Age Of Empires 3: Definitive Edition beta starts next month

Following up last year's Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition release, Xbox Game Studios are planning a beta period for the Age Of Empires III: Definitive Edition for registered Insiders. If you took part in Age 2's beta sessions, the developers say they are structuring Age 3's beta a bit differently. Sessions will be shorter and more focused, with multiplayer beta times beginning in February.

For the multiplayer sessions starting next month, the Age Of Empires team say player counts will be limited. "Our plan is to ramp up by first including fans of the original Age III, so the February session will include a limited number of invitations," they say. Larger sessions will begin the following month in March.

Players will also get the chance to give feedback on Age 3's campaign, though they say those sessions will be limited to a "very small" group of players and only certain missions.

Just a few months back, Nate was quite fond of the Age 2's new release for being exactly as good as the original once was. In his Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition review he says he'd still recommend it even to someone who isn't an old fan. "RTS genre is a strangely empty thing these days, and there’s certainly not many games being made in the AoE2 mould," he says. It will be good to see Age 3's definitive edition take the same tack then, even with a slightly altered approach to beta testing.

If you'd like to take up armaments in one of the beta sessions, make sure to register on the Age Of Empires forums and update your "insider settings." They suggest you sort your profile before January 28th. For exactly the system specs the Age team are targeting when choosing participants, head over to their blog post.