The next chapter in the Age of Empires PC game franchise has been announced and will be available worldwide on 16 August.

At launch, Age of Empires Online will feature Greeks and Egyptian civilisations and 40 hours of free online gameplay, with multiplayer and collaborative options, though booster packs and additional civilisations are planned for the future.  Game features:

• Traditional RTS gameplay, a deep PvP mode and detailed historical settings. 
• A living online civilization. Use your online capital city as home base, embark on quests alone or with others, earn rewards, and evolve your civilization from village to empire. The empire continues to grow and accrue resources even when you aren't online.
• Scratch that competitive itch by visiting Sparta and diving into PvP matches. Ranked games have scores recorded on Leaderboards. Matchmaking in Sparta is controlled to always give players a competitive game. Sparta coins can be spent on new equipment. 
• Deep selection of premium content. Frequently released new content to keep the game changing - from new quests and regions to entirely new civilizations full of new experiences, 
• Social features and interaction including achievements, a common Gamertag, Gamerscore and a unified Friends list courtesy of Games for Windows LIVE. Free competitive and cooperative gameplay, including co-op quests and trading.