When me and my friend Gregg were roommates in a shitty ghetto apartment on the border of San Francisco and Daly City in the late nineties, we had our two computers hooked up in a ad hoc network. We did this for one main purpose - playing Age of Empires. While not the most complex real-time strategy game, it could certainly be fun, and we built our kingdoms and then launched attacks against each other.
Whoever used the fastest computer usually won. We would alternate. It sort of took the fun out of it, but not entirely. Sometimes I would play against the computer.
Basically, you start with one villager and you create more and build buildings and farms and soldiers and castles and stuff. And then go to war. It was best playing against another person, cause like most RTS games, the computer cheated like fuck.
It's been many years since I've played this game now, but I'll always have fond memories of it. I hear they are making a new version. Maybe I'll check it out.
Man, I wish my roommates and I played games together more often. We'll watch TV together, but it's not as social.
have you suggested it? Local play is great!
I only played AoE by myself, but I bet it would be a ton of fun playing it against another in the same room. I think that goes for pretty much every game in existence haha.
it is a lot of fun.. I miss it.
I first played Age of Empires on DS, weirdly enough. They did two games on DS and I love them both. I desperately want to play the full game on console. If there's another one, and it's on console, I'm all over it.
I just installed the Age of Empires theme on my computer the other day too.
I didn't know they released it on DS. That's crazy.
Yea, Age of Kings and Mythology on DS. I love those.
So here's a true story. Right after I started writing for The Dallas Morning News, a close relative knew a guy who worked for a place in Dallas that made games and it was called Ensemble Studios. I went to visit them and they showed me a game they were working on called Age of Empires. They said they hadn't found a publisher yet, but they were thinking about going with Microsoft. I told them that would be a wise move. And then later the game came out and I got to review the first couple of them for PC.
wow that's an interesting story. The game is almost an institution now.
I never played Age of Empires but the gameplay sounds similar to Command & Conquer. Playing games like how you and your roommate played was a lot of fun. A little trash talk, food, and a lot of laughs.
yeah i have great memories.
I cheat back against the computer by using the pause button. A human can't control all units and buildings at once like the AI can, so I feel justified in giving myself that edge.
cheating computers deserve to get cheated on!
