With its latest PC push, Microsoft is ushering in a bonafied zombie apocalypse of allegedly “dead†PC gaming legends. First up, we’ve got Age of Empires Online, the latest entry in a series that was thought to be six feet under when Microsoft axed its creator, Ensemble Studios. Ditto for Microsoft Flight, the successor to Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series, whose developer went into a fiery tailspin in 2009. And both will appear as part of Microsoft’s Games for Windows brand, a platform that, well, wasn’t really ever alive to begin with.
Granted, if you’re expecting Age of Empires IV and Flight Simulator Whichever One We’re On Now, you might be a tad disappointed. Instead, Age of Empires Online has advanced right into the free-to-play age, which could mean some serious nickel-and-diming – possibly at the expense of balance. Fortunately, developer Robot Studios is made up of many ex-Ensemble staffers, so hopefully they won’t steer the franchise wrong. If you’d like to try before you don’t buy, though, you can head over to the game’s official site and sign up for the upcoming beta.
Microsoft Flight, meanwhile, has lost the “Simulator†moniker in exchange for a second lease on life. Its announcement, however, was buried at the bottom of a press release, so all we know at this point is that Flight will “bring a new perspective to the long-standing genre, welcoming everyone, including longtime fans, to experience the magic of flight.†Sounds… accessible.
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