I think they were expecting people to talk about some of their carefully researched unit tactics, or whether their version of a Viking longship is reliable etc. Last week the Age of Empires blog put out a call for any papers about the units of Age of Empires. You play as a real historical civilisation. The twist in the Age of Empires series is that the game isn’t set in space or in the Third World War. They have you managing an economy with the aim of creating an army to defeat your opponent. Games in that series are RTSs (real time strategy games). You’ve probably heard of ‘Age of Empires’ which is Microsoft Games’ biggest franchise. Right now though, with the environment in crisis mode, it’s more important than ever that we get the message right.

Humans have created some of their most beautiful artwork and literature inspired by humans. Games have a lot of competition and inspiration to draw on. That means that what video games say about a nimals is really important. Computer games are not yet as culturally important as movies but that may be only a matter of time too. Although the movie industry world-wide still dwarfs the video-game industry, the video game industry continues to grow, and may be the most profitable entertainment medium of the 21st century. The revenue from the video game industry, from Farmville to World of Warcraft is now bigger than the movie industry in the US and the UK. “Celts” ranging from the heroes of ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’ to the ballads of the Borderers have specialised in being able to steal livestock from anywhere, no matter how isolated and well-guarded. Highlights: Although the developers of AoE II seem to have no idea what a medieval sheep looked like, they knew exactly what they were doing when they gave the medieval Celts a bonus with livestock. Source: Age of Empires II, one of the most influential RTS games of all time.ĭate of Source: Age of Empires II is a 21st century game, but it’s based on the vague “middle ages”.

Species mentioned: Several but most interestingly sheep, ( Ovis aries) which are the most frequently exploited animal in Age of Empires.

This week’s entry, hosted on the Age of Empires blog looks at how accurately sheep are depicted in the computer game. We have a special sort of text to look at this week… a 21st century one! This week’s blog post is on the Age of Empires blog.

Celts age of empires 2