HOW TO GET INTO THE SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE BETA TEST

The folks over at Stardock & Ironclad Games have announced that anyone who pre-orders their upcoming space RTS game, Sins of a Solar Empire, through the TotalGaming.net store will be given access to the initial beta test of the game starting on March 27th;

"Sins of a Solar Empire represents the birth of the RT4X genre, seamlessly blending spectacular tactical combat with grand-scale space strategy. Players must conquer worlds, engage in diplomacy and trade with other civilizations, and use the resources at their disposal to enhance their economy, develop new technology and increase military power. They must then test their mettle on a 3D tactical battlefield, where their ships will fight it out in stunning visual glory."

“We’re thrilled to finally give loyal Stardock and Ironclad fans the opportunity to experience Sins of a Solar Empire themselves” said Brian Clair, Director of Games Publishing for Stardock Entertainment. “Their input and gameplay feedback will ultimately help us deliver an incredibly fun, balanced and stable game later this year.” – Sins of a Solar Empire press release

The initial test will only contain one playable civilization and will not support multiplayer modes, but for those out there who have been breathlessly awaiting this one, I’m quite sure that any taste of Sins will be more than welcome.

I originally planned on pre-ordering this one this weekend to take full advantage of the offer, but those PC issues I mentioned yesterday have basically eaten up my entertainment money for the next week or two, so I guess I’ll just have to wait a bit longer to fool around with this one. If you do happen to pre-order the game, feel free to let me know what you think of the beta – inquiring minds want to know!

• Sins of a Solar Empire Beta Plans Unveiled – Sins of a Solar Empire forums
• Sins of a Solar Empire – Official site

XBOX 360 BATTLE FOR MIDDLE EARTH II DEMO NOW AVAILABLE

A demo for Electronic Arts fantasy RTS Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II is now available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo weighs in at 848.84mb, so be sure to have something you can play offline while you wait.

RISE OF LEGENDS $34.99 AT CIRCUIT CITY

Intrepid reader drkphreakx let us know that this weeks sale circular from Circuit City has Rise of Legends listed as on sale for $34.99. Check the Circuit City website for your local circular, and it if it’s on sale, head on down and pick it up – I plan to. The sale is scheduled to last until the 20th, and there seems to be some type of bug with the online ordering at Circuit City’s website, which results in the game not appearing with the sale price in your basket. Hopefully they’ll get that fixed soon. Click here to head on over to Circuit City’s site. Big thanks to drkphreakx.

RISE OF LEGENDS NOW IN STORES

Big Huge Games follow up to Rise of Nations and Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots should now be in stores. If you’re a fan of RTS games, it should be high on your list already, if it’s not, go download the demo from the official Rise of Legends website.

New Rise of Legends demo available

Second Rise of Legends demo now available!

Good as their word, Big Huge has released a second demo of their upcoming RTS game Rise of Legends. I’m still in the download queue over at Fileplanet, so I haven’t seen if it runs a bit smoother than the early beta demo. Hopefully they’ve added the ability to zoom out a little further than you could in the last demo.
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4/29/06
I just finished my first game with the new build of the demo. While the zoom out maximum is pretty much the same, the demo has a much tighter feel to it and moved along at a much faster pace. Definitely an improvement from demo #1.

4/30/06
The more I play this new demo, the more I’m liking Rise of Legends. The “Battle for the Core” map allows a much better zoom out than the previous maps, and the sheer variety of unique units makes it appear that every map is going to need it’s own strategy. Bottom line? while I’d like to see the game handle huge numbers of units better and the AI still seems a bit “off” when your units are defending an area on their own, Rise of Legends is starting to look like a worthy successor to Rise of Nations once again.

Rise of Legends goes gold!

The sequel to the legendary Rise of Nations series, Rise of Legends has gone gold according to Gamespot, and is on track to meet it’s May 9th release date. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited! If Big Huge stays true to it’s word, we should be seeing a second, more finalized demo of the game coming soon.
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What more is there to really say? Rise of Nations and RoN: Thrones and Patriots were both amazing games. I never thought someone could successfully merge a RTS with Civilization until Brian Reynolds proved me wrong. While the beta demo was a bit buggy to say the least, it showed enough promise that Rise of Legends is still VERY high up on my radar.