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Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition News

Earn College Credit with UArizona-Created Content!



Current and future University of Arizona and Arizona Online students can now earn credit toward their college degrees when they interact with special educational content while playing Age of Empires IV.

The University of Arizona Illuminated History Experience, developed by two Department of History faculty members – associate professor of medieval history Paul Milliman and associate professor of Roman history and department head Alison Futrell – in collaboration with game designers from World’s Edge game studio and Relic Entertainment, is now available on the Age of Empires website. The educational material supplements the historical storytelling in the Age of Empires IV campaign and enables players to take part in additional out-of-game content, including testing their knowledge of the historical time period.

Based on admission status with the University of Arizona and Arizona Online, engaging with the content could allow players to earn one academic credit at the university.

“It’s a really innovative way to learn,” Futrell said. “We don’t know of any partnerships like this between a university and video game designers anywhere else in the world. We hope that both students on the University of Arizona main campus and Age of Empires players will be excited about the course and interested in other classes the history department offers.”

As with any college course, there are some required materials. Prospective students will need to have access to Age of Empires IV on Steam. All players will need to be signed into the game using an Xbox Live account, available for free.

Professor Futrell, based out of the UArizona main campus, is available for in-person interviews. Online interviews with Milliman or the game designers can be arranged by request.

Media contact:
Jason Ground
University Communications
Office: 520-621-8563| Cell: 520-954-0175
[email protected]
FAQ Forum University of Arizona Info

EGCTV’s Golden League Starts this Weekend!

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The Golden League, hosted by Elite Gaming Channel, is the latest Age of Empires IV event. With a prize pool of $125,000, it’s the biggest in franchise history. Over ten grueling weeks of action, all online, all leading to one champion!

The Golden League is broadcast live at 15 GMT on every Saturday and Sunday for the entirety of the event! So tune in and join us as some of your favorite commentators including Aussie Drongo, Turin, Lidakor, Dave, Nili, Killer Pigeon, Mitoe, and others, guide you through the action!

To kick things off, 64 of the greatest players in AoE IV begin by taking each other on in three bracket rounds, each with a unique theme. Depending on their performance in these brackets, the players will score points on the Golden League Table! At the end of these three brutal rounds, only the top 8 that somehow emerge somewhat unscathed will progress to the Elite Playoffs, where they’ll battle once more in a round robin group stage. The top two in each group will then progress to the Final Four where a champion will be crowned!

View the Golden League Brackets

Round 1: Open Battlefields

The first round is Open Battlefields! Here players will have nowhere to hide as they fight on the most open of maps! This is the first opportunity to begin scoring some valuable points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs.

Round 2: Off-Meta Combat

In the second round, players are forced to show off their versatility as we enter the Off-Meta Combat round, where the three strongest civilizations on each map will be banned! Players will be forced to rely on strategic gameplay with the five remaining civilizations. Here is a chance for strong players to reinforce their positions atop the league, or for challengers to knock them down and emerge victorious!

Round 3: Exclusive Conclusion

The final preliminary round is the Exclusive Conclusion, where each player will have the opportunity to draft unique civilizations that they alone will be able to play with in their match. This is the last opportunity to accumulate points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs!

Schedule
The Golden League starts every Saturday and Sunday at 15GMT from March 26 until May 29!
  • Open Battlefields: March 26 – 27 & April 2 – 3
  • Off-Meta Combat: April 9 – 10 & 16 – 17
  • Exclusive Conclusion: April 23 – 24 & April 30 – May 1
  • Playoff Group Stage: May 7 – 8, 14 – 15 & 21 – 22
  • Final Four: May 28 – 29

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Learn More About Golden League

If you want to follow the progress of players as they take on the Golden League, as well as more information on the rules and broadcasts, be sure to check out the interactive league table at www.elitegamingchannel.com.

Watch LIVE on Twitch Catch VODs On Youtube View Brackets

Server Maintenance - Wednesday, March 23



WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 23 @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 21:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]
[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]
  • Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Wednesday, March 23rd, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

  • Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

  • Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

  • DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last 1 to 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Age of Empires 4 is getting mods, and you can try a few now

Mod tools and a map editor are in the works for medieval RTS game Age of Empires IV, and while their official release won't be for another week, you can try some of them out now. A few lucky Age of Empires IV players have gotten invites to try out the Age of Empires IV mod and map editor tool, but everyone with the game can currently try out a few new in-house mods the dev team has created ahead of their launch at the start of Season One.


To access the list of mods the developers have created and curated, you need to opt into the Public Update Preview branch. To do this, open Age of Empires IV options menu in your Steam library, select the Betas tab, and select "future_live - Public Update Preview" from the drop-down menu. Once the game updates, you'll be able to check out the build of that game currently due to roll out with the start of Season One on March 18.


The mods you can try out are a mix of maps and 'tuning packs,' which alter the characteristics of specific game elements. One, called Dire Wolves, makes the game's wolves larger and deadlier - they've got increased damage and hit points, so they're a more serious threat than they are in the vanilla game. Others double the number of peasants you train at a time, or double the amount of wood available in each tree.


Read the rest of the story...


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Check out Season One content with Age IV’s Public Update Preview Today



The Age of Empires IV Public Update Preview build has now been updated to more closely align with what will be officially released in the Spring update. To coincide with this update, the Age IV PUP has been extended through the weekend to March 28th at 10am PT (17:00 UTC). View the release notes here.

We are excited to announce more details regarding our Public Update Preview (PUP) on Steam for Age of Empires IV—launching today, March 10th! Owners of Age of Empires IV on Steam now have access to many of the exciting changes we have planned for the Season One Update through Friday, March 18th.

PUP sessions will not only present a sneak peek to owners of the game but also provide an opportunity for passionate players to step up, give feedback, and help us identify potential issues ahead of our major updates. Builds will generally contain new features, content, or bug fixes and will provide a preview of what’s coming to the game in the weeks leading up to a major update.

Among the future content available during this PUP is a first look at mods! Join in if you’d like to experience some of the mods we’ve created in-house and plan to launch with Season One, including:

  • Royal Rumble (Game Mode) - Based on the classic Age of Empires II game mode “Regicide.”
  • Dire Wolves (Tuning Pack) - The Wolves are hungry and out for blood! All Wolves have increased damage, hit points, and size.
  • and many others that demonstrate a sampling of upcoming mod functionality!

In addition to a number of official mods, you’ll also be able to try out other exciting changes and quality life improvements like:

  • Global Build Queue
  • Hotkey improvements
  • MegaRandom
  • ...and much more!

Read up on all of the exciting content and changes by viewing the Release Notes here. You will need to be logged in with a Steam account that owns Age of Empires IV to view. This is located in the same forum where you will leave any feedback or report bugs during this Public Update Preview session.

Starting now, owners on Steam can access the Age IV PUP by following the instructions below:

  1. Navigate to your Steam library and right click on Age of Empires IV
  2. Select “Properties...” at the bottom of the menu
  3. Select the “BETAS” tab on the left
  4. In the “Select the beta...” dropdown menu, select “future_live”
  5. The build will begin downloading—once complete, you are ready to play!

Please note that replays in the PUP build are not compatible with the retail version. Players in the PUP version will only be able to match with those also on the PUP build. To revert back to retail, simply change your beta branch (step 4 above) back to “None.”

Join us - we’re excited to hear what you think!