E37 Age of Empires 4

Ben and Tao notch their bows, load their trebuchets, unsheath their swords (thankfully not a euphemism) and lay siege to their enemies in Microsoft’s docuseries revival of historical RTS, Age of Empires IV. The duo flashback to memories of Age of Empires 2 and the role of games in education, query the environmental ramifications of forced epic downloads (that’s epic, not Epic), and debate whether the RTS genre is dead on its feet. They also explore at what point real world historical violence becomes acceptable for monetisation and entertainment in video games. Bur first, Tao decides, unilaterally, to make an apology. Story spoilers in all good history books and Wikipedia - not many here!

Content Warning: PEGI 13. Lessons on historic warfare and violent conquest. Culture wars, old and new.

Clarifications:

• The original soundtrack to Age of Empires IV was composed by various musicians including Tilman Sillescu, Alex Röder, Henning Nugel, Armin Haas & Mikolai Stroinski

• This is the BBC The Inquiry episode, ‘Are Video Games A Waste Of Time?’ which Ben produced: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csv1bv 

• Nathan Brown wrote a persuasive piece on balancing AI in gaming in his Substack, Hit Points. Pixel Vision recommends:

#110: On balance

• The controversy over Manchester Cathedral in Resistance Fall of Man: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6736809.stm

Audio extracts:

• Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings theme and intro

• Age of Empires 2 various sound effects

• Age of Empires 2: Conquerors

• Noah Visits from The Village OST by James Newton Howard

• Whiplash feat. JK Simmons

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

• Tracy Chapman - Baby Can I Hold You

• Age of Empires IV Main Theme and soundtrack

• The Jungle Book (1967)

• Age of Mythology Soundtrack - A Cat Named Mittens

• Peter and the Wolf - Sergei Prokofiev

• Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus

• The Motorcycle Diaries - Sendero - by Gustavo Santaolalla

• Tiger King feat. Joe Exotic

• BBC The Inquiry - Are Video Games A Waste Of Time?

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

• Star Craft 2 soundtrack, by composers Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neal Acree, Russell Brower, Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco

• A Knight's Tale OST by Carter Burwell

• Rome Total War OST by Jeff van Dyck

• Build A Wall by East Park Reggae Collective

• Your Highness (2011)

• Bill Bailey - Chaucer’s pub joke

• Hitman 3 OST by Niels Bye Nielsen

• Channel 4’s Spaced feat. Simon Pegg

• Diablo 3 OST by Russell Brower

• The Mighty Boosh

• The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

• Sky News

• Fawlty Towers feat. John Cleese

• Resistance Fall of Man

• Spec Ops: The Line OST - Truth Revealed by Elia Cmíral

• Fable 3

• Resident Evil 3 main theme by Kōta Suzuki

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