Microsoft announced that its upcoming real-time strategy (RTS) game Age of Empires III has gone gold and will be available in retail on October 18. The company promises "groundbreaking new features like the persistent Home City" and significatly enahnced graphics "never before seen in an RTS."

In Age of Empires III, players assume the role of a European power between 1500 and 1850 A.D. as they struggle to explore, colonize and conquer North and South America. (THG)