Age of Empires at E3

One favorite tactic with a vacant machine was to start up one of the Alexander the Great battles. In few minutes a crowd would gather to watch the incredible animations and then one of the onlookers would give it a try. Worked every time.

Comments overheard at the booth:

• Terry Coleman (CGW): "AOE and Gettysburg are two of the best, if not the best, real-time games for 1997."
• Bruce Milligan (AOL Online Games): "A fantastic product; nothing else comes close."
• Morten Larsen (online journalist from Norway): "Wonderful game; it will sell great in Europe."
• Glenn Drover (Activision sales and ex-Microprose): "A sure winner."
• Josh Resnick (Director of Production, Activision) & Greg Borrud (producer of Dark Reign, Activision): "Great game; fantastic animations and art; want to relocate to Santa Monica?"
• Nash Werner & George Chronis (PC Games): "We love it; it's great; get us a new version!"
• Chris Anderson (PC Zone; UK magazine): "Very impressive; a sure hit in Britain."
• Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs (Firaxis Software): "Looks great; we're glad we don't have to compete against you directly; we love your horses and other animations, especially the death animations."
• Johnny Wilson (CGW): "AOE is one of five or so games showing here that have a chance to make real money."
• Robert McMillon (E3 attendee): "I was awestruck (by Age of Empires). We came back and played multiplayer on Friday with what seemed to be half your staff watching. The game easily had my vote for the best of show. Pass kudos galore to your animators. I think that they have set a new standard to measure games by. We were astounded by the hunting animations."
• Sean Wolff (ES 3D Animator): "Everyone from Activision (Dark Reign) and Blizzard were required to stop by the booth and check us out. We could not get enough praise as to how great the game looked and played."
• Mark Terrano (ES Comm Developer): "What amazed me was the level of press interest from the European magazines and Web sites. And even better than the quotes were the bug-eyed stares when visitors saw the Calvary get into a battle, or watched the heavy catapult knock down archers 5 at a blow. To summarize, if I had a dollar for every jaw that dropped in our booth at E3 I could retire."
• Stuart Moulder (Microsoft): "Wizards of the Coast loved our booth so much they wanted to buy the catapult. Ultimately it fell through when they couldn't work out the transport issues. Guess it wasn't a carry-on item."
  "Our booth staffing was a bit thin this year. The Ensemble crew really saved us. Everyone from Ensemble did a fantastic job showing the product and helping generate the enthusiasm we all heard at the show. And almost no one complained that we didn't have any booth babes. (g)"
• Chris Rippy (ES Sound Director): "Got this message from David Pall, developer of Pitfall 3-'Age of Empires is one of the games I am most looking forward to.'"
• Tim Znamenacek (Microsoft Project Manager): "I heard from all of the people demo-ing to the press, analysts, buyers, etc., in the Microsoft private rooms that Age was a clear favorite."
• Dave Pottinger (ES Engine Lead and AI Guy): "The booth was tremendous. Every Ensemble employee remarked about feeling a chill as they rounded the corner and caught their first glimpse of the huge catapult tower. It was great to have Age playing on so many machines; many booth visitors commented that it was a lot easier to play Age because there were so many machines (compared to some of our competitors). I think the demos were a lot easier to do and much more personal because of the number of machines we had at our disposal."
  "Everyone who saw the game loved it. It was really great to see other game companies come over to look at the game and then make comments about wishing their game was as good. It was especially exciting to hear that every person working on Starcraft had been ordered to come see our game before E3 was over."
  "The animation quality of the game was an immediate hook for each and every person who saw the game. Everything from the hunting animations to the flip of the dying cavalry was oohed and aahed consistently."
  "People were very receptive to our major goals for the game (multiple paths to victory, civilization differentiation, random maps, etc.). It was clear that Age was the only real-time strategy game that had focused on things besides combat. That gives us a lot of differentiation over our competitors."
  "It was great to be the only 'Ancients' game in the genre. Everything else seems to be sci-fi, so this gives us a big leg up. Several visitors made the comment that it was easier to understand how cavalry relates to an archer (as opposed to some previously undefined sci-fi units) because we've all grown up with that understanding."
  "Quite a few people (more than I would have thought before going to E3) commented that we were going to just make a killing in the market because the game would be an immediate success." It was great to see that our game had some of the best performance and polish, too. Several other games had scrolling issues and other problems that we've worked long and hard to avoid."
• Brad Crow (ES 3D Animator): "Everything I saw and heard was extremely positive. It was a successful morale boost for the whole company, and that meant more to me than the fact that everybody loved our game as much as they did."
• David Lewis (ES Developer): "My very first impression came when we got to the main exhibit hall and first laid eyes on the booth. The Towers were reaching for the sky, the smoke was drifting up like fog, and the very loud music was blaring from all around. I got very pumped and excited."
  "The only bad comment was 'I have to wait till October, darn!!'. There were folks who came back everyday and played for hours. I liked watching them because they would already know what to do and other people would stop and watch these 'experts' play. I would always show people the death animation of the cavalry scout and everyone got a chuckle out of the guy bouncing. What I liked most was when developers came by, enjoyed the game, and asked how/when they could get a demo and when the game would get released."
  "Part of Chris's (Rippy) CNN demo got on CNN Headline news on Friday night. I was at a bar in the Buckhead area and I looked up to see the scenario editor interface on the TV. It faded to AGE OF EMPIRES with the rest of the exhibit hall in the background. It was way cool to see our game on CNN Headline News."
• Duane Santos (ES 3D Animator): "I remember this fellow stepping up to the monitor next to me and starting a quick game. I watched for a few minutes and then I quit my game to let him in on a few things. I didn't give him too many hints, however, so I could see how he would do on his own. He continued to play on his own for a good little while with my minor help and hints. His enthusiasm multiplied as he acquired the resources to research and upgrade to the next age. Once upgraded he kept playing to find out 'what next.' His game lasted for 1 hour and about 40 minutes without one bug or let-down in performance. He walked away in awe and claiming our game was the best in graphics and in performance."
  "One other memory that comes to mind was Scott Winsett helping two guys that were big on Command & Conquer. He coached them through a 2 hour multiplayer game. They both took turns trying to dominate the board and just as one thought he was going to win the other fought back and wiped out his army. This game was one that was exciting just to watch. Scott didn't have to tell them much thanks to the command line that appears when looking to upgrade or train units. They also walked away claiming our game to be a winner."

Top	Back

Main - Downloads - FAQ - Forum - Interviews - Links - News - Rise of Rome - Scenarios - Strategies - Tips - Units