to support it (as they have with the recent re-releases of Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology, and now Rise of Nations). Spencer may be referring, therefore, to a revival of Microsoft’s PC gaming IPs, such as the Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, and Zoo Tycoon. Considering how I actually grew up on these games, that would make me very excited for sure.