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132-482: While not the first real-time strategy (RTS) video game, Dune II established the format that would be followed for years to come. As such, Dune II is the archetypal real-time strategy game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, it was a huge success and laid the foundation for Age of Empires , Warcraft , Westwood Studios' subsequent strategy game Command & Conquer , and many other RTS games that followed. Emperor Frederick IV of House Corrino

264-410: A propellant charge of more than four ounces [113 g], missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce [7 g], or mine or device similar to the above. (2) Poison gas. (3) Any weapon involving a disease organism. (4) Any weapon that is designed to release radiation at a level dangerous to human life. For the general purposes of national defense, the U.S. Code defines

396-624: A Deck", which allows players to replace "Home City" shipments with improved alternatives. In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors the AI was given a high priority, the result being the "smart villager" feature, which was included in subsequent games of the series. After building a structure that stores or produces resources, smart villagers would proceed to collect resources related to the structure, such as crops from farms or ore from exposed deposits. Age of Mythology: The Titans lets players use an AI debugger when creating custom scenarios; players can change

528-493: A Weapon of Mass Destruction may be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if resulting in death, be punishable by death or by imprisonment for any terms of years or for life. They can also be asked to pay a maximum fine of $ 250,000. The Washington Post reported on 30 March 2006: "Jurors asked the judge in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui today to define the term 'weapons of mass destruction' and were told it includes airplanes used as missiles". Moussaoui

660-637: A card that trumps all forms of aggression"). In its criminal complaint against the main suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing of 15 April 2013, the FBI refers to a pressure-cooker improvised bomb as a "weapon of mass destruction." There have been calls to classify at least some classes of cyber weapons as WMD, in particular those aimed to bring about large-scale (physical) destruction, such as by targeting critical infrastructure . However, some scholars have objected to classifying cyber weapons as WMD on

792-602: A chemical weapons stockpile in 2009 which U.N. personnel had secured after the 1991 Gulf War. The stockpile contained mainly chemical precursors, but some munitions remained usable. Because of its prolific use and (worldwide) public profile during this period, the American Dialect Society voted "weapons of mass destruction" (and its abbreviation, "WMD") the word of the year in 2002, and in 2003 Lake Superior State University added WMD to its list of terms banished for "Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness" (and "as

924-640: A closed beta for early February of that year. Betas ran on Steam and the Microsoft Store, with each beta session including a small piece of the game. The first closed beta session began on February 11, 2020, and ended on February 19, 2020. The second closed multiplayer session began on March 31 and ran until April 7. The game was released on October 15, 2020. On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires IV , developed by Relic Entertainment . Microsoft's Executive Vice-President of Gaming, Phil Spencer , confirmed on June 11, 2019, that Age of Empires IV

1056-561: A fan-made modpack made for The Conquerors , Age of Empires II: The Forgotten was an unofficial expansion that added a new campaign, playable civilizations, maps, and quality of service updates. The Forgotten was later developed into an official expansion with SkyBox Labs and Forgotten Empires, and in November 2013 The Forgotten HD was released by Microsoft exclusively for the HD Edition on Steam . A third expansion named The African Kingdoms

1188-494: A fast-moving Saboteur whose main purpose is the destruction of buildings. The AI of Dune II was one of the first used in RTS games, and while better than that of Herzog Zwei , it has various drawbacks. Examples include only attacking the side of the player's base facing its own, and general inability to perform flanking maneuvers. Research into the game's engine revealed that the AI is in fact capable of more advanced strategy, but that

1320-467: A fast-paced wargame". He also stated that, while " Herzog Zwei was a lot of fun", the "other inspiration for Dune II was the Mac software interface ", referring to the "design/interface dynamics of mouse clicking and selecting desktop items" which got him thinking: "Why not allow the same inside the game environment? Why not a context-sensitive playfield? To hell with all these hot keys, to hell with keyboard as

1452-635: A game of the same title to the PlayStation 2 around five years earlier than the DS version, but the game had little promotion, and sold poorly. On August 16, 2010, Microsoft announced Age of Empires Online , which was a free-to-play Games for Windows Live online game, it developed in collaboration with Robot Entertainment . It featured Free-to-play experiences via Games for Windows LIVE as well as: A persistent online capital city that lives and grows even when you're offline, Cooperative multiplayer quests, trading and

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1584-513: A game where the player "kept clicking on stuff and then zooming off to another part of the screen. It was very hard to keep track of what was going on as an observer. Still, everyone liked it, it had fast action, and it was a strategy game". Virgin staff, including Clarke-Willson and Seth Mendelsohn (who later worked on the Ultima series), then went to Westwood Studios to talk about making a Dune game. According to Clarke-Willson, "Westwood agreed to make

1716-465: A hardcover artbook . The last page of the artbook has a pictorial depiction of the series; the Roman numerals below each panel range from I to V, indicating the series would include an Age of Empires IV and Age of Empires V . Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen said that the image "was total speculation on [their] part". In 2008, Microsoft announced they were closing down Ensemble Studios following

1848-464: A large part of these capabilities is unused due to consistently repeated errors in all of the game's mission scripts. According to Virgin Interactive vice president Stephen Clarke-Willson in 1998, the development of Dune II began when Virgin Interactive planned to cancel the production of Cryo Interactive 's adventure game Dune , after which he was given the task of figuring out what to do with

1980-430: A level-based system that lets you progress at your own pace. Premium content could be earned or purchased, such as access to blueprints and special items, as well as more quests and features. In September 2013, it was announced that the game would remain functional until July 1, 2014, after which it would be shut down due to the content being too expensive to maintain. On April 13, 2014, Age of Empires: World Domination

2112-646: A pre-operational nuclear reactor inside Iraq by the Israeli Air Force in 1981, the Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin , countered criticism by saying that "on no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the people of Israel." This policy of pre-emptive action against real or perceived weapons of mass destruction became known as the Begin Doctrine . The term "weapons of mass destruction" continued to see periodic use, usually in

2244-642: A remastered soundtrack, and other gameplay improvements, and was planned to be released on October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018, when it was released on the Microsoft Store . On May 30, 2019, Microsoft announced that the Definitive Edition would be coming to Steam , along with the Definitive Editions of both Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III . Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings , released on September 30, 1999, used

2376-468: A resource strategy game based on Dune , and agreed to look at Herzog Zwei for design ideas". It later turned out that Cryo's game of the same name was not cancelled, and Westwood's real-time strategy game was called Dune II as a result. Westwood Studios co-founder and Dune II producer Brett Sperry said in 2008 that conceptualization for the game began when Virgin president Martin Alper approached him with

2508-536: A semi- remake for Windows in 1998 as Dune 2000 , along with a PlayStation port in the same year. Westwood subsequently released Emperor: Battle for Dune in 2001 . There are also fan-made game engine recreations , like Dune Legacy , which aims for improved usability and controls while not changing the gameplay. Age of Empires Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios . The first game

2640-452: A specially formatted disk. Two years later, it was also brought to the Archimedes and Risc PC range of RISC OS computers. The Mega Drive/Genesis port has fairly different building and unit graphics, a full-screen menu-less user interface suited for gamepad control, and no save game support, relying on access codes for accessing each level. Other additions include a music test option and

2772-502: A speech at Rice University on 12 September 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke of not filling space "with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding." The following month, during a televised presentation about the Cuban Missile Crisis on 22 October 1962, Kennedy made reference to "offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction." An early use of the exact phrase in an international treaty

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2904-705: A speech at the United Nations probably written by Herbert Bayard Swope ). The phrase found its way into the very first resolution the United Nations General assembly adopted in January 1946 in London, which used the wording "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other weapons adaptable to mass destruction." The resolution also created the Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor of

3036-499: A tutorial that replaces the mentat screen. Several ideas from this version, including the music track listing and the replacement of sidebar command buttons by a context-sensitive cursor, were used in Westwood's next strategy game, Command & Conquer . The game was ported to Android in 2013; also a fan-made port for Pandora became available based on the reverse engineered game engine . According to Westwood Studios, Dune II

3168-420: A unit runs over them (the unit is destroyed in the ensuing "spice blow"). A map of the planet Arrakis is shown before most missions, where the player can choose the next territory to play in among two or three. This affects primarily the enemy house fought in the next mission, as all missions except the first two require the destruction of the enemy. Nine territories must be fought, irrespective of house, to reach

3300-448: A weapon of mass destruction as: For the purposes of the prevention of weapons proliferation , the U.S. Code defines weapons of mass destruction as "chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and chemical, biological, and nuclear materials used in the manufacture of such weapons". For the purposes of U.S. criminal law concerning terrorism, weapons of mass destruction are defined as: The Federal Bureau of Investigation 's definition

3432-428: A weapon of mass destruction". He prefers to call chemical and biological weapons "weapons of terror" when aimed against civilians and "weapons of intimidation" for soldiers. Testimony of one such soldier expresses the same viewpoint. For a period of several months in the winter of 2002–2003, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz frequently used the term "weapons of mass terror", apparently also recognizing

3564-422: Is a military commander from a House of their choice. In the first few missions, the objectives are to successfully establish a base on an unoccupied territory of Arrakis, while harvesting spice and defending the base from enemy incursions. Later, as the three Houses begin moving against each other territories, missions will increasingly focus on destroying or capturing enemy bases. When the player dominates Arrakis on

3696-461: Is desperate for the harvesting of the valuable drug melange (also known as "the spice"), found only on the planet Arrakis , to pay off all of his debt incurred on internecine wars with family members. To achieve this, he offers the sole governorship of Arrakis to whichever of the three Houses ( Atreides , Harkonnen , and the non-canon Ordos) delivers the most spice for him. War begins as deputations from all three Houses arrive on Arrakis. The player

3828-491: Is directed inwards, causing the pit of uranium or plutonium to compress to a dense point. Once the uranium/plutonium is dense enough, neutrons are then injected. This starts a fission chain reaction also known as an atomic explosion. Nuclear fusion is essentially the opposite of fission. It is the fusing together of nuclei, not the splitting of it. When exposed to extreme pressure and temperature, some lightweight nuclei can fuse together and form heavier nuclei, releasing energy in

3960-481: Is in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, but the treaty provides no definition of the phrase, and the treaty also categorically prohibits the stationing of "weapons" and the testing of "any type of weapon" in outer space, in addition to its specific prohibition against placing in orbit, or installing on celestial bodies, "any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction." During

4092-414: Is lifted forever with initial exploration; it does not become dark once more when units leave the area. In addition to enemy incursions, there are other dangers such as the marauding, gigantic sandworm , capable of swallowing vehicles and infantry whole but blocked by rocky terrain. The player can only build on rocky terrain and must build concrete foundations to avoid deterioration of the structures due to

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4224-402: Is similar to that presented above from the terrorism statute: Indictments and convictions for possession and use of WMD such as truck bombs, pipe bombs , shoe bombs, and cactus needles coated with a biological toxin have been obtained under 18 USC 2332a. As defined by 18 USC §2332 (a), a Weapon of Mass Destruction is: Under the same statute, conspiring, attempting, threatening, or using

4356-411: Is that we had the advantage of a mouse and keyboard. This greatly facilitated precise player control, which enabled the player to give orders to individual units. The mouse, and the direct control it allowed, was critical in making the RTS genre possible". Originally released for MS-DOS in 1992, Dune II was one of the first games to support the recently introduced General MIDI standard. The game audio

4488-408: Is when the nucleus of an atom is split into smaller nuclei. This process can be induced by shooting a neutron at the nucleus of an atom. When the neutron is absorbed by the atom, it becomes unstable, causing it to split and release energy. Modern nuclear weapons start this process by detonating chemical explosives around a pit of either uranium-235 or plutonium-239 metal. The force from this detonation

4620-691: The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, an increased fear of nonconventional weapons and asymmetric warfare took hold in many countries. The fear reached a crescendo with the 2002 Iraq disarmament crisis and the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that became the primary justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq ; however, American forces found none in Iraq. They found old stockpiles of chemical munitions including sarin and mustard agents , but all were considered to be unusable because of corrosion or degradation. Iraq, however, declared

4752-491: The Age of Empires games were similar in several ways. Due to the games being based on historical events, the team often had to do large amounts of research. However, the research was not in depth, which, according to Age of Empires designer Bruce Shelley , is "a good idea for most entertainment products". Shelley also said that Ensemble Studios took most of the reference material from children's sections at libraries . He pointed out

4884-443: The Age of Empires series has been developed and improved regularly by designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger noted the development team gave the AI in the original game a very high priority, and spent over a year working on it. He said that the AI in the game relies on tactics and strategies to win, instead of "cheating" by giving bonus resources to itself, or tweaking its units to be stronger than normal. Pottinger later noted that

5016-406: The Age of Empires series team took great pride in their AI playing a "fair game" and didn't know what the player was doing and had to play by the same rules as its human opponents. Age of Empires allows players to choose to play either along specialized, story-backed conditions or as individual battles against the AI (and other players). Choosing to battle against the AI – rather than following

5148-546: The Cold War , the term "weapons of mass destruction" was primarily a reference to nuclear weapons. At the time, in the West the euphemism " strategic weapons " was used to refer to the American nuclear arsenal. However, there is no precise definition of the "strategic" category, neither considering range nor yield of the nuclear weapon . Subsequent to Operation Opera , the destruction of

5280-519: The Cold War , the term came to refer more to non- conventional weapons . The application of the term to specifically nuclear and radiological weapons is traced by William Safire to the Russian phrase "Оружие массового поражения" – oruzhiye massovogo porazheniya (weapon of mass destruction). William Safire credits James Goodby (of the Brookings Institution ) with tracing what he considers

5412-637: The Dune license. After reading the original Dune novel, he decided that "from a gaming point-of-view the real stress was the battle to control the spice", so a resource-based strategy video game would be a good idea. It was around this time that employee Graeme Devine (who later founded Trilobyte ) introduced to everyone at the Virgin office a real-time strategy game on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive console called Herzog Zwei (1989). Clarke-Willson described it as

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5544-551: The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 . He confirmed that the Definitive Edition was being developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media , and Wicked Witch Software . He announced that the game would feature new 4K graphics, Xbox Live support for multiplayer, exclusive achievements, four new civilizations ( Bulgarians , Cumans , Lithuanians , Tatars ), three new campaigns, a new spectator mode and tournament features, and additional quality of life improvements. It

5676-846: The English , the French , the Holy Roman Empire , the Mongols , and the Rus . This title revisits the Middle Ages and incorporates several features and mechanics of Age of Empires II that were changed or removed in Age of Empires III . Like other Age of Empires games, Age of Empires IV has received several new civilizations in updates. Recent updates have added the Ottomans , Malians , Byzantines , and Japanese , along with several variants of civilizations already in

5808-643: The European colonization of the Americas . Its second expansion, The Asian Dynasties , follows the rise of Asia in the same period. Age of Empires Online focuses on the Greek and Egyptian civilizations. The series' spin-off, Age of Mythology , and its expansion pack, The Titans , are set during the Bronze Age , but focus on mythology as their themes, rather than history. Age of Empires , released on October 15, 1997,

5940-677: The Genie game engine , and had gameplay similar to its predecessor. Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages , from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age . It allows players to choose one of 13 civilizations, from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. On August 24, 2000, Microsoft published the expansion, The Conquerors . It added new units and five new civilizations, including two Mesoamerican civilizations:

6072-593: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)). An exact use of this term was given in a lecture titled " Atomic Energy as a Contemporary Problem" by J. Robert Oppenheimer . He delivered the lecture to the Foreign Service and the State Department , on 17 September 1947. It is a very far reaching control which would eliminate the rivalry between nations in this field, which would prevent

6204-537: The Maya and the Aztec . The Age of Kings was a bigger critical success than the first two games, with Game Rankings and Metacritic scores of 92%. Microsoft shipped out more than two million copies to retailers, and the game received numerous awards and accolades. Critics agreed that The Conquerors expanded well on The Age of Kings , though issues of unbalanced gameplay were raised. The Age of Kings and The Conquerors won

6336-561: The Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado Age of Empires II tournament achieved the second-highest viewership in the game's history, with a peak of 85,800 concurrent viewers. The event, held at the Castle of Almodóvar , Spain , featured eight top players, including TheViper and Hera, who won the final 5-1. This marked a 12% increase in peak viewership compared to the previous series, reflecting the growing popularity of Age of Empires II in

6468-644: The Roland Sound Canvas ), because users could not play the game with both digital sound effects (which MIDI synthesisers lacked) and high-quality MIDI score. Westwood later published a revised setup utility to enable users select a different soundcard for each type of game audio: digital speech, music, and sound effects. Ports to the Amiga and Mega Drive/Genesis were released in 1993 and 1994 respectively. The Amiga floppy disk version has less detailed graphics and requires frequent disk swapping. Save games are stored on

6600-612: The Roman Empire . The Age of Kings and its Nintendo DS spin-off follow Europe and Asia through the Middle Ages . The Age of Kings ' expansion pack, The Conquerors , is set during the same period, but also includes scenarios about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, El Cid , and Attila the Hun . Age of Empires III and its first expansion, The WarChiefs , take place during

6732-453: The Romans . Although the two games had contained many software bugs , patches resolved many of the problems. Age of Empires was generally well received, despite some highly negative reviews. GameSpot criticized a confused design, while Computer and Video Games praised the game as strong in single and multiplayer. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Age of Empires

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6864-450: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire . The subsequent three games of Age of Empires III explored the early modern period , when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the decline. Another installment, Age of Empires Online , takes a different approach as a free-to-play online game utilizing Games for Windows Live . A spin-off game, Age of Mythology ,

6996-426: The U.S. President , the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency , the U.S. Department of Defense , and the U.S. Government Accountability Office . Other documents expand the definition of WMD to also include radiological or conventional weapons . The U.S. military refers to WMD as: Chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons capable of a high order of destruction or causing mass casualties and exclude

7128-735: The esports scene. Superweapon A weapon of mass destruction ( WMD ) is a biological , chemical , radiological , nuclear , or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures (e.g., mountains), or the biosphere . The scope and usage of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Originally coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives during World War II , it has later come to refer to large-scale weaponry of warfare -related technologies, such as biological , chemical , radiological , or nuclear warfare . The first use of

7260-560: The 100 greatest video games of all time. In 1994, PC Gamer US named Dune II the 49th best computer game ever. That same year, PC Gamer UK named it the 21st best computer game of all time, calling it "a wargame for those who don't like wargames". In 1996, GamesMaster listed the Mega Drive version 8th in its "The Gamesmaster Mega Drive Top 10". In the same issue, they also ranked the PC version 21st on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". Dune II

7392-400: The 1990 invasion of Kuwait and 1991 Gulf War , Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs became a particular concern of the first Bush Administration . Following the war, Bill Clinton and other western politicians and media continued to use the term, usually in reference to ongoing attempts to dismantle Iraq's weapons programs . After the 11 September 2001 attacks and

7524-545: The 1998 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year". For several years, the game remained high on the sales charts, with over three million units sold by 2000. The Rise of Rome sold one million units in 2000 and attained 80% as an aggregate score from GameRankings . In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Xbox Game Studios announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 . It features overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution ,

7656-524: The 2000 and 2001 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, respectively. In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on the Steam digital distribution platform for Windows operating systems. The HD Edition includes both the original game and the expansion The Conquerors , as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays. Originally

7788-604: The Amiga version of Dune II was released in 1993, it was met with positive reviews. CU Amiga magazine rated the game highly with 85%, praising the smooth gameplay and controls. Dune II received Amiga User International 's Game of the Month award when it was reviewed in September 1993. GamePro rated the Genesis version 17 out of 20, dubbing it "one of the best war strategy carts for

7920-576: The Deviator - a specialized tank firing a nerve gas that switches the allegiance of targeted units to Ordos for a limited period of time. The three Houses also are restricted in their production capabilities—House Ordos cannot build Atreides-style trikes, instead making the faster "Raider" trikes, while House Harkonnen eschews trikes completely, building only the heavier, more expensive "Quad" light attack vehicle. A player can gain access to other Houses' special units by capturing an enemy Factory and manufacturing

8052-415: The Genesis" while praising the controls, digitized speech, music, and fun gameplay. Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the Genesis version 32 out of 40, commenting that the gameplay is not only addictive, but easy to learn, which they stated is highly unusual for a strategy game. Game Informer rated it 8.25 out of 10. In 1993, Computer Gaming World named Dune II Strategy Game of the Year. The game

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8184-711: The United Kingdom's Butler Review recognized the "considerable and long-standing academic debate about the proper interpretation of the phrase 'weapons of mass destruction ' ". The committee set out to avoid the general term but when using it, employed the definition of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 , which defined the systems which Iraq was required to abandon: Chemical weapons expert Gert G. Harigel considers only nuclear weapons true weapons of mass destruction, because "only nuclear weapons are completely indiscriminate by their explosive power, heat radiation and radioactivity, and only they should therefore be called

8316-515: The building of the House Palace from where superweapons may be unleashed on opponents in the final closing chapters of the game. The House Harkonnen superweapon is a long-range powerful but inaccurate finger of missiles called the Death Hand, whereas House Atreides may call upon the local Fremen infantry warriors, over which the player has no control, to engage enemy targets. House Ordos may unleash

8448-574: The completion of Halo Wars . Some of its employees would form a new team as part of Microsoft Studios . Kevin Unangst, director of Games for Windows , denied it was the end of the Age of Empires series, telling The San Francisco Chronicle "we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires ". Edge confirmed, in an interview with Microsoft's corporate vice president of interactive entertainment, Shane Kim, that Microsoft continued to own Age of Empires and that they had plans to continue

8580-470: The context of nuclear arms control ; Ronald Reagan used it during the 1986 Reykjavík Summit , when referring to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty . Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush , used the term in a 1989 speech to the United Nations, primarily in reference to chemical arms. The end of the Cold War reduced U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent, causing it to shift its focus to disarmament. With

8712-413: The delight of reviewers. IGN stated: "After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail." 1UP.com described Age of Empires III as "one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future". GameSpy agreed, stating: " Age III ' s graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre." Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to

8844-399: The desired units at the captured Factory. Buildings may only be built in rocky zones and connected to another existing building. To protect them from constant wear, the player must first place concrete slabs in the construction areas. Production buildings can be upgraded at a cost several times, allowing the production of more advanced units or buildings. The final prize for the commander is

8976-913: The distinction between the psychological and the physical effects of many things currently falling into the WMD category. Gustavo Bell Lemus , the Vice President of Colombia , at 9 July 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, quoted the Millennium Report of the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly , in which Kofi Annan said that small arms could be described as WMD because

9108-423: The earliest known English-language use soon after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (although it is not quite verbatim): a communique from a 15 November 1945, meeting of Harry Truman , Clement Attlee and Mackenzie King (probably drafted by Vannevar Bush , as Bush claimed in 1970) referred to "weapons adaptable to mass destruction." Safire says Bernard Baruch used that exact phrase in 1946 (in

9240-510: The endgame. Some key elements that first appeared in Dune II and later appear in many other RTS games include: Completing higher missions gives authorization to use improved technology and higher-order weaponry unique to each House, ensuring varied game play. For example, House Harkonnen may be able to construct their Devastator tanks with heavy armor and ordnance but cannot build the similarly impressive Atreides Sonic Tank. The Ordos have access to

9372-403: The excitement and intensity of a war game, but with action-packed gameplay". Other influences cited by Joseph Bostic (also known as Joe Bostic), the co-designer and lead programmer, and Mike Legg, one of the game's programmers, include the turn-based strategy games Military Madness (1989) and Civilization (1991), along with Herzog Zwei . According to Bostic, a "benefit over Herzog Zwei

9504-476: The fatalities they cause "dwarf that of all other weapons systems – and in most years greatly exceed the toll of the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki ". An additional condition often implicitly applied to WMD is that the use of the weapons must be strategic. In other words, they would be designed to "have consequences far outweighing the size and effectiveness of the weapons themselves". The strategic nature of WMD also defines their function in

9636-500: The feature was compared to a role-playing game character by Ensemble Studios. The first expansion to Age of Empires III , The WarChiefs , was released October 17, 2006. Most gameplay changes in the expansion pack were small, but it introduced three new civilizations, with a focus on Native Americans . Most notable was the introduction of the WarChief unit. The second expansion, The Asian Dynasties , went on sale October 23, 2007. It

9768-508: The finish line of the Boston Marathon. He was convicted in April 2015. The bombing resulted in three deaths and at least 264 injuries. The development and use of WMD is governed by several international conventions and treaties . Nuclear weapons use the energy inside of an atom's nucleus to create massive explosions. This goal is achieved through nuclear fission and fusion. Nuclear fission

9900-510: The game on October 30, 2002, and its expansion, The Titans , on October 21, 2003. The Titans featured the Atlanteans as a new civilization. Its campaign is shorter than previous expansions, and centers on Kastor , son of Arkantos, who falls for the lies of the titans and frees them from Tartarus . Age of Mythology sold more than one million units in four months. It scored 89% on Game Rankings and Metacritic. The Titans failed to equal

10032-509: The game: the Ayyubids , Jeanne d'Arc , Order of the Dragon , and Zhu Xi's Legacy. Age of Mythology shared many elements of gameplay with the main series, and was considered a part of the series, despite its different focus. The campaign in Age of Mythology tells the story of an Atlantean , Arkantos , and his quest to find why his people are out of favor with Poseidon . Microsoft published

10164-490: The goal was for the players of the game to have fun, "not [its] designers or researchers". At the Games Convention Developers Conference in 2007, Shelley continued with this thought and explained that the success of the series laid in "making a game which appealed to both the casual and hardcore gamer". Shelley also remarked the Age of Empires games were not about history in itself, but rather "about

10296-518: The graphics in the fourth release but complained about "the awkward unit behavior". Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0. GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the "Best Graphics" award at GameSpy ' s "Game of the Year 2005". Stephen Rippy has been the series' music director since the first game. He has had occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan. He created

10428-470: The grounds that they "cannot [currently] directly injure or kill human beings as efficiently as guns or bombs" or clearly "meet the legal and historical definitions" of WMD. The most widely used definition of "weapons of mass destruction" is that of nuclear , biological , or chemical weapons (NBC) although there is no treaty or customary international law that contains an authoritative definition. Instead, international law has been used with respect to

10560-405: The harsh weather conditions. Structures will still gradually decay over time regardless of the presence of those concrete slabs, but they save repair costs in the long run. Spice fields are indicated by orange coloration on the sand, darker orange indicating high concentration. Some spice may be concealed as bumps on the terrain (a "spice bloom") that become spice fields when they are shot at, or when

10692-439: The human experience;" they focused not simply on what humans had done but on what they could do in the future such as "going into space". Ensemble Studios developed Age of Mythology in a different way than the previous two games. The team had worried they "couldn't get away" with a third historical-based game, and chose mythology as the setting after they had discussed several options. The artificial intelligence (AI) used in

10824-468: The impact of the series. In a GameSpy interview, he explained that parents would "tell Ensemble Studios that their kid is reading books about ancient Greece because they enjoy playing with the triremes so much, or that they want to check out books about medieval history because [the] game taught them what a trebuchet was". Shelley has said that the key to the success of the games was its innovation, rather than imitation of its peers. He also claimed

10956-560: The means of transporting or propelling the weapon where such means is a separable and divisible part from the weapon. Also called WMD. This may also refer to nuclear ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles). The significance of the words separable and divisible part of the weapon is that missiles such as the Pershing II and the SCUD are considered weapons of mass destruction, while aircraft capable of carrying bombloads are not. In 2004,

11088-424: The military doctrine of total war as targeting the means a country would use to support and supply its war effort, specifically its population, industry, and natural resources. Within U.S. civil defense organizations, the category is now Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE), which defines WMD as: (1) Any explosive , incendiary , poison gas , bomb, grenade , or rocket having

11220-642: The new weapons of mass destruction? At the time, nuclear weapons had not been developed fully. Japan conducted research on biological weapons (see Unit 731 ) , and chemical weapons had seen wide battlefield use in World War I . Their use was outlawed by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Italy used mustard agent against civilians and soldiers in Ethiopia in 1935–36 . Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II and during

11352-468: The offer of using their Dune license to produce a game, with the understanding that Cryo's Dune had been cancelled. In terms of video game design , Sperry said: "The inspiration for Dune II was partly from Populous , partly from my work on Eye Of The Beholder and the final and perhaps most crucial part came from an argument I once had with Chuck Kroegel , then vice president of Strategic Simulations Inc  ... The crux of my argument with Chuck

11484-440: The original music in Age of Empires with sounds of instruments from the periods in the game. These sounds came from actual instruments, and their digital samples . The tunes were the result of extensive research on the cultures, styles, and instruments used. Rippy said that sound development on The Age of Kings was easy, since there was knowledge of the instruments used in the Middle Ages. Therefore, they were able to reproduce

11616-410: The primary means of manipulating the game!" During production, he found out that Cryo rushed to finish their game first, leading to Virgin publishing their game as Dune and Westwood's game as Dune II , despite Sperry protesting against this decision. Louis Castle said in 1998 that the game's influence on the real-time strategy genre was unplanned, and that the team's goal was simply "to include all of

11748-530: The prior release, Age of Mythology, such as the inclusion of the award-winning Havok physics simulation middleware game engine for the Windows version and PhysX for the Mac OS X. The innovative result is that pre-created animations are avoided; instead events are calculated according to the physics engine. Consequently, views of events like building destruction and tree felling are not pre-recorded. GameSpot also admired

11880-406: The process. Fusion weapons (also known as “thermonuclear” or “hydrogen” weapons) use the fission process to initiate fusion. Fusion weapons use the energy released from a fission explosion to fuse hydrogen isotopes together. The energy released from these weapons creates a fireball, which reaches tens of million degrees. A temperature of this magnitude is similar to the temperature found at center of

12012-410: The real-time strategy genre. Shelley has acknowledged the success and innovation of Age of Empires helped to ensure Ensemble survive its early periods since startup. In 2005, Shelley complained of critics holding an "innovation bias" against the series; citing the 60% score from Computer Gaming World , he said that despite Age of Empires III being "perhaps the best selling PC game in the world" at

12144-408: The release of Age of Mythology the praise continued, and the fourth release, Age of Empires III, garnered even more. GameSpot praised the improved graphics in the second release, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Eurogamer welcomed its introduction of female villagers as compared with the original male only version. Allgame praised the advanced grouping and path-finding systems in

12276-577: The role of the commander of one of the three interplanetary houses, the Atreides, the Harkonnen or the Ordos, with the objective of wresting control of Arrakis from the other two houses. House Ordos is not featured in the Dune novels and is mentioned only in the non- canon The Dune Encyclopedia . The basic strategy in the game is to harvest spice from the treacherous sand dunes using a harvester vehicle, convert

12408-533: The sales success of Age of Mythology , although critics rated it highly. Backbone Entertainment developed Age of Empires: The Age of Kings as a turn-based game for the Nintendo DS . Majesco Entertainment published the game on February 14, 2006. It is similar to other turn-based games, such as Advance Wars , but with a gameplay based on its PC counterpart . Age of Empires: The Age of Kings scored 80% on Game Rankings and Metacritic. Konami brought

12540-428: The same category as chemical and " dirty bomb " radiological weapons, which have limited destructive potential (and close to none, as far as property is concerned), whereas nuclear and biological weapons have the unique ability to kill large numbers of people with very small amounts of material, and thus could be said to belong in a class by themselves. The NBC definition has also been used in official U.S. documents, by

12672-423: The same time, Microsoft announced that they shipped over two million copies of The Age of Kings . In 2003, Microsoft announced the sales of one million copies for Age of Mythology . By 2004, prior to the release of Age of Empires III , the Age of Empires franchise had sold over 15 million copies. On May 18, 2007, Ensemble Studios announced that two million copies of Age of Empires III had been sold. Games in

12804-407: The second release. Despite the improved graphics, Allgame complained that units in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings were at times difficult to distinguish from one another, a point numerous reviewers agreed on. Nevertheless, Game Revolution wrote that the second release was "the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now". The graphics continued to improve in Age of Mythology and

12936-498: The series have consistently scored highly on video game review aggregator websites GameRankings and Metacritic , which collect data from numerous review websites. As noted in the adjacent table, the highest rating game is Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings , receiving a 92% score from both sites. Critics have credited Age of Empires for influencing real-time strategy (RTS) games such as Rise of Nations , Empire Earth , and Cossacks . Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

13068-708: The series. However, Bruce Shelley wrote in his blog that he would not be part of any new studios formed. Following the announcement of remastered editions of previous games, Microsoft announced Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition on August 21, 2017. On May 30, 2019, the company revealed that the Definitive Edition would come to Steam in the future, along with the Definitive Editions of both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II . On August 28, 2020, Microsoft announced at Gamescom 2020 that Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition would release officially on October 15, 2020. On January 23, 2020, Microsoft announced

13200-408: The settings of computer players and make them act according to certain patterns. More basic changes to the AI had previously been available in the series' first two games. The graphics and visuals of Age of Empires improved with each successive release. From the original release to the second, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, noteworthy improvements gained praise from several critics. With

13332-433: The specific categories of weapons within WMD, and not to WMD as a whole. While nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are regarded as the three major types of WMDs, some analysts have argued that radiological materials as well as missile technology and delivery systems such as aircraft and ballistic missiles could be labeled as WMDs as well. However, there is an argument that nuclear and biological weapons do not belong in

13464-399: The spice into credits via a refinery, and to build military units with these acquired credits in order to fend off and destroy the enemy. The game map initially starts with a fog of war covering all area which is not covered by the player's units range of view. As the units explore the map, the darkness is removed. Unlike later games such as Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness , the fog of war

13596-404: The storyline – allows the AI to adapt to players' strategies and even remember which games it won and lost. The AI eventually overcomes players' strategies and easily destroys their villages after several games. For instance, in Age of Empires III, this is referred to as playing a "Skirmish". However, Age of Empires III allows players to refine their strategies further against the AI by "building

13728-571: The success of the series to its historical theme and fair play; the artificial intelligence (AI) players have fewer advantages than in many of the series' competitors. The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period , in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome , follows the formation and rise of

13860-875: The sun, so it shouldn't be any surprise to learn that the sun runs on fusion as well. The only country to have used a nuclear weapon in war is the United States , which dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. At the start of 2023, nine states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and Israel—together possessed approximately 12 512 nuclear weapons, of which 9576 were considered to be potentially operationally available. An estimated 3844 of these warheads were deployed with operational forces, including about 2000 that were kept in

13992-449: The surreptitious arming of one nation against another, which would provide some cushion of time before atomic attack, and presumably therefore before any attack with weapons of mass destruction, and which would go a long way toward removing atomic energy at least as a source of conflict between the powers. The term was also used in the introduction to the hugely influential U.S. government document known as NSC 68 written in 1950. During

14124-511: The team used instruments such as " bagpipes and field drums" to give it a realistic feel. Ensemble Studios worked together with Big Huge Games to develop The Asian Dynasties , Age of Empires III ' s second expansion. This was the first joint venture for both teams. The reason for them doing so was compatible schedules: Ensemble Studios was busy with other projects—particularly Halo Wars —while Big Huge Games' real-time strategy team had few projects at that time. Big Huge Games did most of

14256-438: The term "weapon of mass destruction" on record is by Cosmo Gordon Lang , Archbishop of Canterbury , in 1937 in reference to the bombing of Guernica , Spain: Who can think at this present time without a sickening of the heart of the appalling slaughter, the suffering, the manifold misery brought by war to Spain and to China ? Who can think without horror of what another widespread war would mean, waged as it would be with all

14388-429: The time, reviewers expected "something really new" and rated it harshly. Bungie chose Ensemble Studios to develop Halo Wars , an RTS game based on their Halo series . They said that one of the reasons they chose to work with Ensemble was because of the Age of Empires series. They also noted that Ensemble was the perfect choice "to realize the original vision of Halo ", which started life as an RTS. In 2024,

14520-405: The tunes for the soundtrack of the game. In Age of Mythology , an orchestral instrumentation was used, instead. According to McMullan, the team also collected large numbers of audio recordings from zoos , and created "a massive sound library of [their] own material". The music of Age of Empires III was similar to The Age of Kings , in which the team used more historical instruments; Rippy noted

14652-462: The unique elements in the games "helped establish the reputation of Ensemble Studios as masters of the real-time strategy genre". Mark Bozon of IGN wrote in his review of The Age of Kings , "The Age of Empires series has been one of the most innovative real-time strategy games for PC in the last decade or so." Gamenikki called Ensemble Studios "the developer that started it all" when they talked about how much Age of Empires III had done to advance

14784-624: The updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics middleware engine. The game is set in the period between 1421 and 1850 , and players can choose one of eight European nations. The game introduced a large number of features, such as home cities . Described by Ensemble Studios as "an important support system to your efforts in the New World", home cities help provide the player with resources, equipment, troops, and upgrades. They can be used across multiple games, and upgraded after each battle;

14916-498: The work, but Ensemble Studios designers Greg Street and Sandy Petersen joined in the brainstorming , and had control over the final product. Both studios had roles in testing the game before its release. The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success. As of 2008, five of its games have each sold more than one million copies. According to Gamasutra , Age of Empires had sold more than three million copies, and The Rise of Rome sold one million copies as of 2000. Around

15048-562: The world map, the two other enemy factions form a temporary alliance with the remnants of their armies. The final showdown is the battle between the player's House against both rival Houses, joined by the Emperor's Sardaukar (an unplayable elite force whose heavy infantry are particularly powerful). The introductory mission briefing and endgame cutscenes are different for each House, in keeping with their very disparate world views. The weaponry and units also vary from house to house. The player takes

15180-493: Was Age of Empires , released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021. Age of Empires focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Iron Age ; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire . The sequel, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings , was set in the Middle Ages , while its expansion focused partially on

15312-504: Was "one of the best looking games, much less an RTS game, that is out on the market currently". It sold more than two million copies, and won the GameSpy "real-time strategy game of the year" award. The WarChiefs failed to equal the success of its predecessor, with a lower score on both Game Rankings and Metacritic, and The Asian Dynasties' score was lower still with 80%. Several collectors' editions of Age of Empires III included

15444-450: Was a commercial success, with global sales in excess of 250,000 units by November 1996. Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that the PC version of Dune II "easily outshines its predecessor in terms of game play ... a real gem", with "arguably the most outstanding sound and graphics ever to appear in a strategy game of its kind". A February 1994 survey of space war games gave it a grade of B+, stating that without online play, there

15576-416: Was a jointly developed product; Big Huge Games helped Ensemble Studios develop the game, with Brian Reynolds joining Bruce Shelley as lead designer. The game expanded the Age of Empires III universe into Asia, and introduced three new civilizations. Reception towards Age of Empires III was mixed; Game Revolution described it as "about as much fun" as a history textbook, while GameZone argued it

15708-632: Was also influenced by the series: it utilized the Genie game engine , as Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings had, and was considered by critics to be a very close replica to the games; IGN began their review with the statement "I love Age of Star Wars , I mean Star Empires . Whatever it's called, I dig it." and GameSpot wrote that "fundamentals of the Age of Empires II engine are so intact in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds that veterans of that game can jump right in". In October 2005, Shelley commented on

15840-484: Was announced. It was developed by KLab Games for the iOS , Android and Windows Phone . It was released on December 7, 2015, with the service terminated on November 30, 2016. On August 25, 2014, Age of Empires: Castle Siege was announced. It is a touch-based game developed by Smoking Gun Interactive . It was released on September 17, 2014, for the Windows PC and Windows Phone 8 . The development phases of

15972-481: Was indicted and tried for conspiracy to both destroy aircraft and use weapons of mass destruction, among others. The surviving Boston Marathon bombing perpetrator, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , was charged in June 2013 with the federal offense of "use of a weapon of mass destruction" after he and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly placed crude shrapnel bombs, made from pressure cookers packed with ball bearings and nails, near

16104-414: Was little replayability once each House conquered the planet, but a May 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game five stars out of five, describing it as "a wargame par excellance ; superb graphics and sound make an enjoyable gaming experience". The magazine hoped that Command & Conquer would be its sequel. Electronic Games gave the game a 92% score. When

16236-700: Was one of the most influential games in the real-time strategy genre , particularly in Westwood 's own Command & Conquer series. Though not every feature was unique, its specific combination of a fog of war , mouse-based military micromanagement, and an economic model of resource-gathering and base-building became the hallmark of the RTS genre. It served as the template for subsequent real-time strategy games. Chris Taylor has stated that Dune II and Command & Conquer were great inspirations, driving him to leave Electronic Arts to create Total Annihilation . Dune II also led to direct sequels: Westwood released

16368-405: Was praised by a majority of reviewers. IGN ranked the graphics in this third release "a joy to watch ... awesome". GameSpot agreed, also rating the graphics nine out of ten. Game Revolution also agreed, and PC Gamer stated that the graphics in the third release "are packed with detail". The trend in improved graphics continued well into the next release, Age of Empires III, much to

16500-481: Was programmed with the middleware Miles audio library which handled the dynamic conversion of the game's MIDI musical score, originally composed on the Roland MT-32 , to the selected soundcard. At initial release, the game's setup utility lacked the means to support separate output devices for the musical score and speech/sound-effects. This limitation was frustrating to owners of high-quality MIDI synthesisers (such as

16632-463: Was ranked the 11th best game of all time by Amiga Power in 1996. In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Dune 2 the 70th-best computer game ever released. In 2004, this "legendary" game entered the GameSpy Hall of Fame. In Poland, it was included in the retrospective lists of the best Amiga games by Wirtualna Polska (ranked eight) and CHIP (ranked fourth). In 2012, Time named it one of

16764-584: Was released by Microsoft in November 2015, also exclusively for the HD Edition . A fourth expansion entitled Rise of the Rajas was released on December 19, 2016. On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition . In June 2019, Adam Isgreen, now the Franchise Creative Director for Age of Empires , shared more information regarding the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition at

16896-407: Was released on November 14, 2019. Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, confirmed on June 12 that Age of Empires II: HD Edition would not be removed from sale after the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition . Age of Empires III was released on October 18, 2005 and was built on an improved version of the Age of Mythology game engine with the most significant changes being

17028-403: Was set in the same period as the original Age of Empires , but focused on mythological elements of Greek , Egyptian , and Norse mythology . The fourth main installment in the series, Age of Empires IV , was released on October 28, 2021, also focusing on the Middle Ages. The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 25 million copies. Critics have credited part of

17160-609: Was still in development, with more information coming later in 2019. On November 14, 2019, gameplay footage of Age of Empires IV was shown at the X019 event. It showed medieval warfare between English and Mongol forces. Age of Empires IV was officially released on October 28, 2021, with eight civilizations available at launch: the Abbasid Dynasty , the Chinese , the Delhi Sultanate ,

17292-449: Was that wargames sucked because of a lack of innovation and poor design. Chuck felt the category was in a long, slow decline, because the players were moving to more exciting genres ... I felt that the genre had a lot of potential – the surface was barely scratched as far as I was concerned, especially from a design standpoint. So I took it as a personal challenge and figured how to harness realtime dynamics with great game controls into

17424-524: Was the first game in the series, as well as the first major release from Ensemble Studios . It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made, utilizing the Genie game engine . GameSpot described it as a mix of Civilization and Warcraft . The game gives players a choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age . The expansion pack, The Rise of Rome , published by Microsoft on October 31, 1998, introduced new features and four new civilizations, including

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