另外，今天之前，Ensemble Studios的官方网站在刚进入的时候会出现大字：THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER，现在文字出现了一点变化，加上了：2300 BC - Sargon I unifies Sumeria（公元前2300年——萨尔贡一世统一苏美尔），这是在《帝国时代1》中出现的时期。大概Ensemble Studios工作之余不忘幽默一下，让翘首期待的玩家们总是把心悬在半空中放心不下。

　　下面这张画据说是微软发布的映像画：

　　Computer Gaming World杂志《帝国时代3》（Age of Empires III）原文：

　　Age of Empires 3 Coming

　　As we went to press, our spies told us that Ensemble Studios is hard at work on Age of Empires 3, the next game in the award winning, best selling real-time strategy franchise -with a release planned for the end of 2005.

　　Ensemble could not comment on any specifics, but one insider offered us there thoughts:
　　"We have been experimenting with some revolutionary features based on comments, especially in game reviews, that the RTS genre is tired and needs to be revitalized. I think we have innovated with all of our games, but (with AE3) we have tried some big leaps. In our testing, however, some of our people push back on the innovation in favor of the more traditional RTS game play." There is some speculation that Ensemble might eschew a traditional story line in favor of a world map to conquer.

　　"It is natural for gamers to want innovation." our source continues, "but we also see Age pf Mythology holding strong in the top10 list of best-selling PC games almost two years after its release. Although we hear that other genres are more popular that RTS, it doesn't look to us like many individual games are as successful as the best RTS game."

　　We're planning to get a hands-on look at Age3 sometime after the game is officially announced. But it’s safe to say that Ensemble plans on remaining faithful to the franchise while still trying to drive the genre forward.

　　--- carapace-->