Bringing back the Age of Empires franchise Age of Empires Online will be hitting the PC Games for Windows - LIVE platform exclusively in 2011 through digital distribution. This game will feature a persistent world where the action and strategy go hand in hand and do not stop just because you have to get off the game. The way players will be able to ally, experience the classic Age of Empires style of play, and allow their empire to continue to evolve even when they are offline (reminiscent of Farmville) is an evolutionary step for the title as well as Real Time Strategy in general and has great promise. Check out the screens and recently released trailer as well as beta sign-up information after the break.

Beta sign-ups have already begun and the following technical specs will be required to be eligible (as well as being of age 18 years and residing in North America and/or Europe.

System Requirements:

• A Windows Experience Index score of 3.0 or higher or...
• At least a 2 gigahertz CPU
• Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
• 128 MB video card
• 1 gigabyte (GB) total system RAM (2 GB is recommended for best performance)
• 3 GB of hard drive space
• An Internet connection capable of downloading large (500 MB–2 GB) builds of the game

You can check out the official Age of Empires online launch site here and sign up for the beta now.