The Clash of the Titans AoT Tournament has just begun! With 95 participants in the running for the $450 up for grabs, it is sure to result in some close competition. You have until the 19th of October to play your round 1 games, although that may be extended by a bit if necessary.

Good luck everybody, and get scheduling!

Rules | Scheduling forums | Brackets

Thanks to AoE3 WCG referee Mokon, we learned earlier today that _H2O had won 2-1 over iamgrunt in the grand final of WCG 2008. Congratulations to _H2O, the new world champion of AoE3!

The final results are:

1st: _H2O (US$10,000 + Notebook PC)
2nd: iamgrunt (US$5,000)
3rd: The_Demon (US$2,500)

Link: Congratulate _H2O on his win

More news to follow.

Get ready to witness a clash of the titans with the announcement of the final tournament in the $1000 Legacy Series: The $450 Clash of the Titans AoT tournament!

The tournament is in a 1v1 single elimination format, and will be run with 1 round per week. Players will be required to schedule and play a best-of-3 games versus each week's opponent. Spots are limited, so get in quick! Sign-ups close on the 12th of October. With $450 up for grabs, we expect to see some great competition amongst the AoT community.

To sign-up, click the link below and follow the instructions.

Sign-up | Tournament rules

Ensemble Studios have today confirmed the future of ESO matchmaking services in an announcement at AgeCommunity:


Over the past few months I've had to constantly reassure people that the AoM and AoE3 series of games will not die with ES closing, so now you guys have the confirmation. We can all look forward to some promising days for AoM and AoE3, with AgeSanctuary planning fan patches for AoM, AoT and TAD. This community is certainly in no way close to dying, so continue to have fun gaming!

The WCG Grand Final will be held this week (running from the 5th to 9th), capping off a long and entertaining year of national qualifiers from across the world. Will the favorites iamgrunt and NaturePhoenix perform well, or will someone else emerge as a serious threat? You can keep up to date on all the latest WCG Grand Final news as it happens here at AgeSanctuary.

In other WCG news, the Japanese WCG qualifiers were held last weekend, with two spots in the WCG Grand Final in Cologne up for grabs. nemuke defeated Airlity in the final, but both will be on their way to Germany this week. You can congratulate them in matsujun's topic, and also check out some pictures from the event.

The US WCG qualifiers were held last weekend, with _H2O defeating Parfait in the final to book himself a ticket to the WCG Grand Final in Cologne in November. With other highly skilled competitors in attendance - such as MrMilo, SouL_, HAzArdrOxS and ReVoLuTioN - the competition for the one WCG Grand Final spot was fierce. Once the recorded games have been put online by the WCG staff, you'll be able to find them on our forums - so be on the lookout for those

You can congratulate _H2O, as well as check out some photos from the event, in Realn's topic.

Forum member Peachrocks (with notable efforts from DAMNIT and myself!) has put together a comprehensive guide to the minor natives in TAD. This guide gives detailed information on each and every minor native unit, and gives comparisons to more standard units as well as detailed information on the technology available. As well as that are some basic minor native combinations with all the civilizations.

The hope is that the greater peoples' understanding of the minor natives are, the more we'll see this neglected aspect of the game being utilised.

You can check out the guide here.

The Brazilian WCG qualifiers were held last weekend, with MonsterDog (UtinOwns) defeating bl1zz3r in the final to book himself a ticket to the WCG Grand Final in Cologne in November. Brazil ranks as one of the top countries in the AoE3 community, so some close competition was inevitable - and they didn't disappoint! You can catch up on the games they played with the recorded games pack provided by forum member sG.trech.

You can congratulate MonsterDog, as well as check out some photos and video from the event, in sG.trech's topic.

We heard the rumours earlier, but now they are confirmed. Microsoft is closing down Ensemble Studios, the makers of Age of Mythology and the Age of Empires series, as well as the upcoming Halo Wars title. Ensemble will continue development on Halo Wars until the game's completion before shutting up shop. Contrary to earlier rumours however, no one from Ensemble Studios has been laid off yet.

Following Ensemble's closure, a new gaming studio will form to handle post-ship support for Halo Wars, as well as to develop future titles. No word yet on whether they will continue work with their flagship Age of Empires series, nor whether will they build upon their Age of Mythology title. It is confirmed however that the new gaming studio will have quite a few ex-Ensemble employees, so hopefully their creative talent can live on under a new name.

Microsoft's decision sees the end of one of the most respected game developers in the business, with (soon to be) 10 titles and in excess of 20 million sales to Ensemble Studios' credit. We wish all Ensemble Studios employees the best of luck in any future endeavours.

No word yet on the future of ESO nor ESO2.