Good stuff.  Congrats to them!

LOL GPG

Congrats to GPG.

I feel bad for Robot Entertainment.   I think they got fired.   Just like Halo Wars and Ensemble Studios got fired.

Microsoft said this was plan but I call that bull$%#.  I guess we'll never know the real story.

I think that's pretty much the cast, tbh.  I know the ages beta has been underway for a bit, and some folks indicated that they were a bit underwhelmed.  So, hopefully GPG can take it in a better direction.

I remember playing empire earth online ( similar gameplay with more "eras" ) Full of cheats and exploits, this'll be the same i presume?

You're asking if the gameplay will be similar to empire earth or if it will be full of cheats and exploits?

...

Here's a link to their online site where you can see a vid of some of the game play.  http://www.ageofempiresonline.com/

Here's a post from the age of empire online site:

Blog

As many of you have already heard, Gas Powered Games is now lead developer of Age of Empires Online. We figured you might have some questions about what this all means so I wanted to share a few thoughts on behalf of myself and the rest of the Age of Empires Online development team.

First and foremost, we’re thrilled! We have no doubt this is a great move for the game, and most importantly for all of you anxiously awaiting its launch this year. We’ve been working with Gas Powered Games for some time now on a collection of great new content packs (which we’ll reveal a bit later). In that time, it’s become really clear Chris Taylor and his team share our passion to make this one of the best games in Age of Empires franchise history. Rest assured, there’s a dedicated team of folks both at Microsoft and GPG who will continue to work hard to make sure this game blows you away. Anyway, with big news, you probably have some questions. We’ve tried to answer a few for you below.

• Why did you make this switch?
  This has been the plan for some time, and we’re excited to share the great work GPG has been doing. In working with GPG, it’s become clear they share our long-term commitment to make this a success. Our previous development partner, Robot Entertainment, did amazing work on the game, and we wish them the best in their future projects.
• Does this mean the game will be delayed?
  Absolutely not. We’re still on schedule to launch this year with a tremendous amount of content.
• What’s GPG working on?
  Not only is GPG polishing the current content for launch, but they’re working on a ton of cool new content like Booster Packs, Vanity Packs, and entirely new civilizations.
• What’s it like working with Chris Taylor?
  Chris has an infectious energy about making games, and it’s clear he really enjoys what he does. You’ll soon see for yourself on our future video blogs with Chris—coming soon!
• When will I get to play the game?
  We’re thrilled with the progress of the game and can’t wait to share it with all of you so you can see for yourselves. To get your first look, sign up for the beta today!

We can’t wait to show our fans the great work GPG has been doing, so stay tuned for updates in the coming months. And a reminder—another great way to follow the development of the game, other than this blog, is to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

great tz

and wow does that cartoony bubbly look ever make it messy. 

yeah - I'm not sure if I like the art style or not.  Age of empires was a fun series though, so hopefully they can do it some justice.

Definatly a fun series. Have you tried empire earth though? It's like a tweaked version AOE. It has about 15 different eras in which you can have different buildings, units and perks. WWII is my favourite because there's no robots yet, but the nuke bomber come out. 

BUT with empire earth, the first one had similar graphics to AOE original, and then empire earth II came out with similar graphics to AOE online, and it's alot harder to control units and see whats actually going on. To me it seems to be a problem with the size (more specifaclly the height) of units.

I enjoyed empire earth at the time.  The 2nd one was ok.  The 3rd was just a terrible, terrible mess.

Ewwww it looks like Ragnarök!

Hmm, the jury is out, may be good but may be appalling, depends on the quests & story lines. Not sure about the cartoonish graphics though, seems to break from the heritage too much. maybe they're going for a younger audience and the ladies too.

Love the way Microsoft are trying to make out that it was planned to switch developers part way through the project, how dumb do they think people are.

Be nice if there was an announcement on the Kings & Castles web site that work has been suspended on the game to focus on AOE online instead.

i guess this is the "unannounced project" that sorian was talking about in his blog. 

It will be interesting to see how it turns out and how they keep a persistant world going with a RTS type game, especally one that relies on ages to increase your units power (how will they balance that with new ppl comming into the game all the time is anyones guess)

Does balancing ever play a part in a GPG project?

Honestly not trolling... my only experiences with the company was from playing Demigod and no need to get into how that was supported post release.  I haven't played any of the SupComs... was there any effort put into those games to balance them?

Forged Alliance was pretty balanced (besides Seraphim). I think in SupCom vanilla one of the races was slightly more powerful. Can't remember at the moment.

Why the HELL haven't you played these games, Thunder? Go buy them right NOW, ffs.